My First Tournament!

 FOR BEST GAME SEE ROUND 6...

This past long weekend I competed in my first tournament in the CFC (Chess Federation of Canada), and was surprised to find that my blitz rating (~1700) did not translate to my performance in longer time controls (90 minutes + 30 seconds per move). The tournament was the Ontario Open, which boasted a strong field of players and from what I have been told is a strong tournament to try and make one’s debut. I was encouraged to enter the tournament by a good friend of mine Dan Coren who was competing in the U2000 class, so we grabbed a ride to Hamilton, and stayed with Billy Carroll (1357), as well as Mike Ivanov (2100). Both people were extremely friendly and were instrumental in making the whole trip an enjoyable experience.

            The tournament was 6 rounds spread over 3 days, as an unrated player I was cast into the U1600 division, the night before I had struggled to come up with a bit of opening theory that wasn’t blitz shenanigans that I play online. Also as I was sharing a room with someone I had the pleasure of sleeping on the mattress springs (my advice is you are better off on the floor) while they got the mattress. As a result the next morning as I went into my first game sleep deprived and sufficed to say more than a touch nervous.

After that shaky win I was feeling more confident, and in the second game this proved to be my undoing, after winning a minor piece due to a terrible blunder by my opponent, I went on to blitz my next series of moves and actually give him winning chances and material back, which he used to their fullest extent and crush my sense of accomplishment from round one.

The next two games on day two were no better than round 2, where lack of confidence and poor opening choices led to two losses with the black pieces to make my record a disappointing 1 win 3 losses after 4 games.

After going 1 out of four, possibly the best thing that could have happened to me did happen. Mike and I were playing some table tennis in the recreation room in our lodgings when, trying to be fancy, I managed to hit myself in the face with my paddle and draw blood. It was just the tension breaker I needed, and perhaps it knocked some sense into me as I went to bed on my springs with a smile on my face.

            My first game that day was against another unrated player and if I won I guaranteed myself the prize for top unrated player in the tournament (which was a surprise to me until I learned that he was the only other unrated player in the tournament). I had the white pieces and despite 2 draw offers by my opponent I managed to secure the prize.

            Now the last round was coming up and as usual the paring were released a few minutes before the games began, and I found myself with the black pieces against the top rated player in the division with a rating of 1597. First and foremost I was really impressed with the rating because I later found out that he had only partial vision and as such was allowed to touch the piece to confirm what it was if he wasn’t sure. I talked to a tournament organizer to see what rules were changed on his behalf, and before I left he had warned despite his 2100 rating he probably could not win in a blindfolded match. Nervous yet excited I went to the board and the best game of the tournament that I was a part of began.

            After losing 3 straight I had managed to bring it back to an even 3 wins and 3 losses. Despite knowing that some of my games in the middle were definitely not my best performance I was happy with my last day of play and managed to win a book in the process. Thanks again to Billy Carrol, who placed high with 4 wins in my division, upsetting some of the higher rated players and winning a 14-move game, for giving us a ride and discounts on residence. Mike Ivanov, who went 3 wins, 3 losses in the open division (!!), For an awesome Russian accent, great table tennis games and good lessons and analysis. And Dan Coren, for making me sleep on the springs instead of the mattress, but otherwise for being the familiar face and offering consolation during the slump.  

cool story bro

Very cool and well done. You'll only get better.

good games and analysis Ryan, especially liked the last game since you dealt with all the complications very practically and not fritz-like, this will give you many tournament wins. I'll post my games up soon :)

Congratulations! 

 Why were you surprised?

I dunno I had just assumed that when i could play well in short time i could do so in longer time controls, but the thing that got me was that i lost a lot of my confidence for sacrificing and tactical moves that i would play in blitz

hence the english...

I am just silly i guess but now I know and i think my rating will go up next tournament... 

update also my rating is offically 1440 cfc... and I finished 12th in the tournament.

I would compare blitz to snorkeling, and tournament games to scuba diving... while snorkeling is fun and you can certainly go your whole life without scuba, scuba diving just gives you a complete picture that blitz can't.

I like long games, they are different and i find them more stressful, but i have a feeling with a few more tournaments under my belt i will come to enjoy them more. It's interesting how much i consider in a long game compared to a blitz game, there are so many options to consider that in blitz you don't get the time for... 

Yeah this analysis was very tactically oriented, I do have some notions of positional play, like outposts, colour weaknesses caused by exchanging of bishops and such but I think you are right in saying that i was far to tactically minded in this tournament, i guess i felt that i could calculate complications better than some of my opponents (which i could not apparently) and strove to make use of it...

I will definitely take another... more positional look at some of these games when i get time

Thank you for the advice...  and can i assume that emphasizes the 6th game with your tactical comment as well?? (though it does apply to all the games in some respect)

Fifty percent in your first tournament is pretty good, well done.

thanks for all the comments! I didn't expect any feedback at all... so what does everyone think is the biggest thing that needs the most adjusting from blitz to longer games??

It's just a better quality of chess.

The secret is just practice good positional habits until you learn to trust them. You start to learn that tactical opportunities will flow from your superior position, which puts pressure on your opponents, rather than just trying to set up tricks and hoping they don't see it coming (which I'm frequently guilty of).

Thats definately on my to do list... any sources would be awesome!!!

i guess for me thats a by product of blitz? yeah i have heard that elsewhere ... i think my middle-game needs more positional work, i tend to rely on tactics alone in the middle game unless i see an outpost or a rook to the 7th sorta thing

Challenge Nakamura to a match. Schedule it for next April.

Well done for entering a tournament, putting the games up here and being honest in your assessment of your performance.

Good luck going forward, in Chess

yeah the guy had a lot of books there and i didn't eve get to choose... he just threw a book on the tromp at me and said congrats!!! oh well its a prize in my books ;)