First round

And finally after nearly two weeks the real reason we're here, the chess tournament finally begins. The round is scheduled to start at 3:30, and we all agree it would be a good idea to arrive very early and scope out the playing venue. The tournament is small,only 20 entrants, six of them Americans, meaning there is a very good chance we will play each other many times. The playing area is a small room with four tables set in three rows.

I immediately realize that English is the third language behind Russian and Hebrew. My lack of skill gives me a translation disadvantage but at least chess is universal.

For the first day, there is nowhere to wait except for a room quite a distance from the playing room, so I spend much of my time in the outside heat and watching the games.

As seen below our six players all looked relaxed at the start of their games. As was the case in every round, we had an intrasquad battle-this one between Joe and Max.











We won all our games against other countries! Here is Simona's first round scoresheet.




 Rose was the last to finish and we closed up the room at 8:30 as the other team members went back to the hotel. Rose and I grabbed a quick dinner at the hub. I told the team to get a good night's sleep as tomorrow was two games, the first starting at 11 am!

We'll find out tomorrow how well they listened.