Tuesday July 27

Today I tried a risky tactic away from the chess board. I had decided the night before that if I woke up early enough I would take the train to Lausanne. Like clockwork, I woke up in plenty of time. Bern was only ½ hour away and trains left every ½ hour. If I missed one train, another would come by and I still would only be a few minutes late to my game. I went to Geneva on the off day, so there was no rush then either. This time, Lausanne is an hour away and trains leave every hour. I can’t miss a train or I will be real late for my game. The first train to Lausanne was at 6:35. Another downside was that I had to skip the nice hotel buffet which didn’t open until 6:30. Once in Lausanne, I found the return train I needed left at 12:27 PM. If I make this train, I should be back in Biel around 1:30 PM. If I miss it, I won’t get back until 2:30 PM. Since I know I will have Black against a higher rated opponent, I really don’t want to spot him time as well. Not to mention that it’s somewhat rude to be that late for the game. I got into Lausanne at 7:38 and started heading south. Remembering my previous experience in Biel, I went back to the train station to check a map they had on the wall. South was correct for going to the lake. Lausanne is near the north shore of Lake Geneva, with Geneva at the southern tip. I also found an Olympic museum and some Olympic training facilities. By 11:15 I was ready to go back, but I was still at the lake and the uphill walk was too long to make the 11:27 train. The pain in my leg has spread to my lower calf which has actually made things better since it is spread over a larger area. I decided that I couldn’t head out again and make sure I made the train so I bought another USA Today to read while waiting and for the ride back. I found out that the Indians had finally broken their 0.500 hex and were now +1. Inspired by this and the sweet memory of last round’s victory, I too moved to +1 by beating an IM[1] with Black!

Side Note: After the game, I started walking back to the hotel thinking mostly about the game and not where I was going. When I looked up, suddenly I was in unfamiliar territory again! Now I only went two blocks past the normal turn, but its frustrating that after this amount of time that I am still struggling with going back and forth between the hotel and the playing site.

Sunrise on the lake as taken from the train