Chess in Parsippany

After my last class tomorrow I will hop into the Jasonmobile, spend some quality time on I-81 and the Pennsy Turnpike, say hello to the 'rents in central New Jersey, and then wander up to Parsippany for the annual chess extravaganza known as the U.S. Amateur Team East. I first played in this event back in 1986 and have only missed a handful of them since then.

Alas, this will be my first over the board chess tournament since this tournament last year, so I fear I'm pretty rusty. Whatever. This is hands down the most enjoyable tournament of the year. With something like 1500 players, small entry fees and no cash prizes, it tends to be a pretty mellow event.

Oh, and why I am filing this in the Technology channel? Because everyone knows that nowadays the world's best chessplayers are computers. The war against the machines is coming folks. Ignore me at your peril.

See you when I get back!

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I have returned. Much better debate at this tournament than the last one, but that was expected. EGR is a major national tournament, with teams coming from far and wide, New Hampshire to California, and that includes probably half of the top ten teams in the nation.
A friend sent me a link to this article in Newsweek about Jerry Falwell's Liberty University being the #1 debate team in the nation, knowing that I know the debate world pretty well and would find it interesting.
Now that the NCAA basketball tournament brackets have been announced, it's worth reminding ourselves not to bet too much money on our (overconfident) predictions. Why not? Because the tournament is impossible to predict.
I don't think this has gotten much attention, but I think it's important to publicize it. There's a scandal going on in the poker world over a tournament going on right now, the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.

i grew up by parsippany. random things are based there, though nothing more exciting than this tournament. so enjoy, and relax knowing there is not much outside worth seeing. i do like how the town whippany is nearby though.

dg -

There are a couple of nice restaurants right near the hotel where the tournament is taking placed. There's a good kosher deli, and a truly magnificent Japanese buffet.

Dave M -

Thanks for the link. I had not heard of Arimaa previously. It looks like an interesting game.

Chess suffers from poor PR. Perhaps if events like this featured a few of the Solid Gold Dancers it might start to get the respect it deserves.