The Return

Well I finally made it back to the OTB play. It was a quad at the Courtyard Marriott in Alpharetta Georgia. For anyone who might not be familiar with quads, a quad is a small tournament of a group of 4 players who are close in rating where each player plays a total of 3 games....one against each player in the group. On this particular night there were 10 quad groups. The top three groups get to play in a more intimate smaller room, while the lower rated players play in a larger room. As things turned out. I just made it to the more prestigious smaller room. I may have been the lowest rated player in the room but I was there and it was my intention to prove I belonged there.

                It was actually a rather successful outing for me. I won 2 games and lost one which was enough to take 1st place in my section. The experience was fun and nerve wracking. The time control was G30 with a 5 second delay and I often found myself in time trouble. In fact in two out of the three games I got down to my last 30 seconds. I won one of these games by checkmating my opponent in a bishop of opposites colors endgame, Its the first time I have been able to win this kind of position in an OTB game, so it will have a special memory for me...especially since I was able to do it under time pressure.