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Iowa Summer Open Tournament Report - Round !

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jdcannon
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How in God's green earth am I ever going to get a title if I don't play more OTB?  And thus, I signed up for the Iowa Summer Open. 

Do you guys still get nervous before a tournament? The event was to be 5 rounds of G120 D5 on a Saturday and a Sunday but by Friday, I could hardly focus! I wasn't so much worried about losing (how I normally feel) but just anxious in general... 

The Iowa Summer Open is by no means a "major event" so I was expecting that at 1703, I would be well into the top half and get paired up for easy win for the first round.

Round 1: 10:00 am the pairings are posting.  I am paired with a 2191 and I get the black pieces... wonderful.  As it turns out, I was actually one of the lowest rated players in the event and looking to have a tough day ahead of me!

Outside of the gut retching blunder, I thought I really played quite well and feel reasonably proud of the game. Some how despite losing, I walked away with some confidence. 
Stick around for Round 2! 
Cheers! 
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Jd Cannon

Product Manager at Chess.com
Half strategist, half storyteller, full-time overanalyzer.
Exploring the edges of what makes chess engaging, intuitive, and human.
Sometimes I run marathons, sometimes I blunder queens.
On good days, I make the site smoother. On bad days, I call it “A/B testing.”