Correspondence Chess - 2014 Electronic Knights - My First Round Games

As detailed in my previous posting on correspondence chess, two of my six first round games of the 2014 Electronic Knights tournament were forfeited by my opponents within the first few moves. These two games are not presented here. However, the remainder of my games are presented below.

Game 1:

My first game to be finished was against the second ranked player. It was a fairly short excursion into the Sicilian Defense and ended abruptly when my opponent misread a move I sent him.

Game 2:

My second game to finish was against one of the unrated players in my section.

Game 3:

My third game to finish was against the third ranked player. Even though I was ranked only one below him, he had more than a 300 rating point advantage over me at the start of the tournament. He tended to reply very quickly (within a day at the most, sometimes quicker), which I think was one of the reasons he ended up losing the game.

Game 4:

My last game to finish was against the top ranked player in my section. Starting out at slightly more than 600 rating points below him, I didn't have high expectations. Rather, I resolved to take my time and try and find the best move possible. I figured if I could get through the game without making any serious blunders, then I would be happy.