October 23 brought blitz chess to northern Idaho in the Rathdrum Rush which was a free tournament offered by the Idaho Chess Association and included 6 rounds of G/10;d5 games in Rathdrum, Idaho. This means games were approximately 20 minutes in length at most, but as many young and inexperienced players moved too fast, the rounds finished rapidly. Ten minutes can be a long time and it does allow for thinking and strategizing. I feel that a variety of time controls should be offered by our organization to give everyone an opportunity to play games in a time they are comfortable and uncomfortable with to improve and practice. Ken Erickson was hoping his rival would show so he could earn some rating points, however, Michael Cambareri had other plans. Ken settled for educating the rest of us on playing faster chess. He won the tournament with a perfect score of 6.0/6. Second and third place were granted to Washingtonians, Andrew Beeksma (5.0/6) and Jeremy Burnett (4.0/6). All-in-all, the afternoon of chess proved an enjoyable rainy weekend.
