Brasstown Bald

We got up to a beautiful, cold morning and headed for the Waffle House. It took another hour or so to make it to the mountain. We were the only car in the big parking lot. It was a brisk 15 minute hike up to the summit (the tower was closed for the season), the whole time in a shower of ice crystals falling from the thawing trees.

At 4784', Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia. We could see north to the Smokies and Mount Mitchell (I think) and I suppose as far as the Atlanta suburbs to the south. What an absolutely perfect morning to come up here!

Nationals

Sunday night. It's over. Seven four hour rounds over three days. Over 1200 players, many of whom were rated over 2000.

Garfield finished 12th among fifty teams, an incredible accomplishment for a team not even contemplating Nationals a few months ago. The top teams came from all over the country and included a couple of very strong Arizona teams, Stuyvesant HS from New York City, and Bellaire from Houston (where Garfield's best player from last year now goes). All six Garfield players won games against higher-rated players.

Results at: High School Nationals

Garfield at Washington State Championships

Peachtree Center

This year's tournament is being held at the Hyatt - which is quite an experience for kids whose experience is limited to Motel 6. The elevators gridlock about 20 minutes before every round as the players race down from their rooms, which is probably annoying to business folks and others not here for the tournament.

Centennial Olympic Park

I tried to talk the guys into getting outside for a little bit before the last round - they probably haven't left the hotel since we got here except to cross the sky bridge to the food court. But they were content to hang out in the room watching TV, so I wandered off on my own.

Round Five

Garfield moved back up several notches in the team standings with a strong 4th round this afternoon. If they can stay awake through tomorrow's games, they may do pretty well in the tournament.

D had a great afternoon round, beating his first Master! Of course, that means tonight's matchup is even tougher (2263).

Atlanta

Wednesday morning in the middle of the Pacific, Wednesday night in Seattle, and Thursday night in Atlanta. The miracle of fossil fuel. D and the rest of the Garfield team are now in Round Four of seven at High School Nationals. They stayed near the top through the first two rounds, but Round Three was tough and they've slipped a bit. D has been doing well, with a win and a draw against players over 2000, but he's playing a Master (2214) this time.

I don't have any reasonable pictures of the players or chess triviana or the hotel yet, but I did take some pictures this morning of some slightly damaged downtown skyscrapers during a walk through Olympic Centennial Park. The March 14th tornado sucked the windows out of the towers and apparently it takes a while to replace all the glass. Good thing the Southeastern Conference game went into overtime that night at the Georgia Dome, or lots of folks would have been caught out in the street when the twister hit. I don't think there are tornadoes in the current forecast, although Wednesday evening our flight took a very long detour around the the big storms that were hammering North Texas. Two years ago, when we were in Louisville for Nationals, there was a tornado warning during one of the rounds which confused the tournament for a little while, but which didn't result in an actual tornado.