Here are some of the results of my first tournament. Four interesting games that I think are representational of what 'attitude' during a match can really do for you.
I present these games in chronological order. The first two games are against a very strong player who was gracious enough to discuss some mindset and goal-oriented game play with me near the end of our matches. I went into these matches feeling under-classed and with no hope. I played blunderously & he cleaned my clock. I also think I was extremely passive and reactive, rather than insighful & clever. Never-the-less, he was a strong opponent and deserved the wins.
Game 1:
My opponent was very strong in my eyes and was gracious enough to tell me something that I really took to heart. He said:
luxlucisvia: i read your profile and i used to be in your exact smae postion, but look how far ive gotten!
luxlucisvia: good luck
Having gotten spanked those two games, I wondered what went wrong. I felt my openings which had worked for me in the past were completely foolish. However, I took his words to heart & my attention quickly turned to another quickly-developing face-off against another challenging higher-ranked opponent...
Game 3:
Game 4:
Two great opponents with two different results. I learned a lot in these four matches and hope you see that it is possible to battle through mistakes and beat a higher-ranked opponent. Low-ranked players, you are the upset! You can win if you sit down and weigh all of your options & find that best move.
Tactics Trainer is a huge help to my success in these games. You will improve leaps and bounds if you practice your tactics every night.
Both of my opponents, Evan(game 1 and 2) & Jeremiah(game 3 and 4), were gracious hosts and displayed excellent sportsmanship. Thank you both for your blessings on this blog post!
Benny