$10,000 Georgian Peach Open

Cajun Chess made another appearance in Georgia last weekend for the $10,000 Georgian Peach Open, which actually ended up being a $5,000 prize fund based on the weak turnout. Maybe scheduling a chess tournament on Superbowl Weekend and during a Saturday G/45 Championship at the Atlanta Chess Center wasn't such a good idea. This was my first experience with Cajun Chess, and I wasn't sure at first if the tournament would even take place. The former owner, Richard Crespo, was recently arrested by a SWAT team for kidnapping a woman he had met at one of his chess tournaments. The new owner was quick to say that the tournament would go on, and that Crespo was no longer associated with Cajun Chess. The tournament was held at the Holiday Inn in Marietta, and for the most part was run professionally.

GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz, FM (IM-elect) Stephen Muhammad, IM Ron Burnett, and other titled players were present. Of course I was playing in the U1800 section, hoping for a share of the $1700 -- oops -- make that $850 allocated to our section. And our section had a whopping five people in it, meaning byes were handed out left and right, and I was paired with the same player twice during the tournament. The rounds started on time, and the only complaint I had during play was someone pushing their baby around in a stroller as they watched games! Nothing like having a baby start making noise while you're in a tense position with less than five minutes on your clock.

The final round brought some controversy to this otherwise smoothly run tournament. I sat down knowing full well that a draw would guarantee me second place. My opponent sat down knowing full well that a draw would guarantee him first place. When the round started, my opponent played 1.e4 and offered me a draw. I accepted and we went to collect our prize money. The organizers were not happy. They were sure we had prearranged the draw (we had never agreed to any such thing beforehand), and spent a good while going through the USCF rule book, looking for any way to disqualify us. They finally concluded they had to pay us our prize money, and offered the advice, "Next time, make a few more moves. It looks better." Ah well, lessons learned.

I'll keep going to their tournaments in Georgia, because I can't get enough of tournament chess. Hopefully they'll plan their next tournament a little better and get a larger turnout.