Back to 1800 USCF!
Hi, friends, I'm back with another post! 
Since my last post, I have participated in a couple of tournaments, and (as the title suggests) with some success.
If I hadn't (re)broken 1800 USCF, an alternative title would have been "My return to local tournaments", as this was my first time playing rated chess in Waco in 11 months. Why had I avoided local tournaments? Honestly, life is short, and over the past spring and summer, I wanted to get good tournament competition against strong players out of town (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, etc), so I decided to go off and try and become a better player, and I think it helped!
I played in two tournaments in a four-day span. One was our local open tournament (4 rounds, G/45;d5), the other was an invitational quad (3 rounds, G/30;d5). Compared to tournaments out of town I had done, it's a fast time control, especially once the clock gets low. But I was up for the challenge! Let's get into the stories as always!
SATURDAY, AUGUST 14th
August 14th was actually my brother's birthday. However, he was cool with me playing in the tournament, as we had his official celebration the week before. I was unsure the days leading up if I would want to play in the event, I wasn't sure how motivated I would be. However, it was more or less official Friday evening, as I did some prep, reviewed some openings, and we were good to go!
I went into the event as the #4 seed, which is rare for a local tournament. I'm usually seeded #2 or #3 in Waco, but this tournament had some strong players! (even a couple below me who were in the 1700s).
In round 1, I was paired with Robert Kent (1416 USCF). I've never met or played him. Here we go!
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KEY POINTS:
- Expanding on the Queenside with 8... b5 for example is very thematic.
- 9. exd5, my opponent shouldn't exchange, e5 would have been an improvement
- After 21. Ne2?, the Rook got somewhat compromised, which hurt White's position in the long run.
- 34... Qe1, I'm able to exchange Queens even when I have an initiative. It's normally best to keep Queens on the board, but my Rook was wayyy too active.
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Honestly, that was a little more nerve-wracking than I would like for a 1400, but a win is a win, and I didn't make any major mistakes!
My round 2 pairing was against Jason Howell (2032 USCF). He was the #1 seed going into the event, which was an exciting pairing.
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KEY POINTS:
- The Albin is something I'm gonna need to study more lol.
- My position on move 15 was way better than I thought. I need to work on being more optimistic about my position. Nb5-Bc3 would have given me an initiative.
- The tactics got complicated, but 20. Qe5! would have been a save.
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Not a terrible result, but I felt like I left a lot on the table, and then I misplayed it in the end.
My round 3 pairing would be against Ricky Pierce (1706 USCF). What was interesting that Ricky was making an 18-year(!) tournament comeback! However, he started off 1.5/2 against a 1700 and 1950. So I knew leading up this wouldn't necessarily be an easy pairing.
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KEY POINTS:
- Like honestly, why did I miss Nxe5 so much??? SMH
- Once again, sort of like my first round (in the same opening until I played e5 instead of e6), my Queenside counterplay was very helpful.
- Move 45 -- principle of two weaknesses! Once I got multiple passed pawns on either side of the board, it's clear-cut winning for me.
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Honestly, reviewing afterward, I'm so embarrassed how many times I missed Nxe5. However, I think it was a good wake-up call, and a win is a win!
My final round pairing was against John Capps (1802 USCF). I have a career 0-2 record vs him, and I played poorly in both games, so I hoped to have a solid game against him. Also, I was black all three of our tournament meetings.
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KEY POINTS:
- Oftentimes, b5 can be achieved on the Black side of a Catalan, as taking may not work tactically.
- Yes, I did agree to a draw, I should play on in principle.
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Yes, we agreed to a draw. :/ I should have played on in principle, as I was slightly better as Black, and as it turns out, I would have tied for 1st in the tournament had I won the game. I just took the draw to seal the rating gain, and because of this arbitrary fear of losing I with I could completely get rid of lol.
Well, that was the first tournament! Here's the rating change:
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I was surprisingly close to 1800. A couple of days after, I think on Monday, I was informed of a local quad happening at someone's house, and I was asked to play. I decided to accept it, to reaffirm my return to local tournaments, and make one last push to 1800 before the semester begins.
The three other players were rated 1708, 1581, and 1380. If I score 3.0, that's obviously the best-case scenario! 2.5 points would probably push me over 1800. 2.0 or less would lose rating for me, but I was willing to "go for it"!
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 17th
After spending all of Monday moving into my new apartment (as I'm going to start school next week), I was ready to play in the quad on Tuesday evening! Now to preface this, I'm on a 9-game losing streak on Chess.com! 
And several of those came that Tuesday afternoon. Would that carry over? We'll have to see!
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I showed up at the house to play in the quad. The host offered players pizza and soda. I decided to take up that offer after the games finished, as I didn't want those substances to negatively affect my play.
Turns out round 1 pairings are random. So I was faced with #2 seed Logan Shafer (1708 USCF). He's been improving quickly, so I knew this would not be an easy pairing, but here we go!
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KEY POINTS:
- I think 12. Na4 was a little bit off, as I can activate my pieces with Ne4, Bf5, etc.
- a3 is pretty thematic around moves 16-18, as the b-pawn is undermined, who's defending the Knight.
- 22... Rxe5!? I guess material is relative...
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It turned out to be a crazy time scramble in the end, but I ended up winning due to my material advantage.
In round 2, I was pitted against Matthew Potts (1581 USCF). Also not going to be an easy pairing, so time to get going!
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KEY POINTS:
- 16. gxf4? was rushed, and I clearly overestimated my position there, and I'm left with a weak King to show for it.
- However, since I had the open King, I was able to use the open g-file to pressure his King!
- Honestly, the climax was a crazy time scramble in the endgame...
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This game also turned into a crazy time scramble, I was able to come out on top in the endgame.
My deed was not done yet, as I needed to go for a win vs Chandler Burkett (1380 USCF). He's been improving quite a bit throughout the last few months. So... once again, I knew this would not be an easy pairing!
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KEY POINTS:
- I'm not in love with the Bd6 setup anyway, as when I play f3-e4, Black's pieces are tactically vulnerable.
- 12... g5 and 13... Nh5 were not great, as it weakens his King.
- Almost missed the mate in one on move 17, and it appears I'm forced to give back the pawn. However, it's important to stay focused, and calculate through.
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Alright, I did it! 
I won the Quad 3-0, and I broke 1800 USCF! I also won $25 for my efforts (although the fee was $10, so I really profited $15... not bad for an evening of chess). Here's the rating change as a result:
It feels great to be back to Class-A! My peak USCF rating is at 1836, so I have 20 points to go to break that. It seems like a long road ahead, but if I can keep up with my recent tournament results, I should be able to get there, but I do need to do well! Since losing 58 USCF points over the span of a weekend just over a month ago, I was able to recover 56 of those!
All that to say, it feels great! I will be starting Baylor classes next Monday. I'm not sure when my next tournament will be, it may not be for a month or so. But I'm glad to have secured 1800 before the semester begins!
Well, have a great day everyone! Feel free to chat in the comments, and I'll see you for the next post!
Oh, and I got a few pics of me playing chess! Photo credit goes to Jason Howell, who likes to take pics during tournaments! 
First two photos were the Saturday tournament, last one was the Tuesday Quad!
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