Blogs

First tournament since 2005

Avatar of chessicstudent
chessicstudent
Show your flair!
| 2

So, on Saturday, I played in an action tournament. 5 round Swiss, G/45, in the u1700 section (my USCF rating is 1320, so I couldn't play in the u1300).

I was pretty excited about this tournament, though a little leary of the time control. I've played a couple of rated ladder games in my club now, at a much longer time control (30/90, SD/1). I've felt pretty good in those, but wasn't sure how I would do in a much faster time-control.

Round 1 started with my opponent showing up after 5 minutes had already ticked off his clock. He didn't manage his time well at all, and flagged in the middle of the middle game. Let's take a look:

 

Ok, well, not a very satisfying win, but it's still worth a full point. By the way, several of my opponents are seriously underrated here. That game did not feel like I was playing a 900. 

I ran out to get some lunch before round 2. When I came back, while I was wolfing down my lunch, there was some drama going on in the last game going from round 1. Something about an illegal move in time pressure, I didn't try to get all the details. However, in that game, my round 2 opponent, under 1300 herself, took down a 1650ish player. 

This next game was just terrible. This was a real opportunity to upset the girl who had a nice upset herself, and I didn't even play well. I would have been perfectly content to get beaten in a complicated position where she just outplayed me. But to get beaten without even playing anywhere near my best chess....very frustrating. 

 

 

Well, this was disappointing, but there was nothing to do but play on. At least I recognized the name for my round 3 pairing. I played this guy the week before in a ladder game, and won handily. 

 

This was a tough loss to take, honestly. My opponent played like a hustler, only using 5 minutes off his clock for the entire game, and playing for silly tricks like 2. Qe2. I was extremely frustrated to lose what I thought was a hugely winning position. I actually went for a long walk after the game, just trying to calm myself down before round 4. 
So...won 2, and lost 2. And I had scheduled a round 5 bye, so that I could actually get home in time to see my son before he went to bed. I suppose 2.5/5 in an u1700 isn't so bad. But I definitely felt like I could have done better. Oh well, maybe next time!