Annotated Games From My 12th Tournament

Hey Guys,

I just finished playing in the Fall Open at the Portland Chess Club in the U1800 section. The time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then an additional half hour.  I was pretty happy with this tournament because I actually managed to take home 75 dollars for the best U1600 result with two wins, two draws, and a bye! 

For the first round, I took a bye for  so I could play in a soccer match. I won my second match quite decisively due to poor play by my opponent.

My third match was a draw where I was on the right side of a good vs. bad bishop situation, but the position was extremely closed and he only had one weakness so it ended as a draw.

   My fourth match I also won quite easily, also thanks to poor play by my opponent.

The last game was a back and forth affair, where worse then better then, in a slightly better middlegame, I blundered a pawn and went on to mess up my position even worse.  I had a chance to equalize and even be better on the last move on time control, but with only 22 seconds left, missed the essential small tactic and somehow held an endgame that by all rights I should have lost.

All in all, I thought it was a decent result and I was quite happy with my play.  My rating rose from 1564 to 1619 and I managed to win some cash.  Thanks so much for checking out my games! Unitil the next tournament,

Take Care,
Elias