My First OTB Tournament Experience
On Memorial Day weekend I participated in the 8th Cherry Blossom Classic, my first Over the Board tournament, at the age of 27. It was an interesting weekend to say the least and I learned pretty quickly that even though I had been playing casually since I was young, I was still very much a beginner. Even though I got beat down pretty badly, I did actually learn a lot about my play while at this tournament and how to start analyzing my games a little deeper to look for weak areas. I've also learned quite a lot about playing in tournaments in general since I went into this one blind. I plan on talking a little bit about my pre-match experiences and then give a little bit of my mindset for each of my games (of which there are 6). If you read this all, I appreciate you.
The Day Before
When I went into this tournament, I did it mostly because I was bored and curious. I'd only played casually online and over the board, I only kind of knew a couple openings, and I had never actually played at the time controls that were set for this tournament (G45; +15/ G120; +30). Going in I knew my time management was going to be bad but at the same time I knew that I was only going to fix that through experience. So with 1/3rd of my problems "solved", I decided I would try and focus on the openings that I knew and come up with game plans on how to best use them. Needless to say, I got bored very quickly. It wasn't because learning was boring, instead it was learning alone and not knowing how best to utilize my time learning openings. Basically, I had no idea what I was doing beyond looking at openings on a chess engine and trying to memorize the lines. Since sometime has passed between this tournament and this writing, I've learned that cramming was definitely not the best way and I've started applying a "learn & apply" approach.
Day One - Rounds 1 & 3
Day one, the day I started my chess journey beyond the casual game online or in person. I played two games this day with round 1 being my only 45 minute match of the tournament since I was given a bye for round 2. I played the white pieces against an opponent who was rated 1122 at the time and was easily more than half my age. Going into this match I was honestly pretty nervous. This was my first competitive match after all and I was starting with what is arguably my worst side of the board. You can see below how it went, I definitely didn't play my best game and my opponent was quick to pick me apart for an easy win. She even had to remind me that I was in check at one point (this has caused me to look carefully at the board for any possible checks/moves even when it's obvious that I'm checkmated). I also went into this with the London System, which I could have played better.
After a long wait for the 3rd round game, I was finally given my opponent and the side of the board I would be playing on. My opponent, a child rated at 1145, was going to be playing opposite of me on the white side of the board. It was here I was determined I could win a game even though my opponent was much stronger than me. It wasn't until the middle of the game that I realized that I was definitely not winning and it wasn't until I looked at the game in an engine that I realized I was completely outclassed. For my first competitive outing of the Caro-Kann, I didn't do too great.
After my last loss, I had dinner in the hotel room and was looking over the games I played during the day. While playing I had noted a couple problematic areas I wanted to fix, my time management was definitely horrible and my board vision was not great. My time management is fixable, I knew going in one of my biggest weaknesses was playing to fast and not taking enough time to think. It definitely became problematic during the first couple games as I made mistakes and blunders I might have not made had I given myself time to breath and think. My board vision was something I knew would come with more practice and experience. So for day 2 I decided I would control my time better and slowly analyze the board as best as I could before making any moves.
Day Two - Rounds 4 & 5
Going into day 2, my plan was to better control my time and to look at the board more closely so I could try my best to make the best move. Round 4 kicked off with me playing black against another strong opponent rated at 1202. This match went for 3 hours and had become the longest game I played during the tournament. My opponent started out by playing 1.d4 to which I basically determined a couple nights before I would respond with a King's Indian. This was by no means a perfect game but while playing I felt I actually had a real chance at winning. The game felt like it was close the entire time playing. After a very long game I ultimately resigned but I felt like I had improved somewhat over the day before.
By the time round 5 started I was exhausted. The 3 hour game I had played earlier in the day surprisingly took it out of me and I was ill prepared for my next opponent. I went into my next game against a kid who was rated at 904 and I was playing with the white pieces again. So being tired, I did the only thing I know with the white side of the board, I played the London System again. Now I don't want to say I played a terrible game but I definitely played a bad one. My opponent was nice about it though and after game (and even some the next day) we chatted about the different moves and some other games we had played during the tournament. There were a lot of comments about things I could have done better so I used it was a learning opportunity and took note of what I could have done better.
After dealing with a 3 hour game and then losing in a game due to exhaustion, I spent the rest of the night hanging out in my hotel room watching TV to decompress. I had analyzed my games a little bit and figured I'd just have to control my time better the next day and again take more time to look over the board. Same problem points as the day before and yet I realized that these are going to be constant pain points for me moving forward so they had to be consciously fixed.
Day Three - Rounds 6 & 7
Going into the final day of the tournament, I was ready to go home. I had been hit with defeat after defeat and I was pretty demoralized for my final 2 matches. One can only take so much of a beating after all. I was not about to give up however as I had committed myself to the games so I was going to play them win or lose. Round 6 pitted me up against an older gentleman who was rated at 979. I once again took the black side of the board and played a game that after analysis, I realized I had a very real chance of winning had I not missed important moves or missed important opportunities to take advantage of my opponents mistakes.
When I analyzed my fifth game after, I realized that I didn't want to go home with six losses from the tournament. I buckled down determined to win at least one game and began to look over lines for the white side of the board. Having played black 3 times I made the assumption that I would end the day with the white pieces. That assumption was wrong as I found myself on the black side of the board. My opponent, another unrated player, was about the same age as me and had also had a demoralized look. I think going in, neither of us expected much and for the first time in the tournament, I didn't feel any stress. Instead after meeting my opponent, who was just a little bit younger than me I would say, we just sort of had some fun with it. This was also the game where I got a taste of my first real endgame in a competitive setting. For once this weekend, I was having fun. When I won at the end, I had the biggest sigh of relief and the drive home was very much one of celebration.
On the way home I had given some thought about my final tournament matches and what I saw that needed improvement but also where I had shown some improvement. Even though I lost round 6 to a checkmate, I had actually realized that I visualized the checkmate when I had stepped out of the room to use the restroom and new it was immediately going to happen as soon as I returned. It was a level of board vision I had not had previously and is one that I have been slowly trying to improve sense. My time management had also taken some improvement. I was playing slower and thinking more (for the most part) and even in 10 minute games here on chess.com, I've noticed that I'm playing in a less rushed manner. Honestly, as long as there was improvement, I knew I would slowly start to get better with experience.
Tournament Reflections
My time at the tournament was definitely interesting and I definitely learned a lot about how I play chess, how best to improve and even what kind of studying doesn't work for me. These were important discoveries during the weekend and as I was making adjustment I definitely felt I was slowly starting to get to a place where everything would eventually just click. My time management in games has improved a lot more since this tournament, I've dedicated time to learning openings in full both alone and with friends, and I've even started to learn how best to analyze games based off of my experiences of analyzing my games during the tournament. Even though I placed very low on the leaderboard and I left the tournament with an USCF provisional rating of 589, I felt content. I had learned my weaknesses, saw improvements to those weaknesses and have continued to strengthen those weaknesses to this day. I think had I just taken the losses and saw no improvements I would have been severely disappointed in myself.
