And I Manage to Get Completely Lost in a Hotel

As I parked my truck at the hotel the previous night, I knew I was close to but not over 200 thousand miles. I got up and out by 0730 and looked at the odometer and I was sitting at 199 999! Lots of pictures occurred. I slid toward the highway and picked up an extra mile and a smile.

I got to the convention center just as the first game was starting so I got to fight my way through the crowds. It never ceases to amaze me the care and attention to details that a dedicated grounds crew takes. The exterior and interiors of the Opryland Hotel is spotless, gorgeous, and welcoming. I will definitely have to take a return trip to hang out in and around Nashville for a week. The one thing I didn't do was locate quality coffee, but that wasn't really a priority for me. Once I got to the tournament, the youngest was back quick and wanted to look at the game. So I had to go buy a chess board. I picked up a nice paperback sized board, which has flocked paper covering the hinges and bottom and a foam liner to hold the pieces. I really don't like these so I stripped them all out. Will be re-lining w/leather and am looking to build the chess set to go with it, but I love the board. It will be an excellent replacement for my mother's board that I used throughout HS and college.
After this, I spent a while playing king and pawn games with Joan. This is how I generally start when I am teaching chess. It may be a week or two of nothing but a king and some pawns until they are comfortable with how the king is able to support pawns and keep from taking pawns. I use one of 2 rules with this, either first pawn in (to the opposing back rank) wins, or last pawn standing wins. Then I will add one piece at a time until they are comfortable with them. Once comfortable with each piece, a king and pawns, I will add a couple of pieces together and introduce check/checkmate. Finally put em all together and toss out in passing capture and castling.  This keeps from overwhelming the newcomer and allows you to really get a feel for limiting pawn groups and increasing fluidity or solidity in structures and the reasons for each.
After lunch I got to go see where Zack and Trinten were playing. They posed for a few pictures and I wished them well. I got a little bored during the 1400 match and started taking images of silliness and managed to inadvertently create 2 new background images. Also after the 1400 games ended, they sold off the 'used' tournament sets at $5 each. I went to pick one up at 1600, there was a line nearly 45 minutes to get boards. I decided that I would wait for a minute. I sat and played some Plunderchess if you get a chance, try it. It is a very neat variant where you have the ability of a captured piece for one move after capture (to be used at your discretion) and checks from the piece also apply. I also watched an interesting double-variant of bughouse plunder. . .way unfair, but fun.
We did a dinner of pizza and a greek salad. Was pretty good and local to Nashville (not a chain). After this we headed up for the award ceremony. Pure, unadulterated chaos! The TDs were stressed, the kids were hyper and happy and parents were worn out. After the kids collected their awards and took pictures, Jean-Marc headed out. Since I really did not want to battle the entire tournament to get back to the parkway, I decided to take a few pictures of the convention center and hotel atrium/cascade area. I promptly managed get completely lost and could not find my way out ( in the end was a matter 50' from the exit, but it was through glass doors, so there's that ). I probably put in an extra 2-2.5 miles trucking around that hotel looking for an exit.  Finally, I figured it out and got back to the truck and we struck for Saint Lou.