Too Old & Too Slow: My First Live Tournaments

I've been on Chess.com for almost two years but had never played a live tournament. The reason is pretty simple. My play deteriorates in geometric proportion to the reduction in time allowed for the game.

Early on, I played 30-minute rapid games exclusively, until I discovered daily - and daily tournaments - and then played those exclusively.

But this week I had some extra time on my hands, and since I was waiting impatiently for the next round to begin in five different daily tournaments, I decided to take the plunge and join an arena 10/0 live rapid tournament.

The first game gave me a hint of what was to come. I ended up with a repetition draw even though I had a major advantage because I couldn't find the right queen move.

I got destroyed in the second game. I won the third game... by abandonment with a slight lead.

Finally, in the fourth game I got a legitimate win after picking off a hanging rook.

I split the final 6 games. I achieved my goal of not flagging in any game, but it definitely affected my play.

I decided to try again, but this time chose a tournament that would limit my time panic: a 15/10 Swiss.

It started off abominably.

I hung my queen in the first game, gave away a draw in the second game, and blundered away a win in the third.

I was about to give it up, but I got a win by abandonment in the 4th game. I was determined to finish with a win... and it took ages.

My opponent had me on the ropes until he hung a rook on move 35, which put us in a drawn position. But he got greedy, and after a series of trades and sacrifices I managed to queen a passed pawn on move 47.

Here's a position you won't see too often:

I've seen a lot of tactics exercises, but I don't think I've run across Queen vs. Knight and 4 Pawns.

By sheer stubbornness I captured all four pawns by move 73, but we were far from done.

Of course my #1 thought was not to get forked. I kept my king and queen on different colored squares, but it slowed down my mating attack. My opponent offered a draw four or five times, but I knew if I was pigheaded enough, I could work out a mate. And I eventually did, on move 94.

After that was done, I thought I was finished with live tournaments. But unlike almost all of you, I knew nothing about league play. I saw I was in 2nd place in the Wood division, whatever that was, so I learned how it all works. I was guaranteed to move into Stone, but I wanted to make sure I stayed in the top 3, so I needed to play one more tournament.

I went back to 10/0 arena, and it was a mess again.

Game 1: Timed out in a winning position after missing an M1,.. twice.

Game 2: Won after missing an M1... but catching it with a second chance.

Game 3: Lost after mssing a crucial move in my Stafford Gambit attack.

Game 4: Lost on time in a drawn position.

Game 5: Won even though I kind of botched my Stafford Gambit again.

Game 6: Won when my opponent blundered his queen on move 12.

Game 7: Lost after missing a move that would have led to a draw.

Game 8: My only proud moment. My opponent played a Caro-Kann, but ended up blundering his bishop, leading to this sneaky, puzzle-like mate:

In this position I played Ng5, thinking all the time, "He's gonna spot it." But he ended up playing the perfect move for me - Qf4+.

It made Bd2 the perfect disguising move. It looked like I was interested in attacking the queen and defending the knight at the same time. All I really wanted, of course, was to keep the knight exactly where it was while he moved his queen to safety, which he did by taking the now-undefended d4 pawn. Hooray! I could then play...

Qxh7#.

Game 9: Lost badly after miscalculating an exchange.

Game 10: Lost on time after building up a big lead with a well-executed Ponziani.

Game 11: Demolished a player rated 490.

So I got my wish, finishing 2nd in Wood and moving up to Stone, where I'll probably stay unless I get really bored. I don't take very long to make moves in my daily games. For daily, I play fast. But I like the leisure to look for the boneheaded mistakes I'm about to make, and then not make them.

I don't always succeed, but when I lose I prefer it to be because I was outplayed, not because I did something godawful in a hurry.

I'll leave the faster chess to you young folks.