Being unprepared... Mount Elden and the looming battles

Admittedly I was totally unprepared for the hamburger in a can. Not that Ive eaten one or would. No... I would.





Mostly unprepared for a man who wears a singlet and acts like a wolf. Pleasantly unprepared but unprepared none the less.

Mount Elden looks like a smaller mountain from the bottom. You can barely distinguish the look out tower at the top.

Their is a tournament on Saturday at NAU. This will be my second tourney ever, although it seems like Ive been to a million of them. Perhaps its the long evenings with large groups of players or the lack of nervous intimidation usually associated with social events.

The mountain side is covered with boulders, random escalating foliage and androgynous jogging Native Americans.

Im just not rattled by nerds even when they travel in packs. In a worse case scenario I can just roll up my sleeves and ramble on about the osmolarity of my blue Gatorade.

The view gets wider on the way up. Its hard to capture the sky but its very blue and the temperature is a scorching 60ish.

But as the title suggests, I dont have a clue what Im going to do at this tourney. I havent studied much, save for a few weekly puzzles, Mondays chess club and some wiley games with my roommate. My opening repertoire is stagnant at best and my vision of the board is mired in a cataract fog.

Below you can see the "east side" of Flag. For a city with so few inhabitants it has a remarkable ability to section areas off and unofficially name them.

So Ive put together a list of fundamentals that address some of my greatest weaknesses. What will happen at the tournament? I dont know. Really Im just going for the hell of it. It might make a good story. How could it not with a couple hundred characters gathered around to mull over a game in the hopes of leaving their daily lives and thought processes.

Its getting colder and snowier on the way up. The clouds gather near the peak in some bizarre meteorological formation.

Hundreds of people. Who am I kidding. It will probably be thirty moderately uncomfortable dudes, most of whom have long unkept hair that give them clout in the world of role playing hippies.

Lots of mountains in the distance.

Alas, it doesnt matter. It will be a good time in one way or another. So back to the list.

1. Eliminate the ego. Once the ego is in play commitments get squirrely. Ownership of moves is bad, moves are, the game is. Keep emotions free and think of the game.

Sideways view. It started getting steep. So steep in fact that I got worried about getting back down in my trusty New Balance.

2. When five minutes is left on the clock keep the moves to approximately five seconds. I like to mull. And mulling doesnt do a lot of good when the clock is spiraling through time at an awaiting flag.

This is about as far as I could get in a tshirt with running shoes on. The look out will have to wait for another day.

3. Be a tactical savage. Scalp the opponent and take the advantage. Artistic play is brilliant but tournaments arent an awaiting canvas. They are a battlefield of small squares containing plastic soldiers with high morale.

Back at the bottom the mountain grows tall again.

4. Keep your vision. Dont let your mind stray and pay attention to knight jumps and sniping bishops. Play book openings as far out as possible and save time so the endgame can contain good strategy.

This picture captures the feel of Mount Elden, perhaps better than all of the others.

The tourney is five round Swiss. I dont even know what that means.