ODU U1400 Rated Tourney Final Round
Today, October 8th 2014, was the last day of this U1400 USCF rated tourney. I wasn't in any position to prevail in this tourney by playing today; however I wanted to play the game I was scheduled to play, against over 1600 rated Chris, as tough as possible.
I went into it with this being the face I'd have when leaving:
I think I did in fact play relatively solid (for a sub 1200 USCF player) up until the game ending blunder. Chris and I would analyze the game among ourselves directly after the game and it was heartening to hear from him that my moves were just outside of the norm he has seen and pressured him into making moves that he put little "?" next to. Moves that really made him think.
Additionally I knew going in, due to his draw against the 879 rated player, that while he plans well and makes good moves, it takes him longer than I thought safe for him to make each move and part of my strategy was to play solidly enough to push him to a time pressure. But in any case I did in fact lose and I lost by checkmate.
So, Chess.com...let me have it!