Tom Nard Memorial VIII: First OTB of 2022

Hello everyone! This past Saturday (February 26) I competed in the 8th annual Tom Nard Memorial tournament. It was a four-round Swiss, with a classical time control of 45/10. I was participating in the U1200 section since my otb rating prior to the tournament was 1025. Some of you may be wondering why my otb rating is so low, some of you probably don't care. Long story short, last year in mid-July I took some losses to unrated players, and if y'all are familiar with the USCF rating algorithm, you'll know it doesn't take kindly to losing to unrated players. So my rating dropped from its temporary peak of 1191 to 1025. All because of one loss... But anyway, enough about my rating rant; let's dive into the context of the tournament.

So the funny thing is I didn't decide to attend this tournament until a week before so I had very limited time for preparation. I didn't do heavy-duty preparation and actually took the week off from playing live chess, in order to clear my mind and avoid exhausting myself. Basically, I just brushed up on some opening theory and played tactics the whole week. I felt confident and ready to take down the competition! The awards for first place were $200 dollars and a trophy, while second place received $100. Moreover, the U1000 rated player with the best tournament performance would also receive a $100 prize. But money aside, I was excited for an opportunity to earn some positive rating gains. This would be my first classical tournament since July 2021 (although) I had competed in several otb blitz tournaments in between) and as the title implies, my first tournament of 2022.

Before we jump into the games, I'm going to briefly explain the layout of this blog. First, I will show an annotated PGN of the game (omitting my and my opponent's names for privacy reasons), then I will create a bullet graph of where I went wrong, and what could have been done better, then I will briefly summarize what I did in between rounds for anyone interested. So, onto the games!

Round 1: 1120 rated opponent

Where I went wrong: 

• 12. Bg5+ -f4 was significantly better, and there was no reason for me to trade queens in a superior position. I even briefly considered f4 during the game.
• 19. Bxf6 -while not a bad idea, trading off his knight only improved the placement of his bishop and gave him hope with his bishop pair. A better try was Re6, exploiting the pin.
• 27. Bc4?? -a blunder which dipped my +2.70 advantage to 0.00 for the reamainder of the game. Rd2 was the only move to save my rook and prevent me from having to return the exchange.

After the round I wasn't too frustrated because while I should have won that game, I still played pretty cleanly and I thought I would gain a small amount of rating from that game since my opponent's rating was +100 mine. I walked around the tournament room after my game ended and observed some of the other games going on, like the ones @B1ZMARK and @Lightning were playing. After their games ended, I got to meet both of them and we talked for about ten minutes before the second round was to start. I knew that I would need to push for a win in my next game. With three more wins, my score would be at 3.5/4 which I thought would give me a legitimate chance to win the game. When I saw that my next opponent was rated 740 I automatically felt a sense of confidence (which I shouldn't have. I need to learn to stop underestimating my opponents lol), and went to set up my board. 

Round 2: 740 rated opponent

Where I went wrong...

• 65. f5 -a disgustingly hideous move. Moving the rook anywhere won the game.
• The terrible mentality that a game is over before it's finished. -this led me to move too quickly and to stop spending time on my clock. It's the primary reason I again threw my advantage and drew.

After this round it was lunch from 1:30-2:30 and I went and ate a burger. And that's literally it. When I arrived back at the tournament site, it was time to start round 3. My opponent was rated 1170 and was the highest seed in my section.

Round 3: 1170 rated opponent

Where I went wrong...

• 3. dxe4 -accepting the gambit wasn't wise. I should've just played Nf6 and ignored the weird moves my opponent was playing. I thought I could refute the gambit which was a terrible decision, because if you've ever tried to refute a gambit you've never seen otb, it's not easy. Kudos to my opponent for getting me out of my French preparation.
• 10. Bd7 -if I had just looked for forward, aggressive moves I could've found the killer Nd5 move which @B1ZMARK showed me after the game. I was too scared of white's attacking potential to look at my own.
• 23. f5 -hmm, twice in a row f5?? spoiled my winning advantage. The best try was c4, trying to break open the white king's shell.

After the round, I went into the lounge area and @B1ZMARK analyzed my round three game. He showed me some places where I went wrong and found 10. Nd5 which I was disappointed to have missed. I couldn't win any prizes anymore but I still wanted to win the final round. It would be preferable if I didn't go winless that day. I was facing an opponent rated 1080, and I was slightly nervous since he's won previous tournaments I've been to.

Round 4: 1080 rated opponent

Where I went wrong...

• Leaving my c pawn hanging -this was really my only major mistake in the game. It was a gutsy move because if he had called my bluff, the middlegame would've been significantly more complicated. I also almost blundered into a draw, but all otb tournaments have happy endings, right?
  
  

Conclusion

After the round, I watched the remainder of the game between Lightning and B1Z which ultimately ended in a draw. By the way, if you want a recap of this tournament from a top blogger, check out Lightning's version of the event here. 

So I had four winning positions and left with only one win. However, I'm not too disappointed since I played four great games against four players with excellent sportmanship and who are very talented at the game of chess. I also got four great games to analyze and learn from my mistakes and at the end of the day, it was a very fun tournament and I'm happy to have attended. Until next otb tournament, -Nimzo-IndianaJones