Fatigue Before the Finals
Jeez, playing in a chess tournament is grueling! My first three matches I was full of energy and excitement. Going into my fourth I knew I was tired but wanted to play anyway since it is my first tournament. I watched as one player after another asked for byes and figured that they all felt the same way. My opponent however, was young and drinking soda, keeping his caffeine and sugar levels up while I tried to do some physics homework on a sofa in the lobby.
I feel like I outplayed him at the start, but it all caught up with me in the end. Still I was happy with my play.
So that was the end of the weekend rounds 1-4. I decided to re-enter to play in rounds 1-4 of the weekday rounds since I lived nearby and wanted to play. That most likely was a mistake and the games to follow should show why.
So in this round I clearly didn't have my focus, whether it was a lack of energy or simply letting my guard down I just don't know.
Next was a battle to the finish, showing a clear deficiency in my endgame technique.
Next is a round 3 game of the weekday preliminaries. At this point I definitely needed a bye. I was falling asleep during the day doing basic activities and shouldn't have been playing.
So clearly I am slipping and identifying weaknesses of my own. So I am learning a lot about what I am susceptible to and think my weaknesses are:
secret space
Endurance
Pawn moves
Wasting tempe
Open positions
Endgames
Central control
Overextending myself
secret space
All of those little issues and bad habits? They get compounded when I am tired just as any other athletes weaknesses tend to show more clearly when fatigued.
Tonight is round 4 and the last match before the finals start Friday. I will definitely take my 3 points from the weekend schedule into the finals and forget about the 1 point I earned during the week (if you play both you select your best and take that score into the finals) Friday will be the first of 5 rounds to finish off the tournament.
secret space
So what am I going to play tonight for my last match before the finals? 1.Kb9 which is the clearly winning line since it puts me in my bed for 9 hours.
