Eastern Chess Congress: A Recap
Hello people!
It's been a while since I last made a post. My previous blog covered the 2018 Wyoming Closed Championship, a whole four years ago (!!!).
For this post, I wanted to recap some cool games from a tournament I attended last week: the Eastern Chess Congress, in Princeton, NJ.
This tournament was weird. As a college student, I was one of the oldest competitors, and it was on the ultra-competitive East Coast "circuit" rather than against the friendly faces I love to see back home in Wyoming.
Without further ado, here are my games and annotations! I hope these are entertaining 
Round 1
I started with the white pieces. Also, I was playing in the U1900 section. I wasn't sure of my true chess abilities, given my infrequent chess tournaments. Perhaps I'll upgrade next time.
Round 1 was a nice confidence booster. It was a short, clean game.
Round 2
I should mention that my Round 1 and 2 opponents were both way younger than me. Crazy impressive stuff. It's also crazy that someone born in 2008 is a high schooler.
Anyway, Round 2 was a French gone wrong. Fortunately, my opponent was a little too eager to attack. This game had a cool ending. You should check it out.
Round 3
In Round 3, I felt that I had a really promising position, with opportunities to take a weak, isolated pawn. Poor calculation meant that any advantage I had dissolved. I refused to accept a draw though. I like to think that I'm good with endgames, having played several long ones throughout the years. I should mention that though my opponent was unrated, he beat two 1600s in the previous rounds, and actually ended this tournament as an 1800!
(seriously, though, the ending of Round 3 was an awesome mating net. I'm proud of that finish)
Round 4
I should have lost this game. Fortunately, my opponent just got mentally destroyed and then blundered several times. Not a game I'm proud of, but a win's a win.
Round 5
Due to a lot of draws, I was in sole first place with a score of 4/4. However, there were 4 people trailing me with 3.5/4 points. I really wanted to at least tie for first, because this tournament had some ridiculously large prize pool. I decided to play safe in this last round and attain a draw. I was winning the rook endgame but got very hasty at the last moment. I'm kicking myself for not winning this, but hey: a draw is what I sought in the first place.
Conclusion
With that last round, I tied for first with one other person at 4.5/5! It was a successful tournament: my new rating is 1851, and I earned a rather significant sum of money as prize. Most importantly, I had fun playing the game I love. College has been stressful, but I've learned to prioritize the things I care about. Enjoying life is important.
Until next time,
Will
