2012 Dallas Open
Well, today I went to and played in my first tournament since 2008! I was very nervous in the first round (3 rounds today, 2 rounds tomorrow) and ended up losing the exchange early on. I managed out a draw and was happy to get that. The second round had me scrambling in the opening early on forgetting the line and quickly going down a pawn, then two. Soon enough my entire queenside was demolished with his queen mainly, leading to a complex position where I either had to accept a full minor or major piece grab by my oppenent, or be doomed to a mating net. I resigned. The third and last round of the day had me as black again. I think I played the Slav, but I will have to check on that. Anyways, I eventually won a pawn from him and he responded with a move of his queen attacking the knight that had just picked up. Unfortunatly for my oppenent, I was able to fork his queen and king, winning a queen for a knight. A checkmate soon followed. I will try and get the PGNs up here at some point, but now being 1.5/5 (in the Amateur section mind you) is very wonderful and I hope to do well in tomorrows final two rounds. Wish me luck!
Okay, so rounds 4 & 5 are now up to view! Sorry it took so long, been busy and whatnot. From what I remember in game 4 I got into time trouble near the end possibly costing me the game, but my opponent was a very strong player. Ended up losing game 4, but won my last game 5, so I ended up with 2.5/5 points and while I didn't really 'place', I did end up winning $70 in my section which covered my entry fee and gas (almost). This tournament was 40 miles away, so to and from each day was 160 miles total. The money was just a nice consolation, but the best part was getting to play in my first tournament in about 4 years! So I am glad to have been able to participate in it and I got to watch a kid below 12 years-old FM (Jeffrey Xiong) beat a GM (Ioan Cristian Chirila) in the last round in this Open! Very exciting!
This weekend I plan on playing in another tournament a bit closer to home. It's only a 3-round swiss on Saturday, but it should be fun. Will probably post a new blog on that on Sunday.
Cheers!
-Adam
ROUND 1:
ROUND 2:
ROUND 3:
ROUND 4:
ROUND 5: