My First OTB Tournament in Over 2 Years!
Yesterday, I played in my first OTB (Over the Board) tournament in two-and-a-half years. As OTB tournaments were popping up after the pandemic lockdown, I had started to work on chess again. Due to the relentless load of schoolwork, I have been unable to do anything in chess, but the circumstances have decreased in workload considerably, so now I am back! I will hopefully be back for more during the summer as well.
The tournament was hosted in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario called Newmarket. The tournament was for one day, 4 rounds with a 55 + 5 second increment time control. To the Americans who predominantly use delay time controls, increment actually allows time to be gained and therefore is better than delay (Canada > America)
With that out of the way, I was the second highest seed in the tournament (there was only one section). A total of 52 entrants were there, so there was essentially zero chance that I would meet the top seed. For more bare information on the tournament, you can visit this website.
Let's get started! Important Notice: This is all my commentary for practical reasons. No engine was used in order for readers to understand more. Some comments may be inaccurate. Timestamps for 30-min mark and 5-min mark are included for context.
Game 1:
This game was surprisingly difficult, mainly because my opponent was using all of their time in the opening to make sure I didn't gain an advantage. After my opponent went low on time, however, he cracked, and I won. I don't think I made a mistake during this game.
Game 2:
My opponent coughed up the opening badly, which is what I was expecting when the tournament started, since the transition from opening to middlegame always required lots of thought. I took advantage of this easily. My opponent would later get 3/4 in this tournament so it was obvious that this was the biggest challenge for my opponents. Case in point for:
Game 3:
Game 2, but problem is exacerbated. The opening was a massive failure for my opponent which allowed to gain full control over the queenside as my opponent was unable to develop. This game firmly shows how important development is. Make sure to develop your pieces!
Game 4:
I would also like to mention that my opponent just came to Canada, so his strength is much higher than 1771. However, my opponent took no chances, and no one had a winning advantage at any point in this game. A draw is a fair result here. Well played by both of us.
Conclusion:
By looking at the games above, I honestly felt pretty good about my play. If I was white in the final game maybe I could've gone for more, but alas a draw is fine too. Surprisingly, no one had a perfect 4/4 record and there were 5 players with 3.5/4 (including me). Since the prize money was given to the top 5, it meant that no one with 3/4 got any money, which is completely unexpected when the tournament began (there could've been 10 players with 3 points).
Even though the prize money was split evenly I also managed to be first on tiebreak. So I guess that's a bonus! 
Hopefully you found this post informative:
TLDR: Don't mess up in the opening. If you are playing against a player much higher rated than you are, play the most solid opening (1.d4 as white, semi-symmetrical as black) and pray. 
Thanks for Reading!!
