Path To Chess Prosperity #3: 9/9/17 Tournament Analysis PART 1
Hello, chess friends!
This chapter of Path to Chess Prosperity will be entirely devoted to covering and analyzing the tournament games I played in three weeks ago to cross 1700.
So you may wonder, why did I take so long to share this with you? Part of the reasoning is that I do not use computers to analyze my tournament games (suggested by my chess coach). So I elected to spend more time analyzing my games and coming up with top quality ideas on my own.
Three weeks will not change the course of a good chess game and eventful tournament! 
Anyways, in round 1, I was paired with one of the chief organizers of the tournament as well as the Arlington Chess Club (and regular blog follower!). I think he decided to pop into round 1 because the Open section had an odd number of players without him. Anyways, the pairings were up. This writer got to elect the first move. Here we go!
I was pretty happy with the result against a good chess friend of mine. Yes, his rating is not quite above the sky, a win is a win, a good game is a good game, and a 1-0 start is always satisfying!
Some notes:
- The game I was referring to was Carlsen vs. Karjakin in the Sinquefield Cup 2017. I thought White's set up was cool and decided to experiment it in my own game.
- This was only my third time in tournament play not opening 1. d4 with White.
- I liked the variation I analyzed with 7... a6, though I have not looked at this very much and could be wrong about some aspects of the variation.
- Fun Fact: Mr. Wood and I have consistantly played a correspondence chess game on chess.com since last year, myself leading the series with 7 wins and 2 losses.
Well... that was good training for a second opponent over 700 points higher. I had played this guy once before and lost the game after messing up in time trouble, and I was ready for a winning attempt with Black.
Though this was a tough game and quite a mental challange, you can't really doubt the felicity of my biggest career upset (playing with Black)! Too bad he was 1899 and not over 1900!
Some notes:
- I obviouslly neglected Bc5 in the opening a couple of times and opted for more passive moves.
- In positions like this, it can be very dangerous to take the loose b-pawn on either side.
- Sometimes, defense indeed wins championships! Don't be afraid to defend positions if the right reward is waiting for you!
2-0 was not a bad place to be at halftime. Could I keep this up in a strong field of players which included a near master? Stay tuned for part 2 in a seperate post with the rest of the games!
