Woo hoo! As Tad Bright reported, I rolled my way to winning the Vietor Cup in La Jolla, at Jon Vietor's home.
I played Mike Ungerleider in the "finals" -- we were the last two left that could win the tournament, and Mike had to beat me twice in a row to do it. I finished 9-1, and four people (Nick Maffeo, Julius High, Steve Sax and Mike Ungerleider) finished 7-3 to split 2nd through 5th.
In the finals
A better view of the room, with the tournament staff table in the background
My error rate on bearoff plays is Extra-Terrestrial
Jon has a jacuzzi in his backyard, and early on, I said that if I win the tournament, I'd jump into the jacuzzi. Lo...
I'm just a splash
All wet
Wet but with hardware
Me and Mike Ungerleider after I changed out of the wet clothes
Woo hoo!
You can't hide in a Swiss tournament... on Sunday I had to make my way through Steve Sax, Tad Bright, Odis Chenault, and then Mike Ungerleider to win the tournament. Pat Gibson always runs a solid tournament, and I don't think there were many disagreements or tough rulings to be made. All the matches were clocked using a 2/14 time control.
A very satisfying win -- but of course, I know that I was amazingly lucky to win... it really felt like nothing was going wrong. Anybody who's won a tournament knows the feeling.
I recorded my four matches on Sunday, and hope to post some positions soon.
JLee