Never Give Up On Your Initiative

"If you don't take a chance you don't stand a chance" is an idea that allowed me to win in a very critical moment in the 2013 Pacific Coast adult u1200 section. Through my tournament experience (at my level) I usually relied on my opponents to make a mistake by falling for a tactic, but for the first time, I faced a player who did not give into any of the traps and read my tactics well. Psychologically, I was dropping to the dumps as I would spend a lot of time calculating the many ways to win and my opponent finding the only way to deflect the tractic or trap. This was my first win without winning tactically, but calculatively. From this game I learned to be brave and to sometimes stay on the initiative even if it involves risking material because when there is no tactic to be made, then the game becomes a war of positional play.