Hi everyone,

I’m terribly sorry I have not posted anything since now.

This post is about my first American tournament experience. I was invited to this tournament by the organizer, Alan Kaufman. Alan Kaufman is a great chess enthusiast. Not to the say the least, he’s a chess player himself! Alan, one day – about a little over a year ago messaged me about his tournament. Not only was I interested to play because it was close to home (I live in Toronto, the tournament was in a small city not far from Detroit) but because of the recommendations to play were very high!

The tournament ended up being much better than I expected. I was treated very well – someone picked me up from the bus terminal, and I had a nice stay at the hotel we were playing in! I got to meet many new people – chess players, parents, enthusiasts! I even got to see people in super hero costumes (there was another event being held in the same hotel). Now, about the chess! I helped Alan to try to get many international chess players to attend the tournament – and even succeeded! The tournament ended up being a greatly organized and strong event. My result: I am not exactly thrilled on the result I had at this tournament but I had to expect it because I was one of the lowest rated players! I did end up getting two draws, one win, and lost about 8 FIDE rating. My chess has been a little rusty, because I am a full-time chess teacher – it’s really hard to teach and study at the same time!

I can’t seem to find any results on this tournament – but the second I find it, I will update it to this page.

Please check out the website for this outstanding strong tournament: http://michiganchessfestival.com/

During the tournament, I was the photographer for this event – please check out the photos I took! There were two tournaments through out the 5 day chess festival. The 9-round tournament which was 5 days (October 23-27) and the 5-round tournament which was 3 days (October 25-27).

9-Round Norm Tournament

5-Round Tournament