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: