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Ten-Game Undefeated Streak; How It All Happened

Ten-Game Undefeated Streak; How It All Happened

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Hello everybody! I haven't blogged in a while, so I'd like to make this one good. Recently, I tilted in OTB rating, falling from my peak to 2088 USCF. However, after some revisions, I regained my peak of 2121 USCF. Let's see how I got there. Some factors that I think helped were; 

  • Revising openings, with a bit more help.
  • Getting experience from my opponents, knowing when to accept draws.
  • Finally, not caring as much.                                                               

This one is debatable, because everybody says that you have to care. However, this confidence of sorts that losing wasn't terrible caused me to move faster and always having the edge on time, which helped me in time scrambles, which occur commonly in the time format of 45|5. 

Lastly, I'd love to thank the owner and the runner of these such tournaments, Chuck Ensey. He does a really great job of running these tournaments, located next to the scenic Balboa Park. Balboa Park

Game 1: A Great Way To Start It Off

Because Roger; my opponent, and I, are friends, we decided to both annotate this blast of a game. However, for preparation reasons, we have each redacted the beginning of the game. 

Game 2: Time To Bounce Back!

So obviously, after that horrid game, I was desperate for a win. But desperate times call for very desperate measures. After some interesting preparation and opening play, I tried to go for an interesting game, not caring about the result.  This was a frankly horrendous game; I should not have won this. 

And here, sadly, I fell under 4 minutes and stopped notating. What happened was; basically, I had a completely winning position, but I blundered, and then it was dead lost. He was up a knight, but then I swindled, pushing my queenside pawns; which lead to a win. 
I don't want to show a game that I played for prep reasons, so I'll show you guys round 4.
My opponent, a very strong player who has beaten me countless times, played an opening that I was scared of. So I revised, choosing a practical opening that worke... well, you'll see.  
Game 3: A Miniature?
That was a fun game!
On to the next one. 
Game 4: Opening Backfires
Game 5: Surviving a Scare
Whew! That was CLOSE. 

Game 6: Beautiful Tactics, Terrible Finish.
This was the start of a good tournament, but I was demoralized for throwing this into a potential draw and wasting 30 minutes that could be spent watching the WORLD CUP GAMES.
 


Thank you for reading this blog.
Side Note: All these games were annotated without an engine, besides the final one.