US Championship Online Qualifier | Games 1-4

Hi, this is part 1 of my games in the US Championship Online Qualifier.  I participated in the 1601-2000 rating section, because my rapid rating is a bit underrated.  There were over 200 players in this section!  Anyways, lets get into the games.

GAME 1

In round 1, I was lucky enough to get paired down as I was in the top half of the tournament.  In my opinion, it was a pretty smooth game against a weaker opponent.

GAME 2

In round 2, I was paired against a WCM with a rating of 1900.  She was probably a better player, but I felt that the time control was to my advantage as there was no increment.

After I made this move, I was in a slightly worse position.  Also, I had down to less than a minute on my clock with almost one less minute than my opponent ...

... but speed kills

Here is the rest of the game

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GAME 3

In this game, I played the eventual winner of the tournament.  He just outplayed me

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GAME 4

I think I was a little too nervous at the start of the tournament, and used too much time in the opening and middlegames.  In this game, in an even endgame, I had half of my opponent's time and erred in time trouble.

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In the next blog, we will begin with a critical part of my tournament.  I had lost 2 in a row and was slipping from contention.