NC Open Round 4

Once again, I felt good coming into this round.  I had earned another chance to prove myself worthy of an 1800 rating after survivng 3 tough games the day before.  My opponent here blundered early in the middlegame and compounded the mistake pushing too hard for counter play.  This game was easier for me than it could have been, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

One thing that was interesting about this game was the fact that it was so positional.  In fact, after the game, some of my friends were looking at this one and saying "Wait!  YOU played this?!  But it's move 13 and there've been no captures!"  In fact...it took a 14 moves before there was even any pawn tension in this game.  Despite the misconception of many and while I don't prefer it, positional play doesn't really bother me that much.  As Emory Tate told me once, positional play is simply preperation for future tactics.