2017 Michigan Open

Michigan Open: 2 hours a side with 30 minutes added after 40 moves.

3.5 days, Friday evening to Monday morning.

Well, all of Monday, actually.

Round 1 (last night at 7:00), opponent 1540: The second lowest player in the open section playing today. (way way below me) It was a girl probably 9 or 10. She played a decent opening, but used a lot of time, and I slowly got a positional advantage, eventually sacrificing a pawn for gaining the bishop pair, trapping the king in the center, and trapping a rook in the corner (three major positional advantages). My opponent kept spending lots of time, and was down to 5 minutes on about the 25th moves; needing 15 more moves to get the extra 30 added. They couldn't make it. They soon lost an exchange and were down a full rook by move 40 (so the game was basically over). 1 for 1 I think I played well; I managed time will, gaining over an hour advantage at one point, but used it sensibly, and was down to about 11 minutes by the 40th move. My opening was good, my middlegame was good, and my endgame. My biggest mistake was making a "threat" and overlooking the obvious defending move. (Which didn't hurt me too much) Solid game which I should have won and did. 1.0/1

Next round at 10am today.

Round 2, opponent 2107:

My opponent was probably around 12-14. We played a normal opening, but I played a line I've been interested, trading queens early, and I think I surprised him. A few moves after we traded queens my opponent missed a tactic. Younger kids have no poker face, and he was squirming and fidgeted. He offered a draw. I was able to get a positional concession, and eventually won a pawn. I used a considerably greater amount of time than my opponent. The position was very tricky, and we traded pawns in a complex fashion, until it was two pawns, king, rook, and bishop for me, and one pawn, king, rook, and bishop, with the bishops being of the same color, so a generally very not drawish endgame, but a difficult one to win. My opponent offered another draw here (their third of the game, actually), but I declined, and was able to sacrifice one pawn to get the other in promoting position, forcing them to trade their rook for it, and with 11 minutes left on my clock I was able to win. Probably one of my best jobs of clock management, I played well in all aspects of the game, and won against a higher rated opponent. Excellent win.

2.0/2

I have the speed tournament in a few minutes, and then round 3 at 7.

Me opponent was an adult finally, probably a few years older than me. I was really tired, especially after the speed tournament (whoops, I'll get to that next), and it showed in my game. I started out poorly, accidentally playing opening I do very poorly with. I played some unorthodox stuff to get my opponent out of what they knew, and as I learned after the game, was successful. However, my position became relative poor, until one point when I played a very dangerous move. My opponent thought for 40 minutes, and still couldn't figure it out... and then I wimped out and didn't play the sacrifice that would make an interesting game. My opponent almost immediately played a great tactic, and won an exchange and soon the game. I didn't use too much time due to how tired I was, but I would have been relatively happy with the game had I been fully awake. But now, I'm very excited to get to sleep.

2.0/3 still very much in the hunt for a trophy.

Speed tournament results will come in the morning.

Just to confirm, I am still alive, just been very busy. Round 6 starts soon, so I g2g

So, the speed tournament. Each round was 2 games against your opponent, so each player got to be white and black. So 5 rounds and 10 games. Round 1, I played a player rated just under 1000 (way, way below me), and I trounced them twice. Round 2 I faced the highest rated player in the tournament, almost won the first game, and lost the second in about 30 seconds. So two losses. Third round, I played someone around 1600, won the first game on an illegal move (in blitz, an illegal move is a loss) but hung a rook late in the second and lost. Fourth round, I played a lower rated player and won both. Last round was another lower rated player, and I won one, but made an illegal move and lost the second. So 6.0/10, probably a bit worse than I should have been, but I was super tired, so I'm glad I was able play somewhat decently.

Round 4, opponent 2121:

My opponent played an opening that I'm not super familiar with, and I ended up getting passive, and almost pulled myself out, but missed a very complicated tactic, and in trying to survive it, I used most of my time. My opponent and I were both very low on time, and I just don't play well low on time, blundered, and lost. Okay game; I really need to work on my openings.

2.0/4, falling behind.

Round 5, opponent 1681:

My opponent played yet another opening I wasn't familiar with, and I never really got anywhere. It was an unbalanced position, where I had a better pawn structure, and my opening had more active pieces. There was a time I could have traded into a more interesting endgame, but unfortunately, I didn't see it that way at the time, and I eventually accepted one of the many draws my opponent had been offering me. He was actually a little better at that point too, so I was happy with a draw. There goes my rating point gain. Not a great draw. I really need to work on my openings...

2.5/5. In the middle of the pack.

So, the tournament's done, so I'm driving back now. There's a huge thunderstorm coming, so I think I'll try to get through as much as I can, and then stop somewhere if I need to and give the rest of my results. And maybe take a nap. I'm super tired.

Still too sleepy. I'll do it in the morning.

Round 6, opponent 1526:

This round, I have story to tell: So, I woke up around 8:30, but lost track of time a bit, and was late leaving, so I got to the tournament at about 9:40, 10 minutes after the round had started. So I rush in, and find my board. Board 14 with black. So I go in to the tournament room, and move towards the side of the open section. I look at the board numbers on the table closest to me, and see 16 and 15, 15 being closer to me. So that must mean 14 is on another row. I look to the next row, see a board on the other end where white has made their first move, and black's clock is just ticking away. So I quickly go make a move, hit the clock and then go get a notation sheet. We play an interesting opening, but my position is a bit uncomfortable. But about half an hour later, the TD comes over and tells me, "you're on the wrong board". !!! As it turns out, boards 15 and 16 were switched, so the numbers for that row went 15, 16, 14, 13! The person who was supposed to be playing there was really really late, and hadn't shown up until then and informed the TD. We had to terminate the game, and I had to go over to my correct board and start a new game against my correct opponent, now down about 35 minutes. However, that game's opening went much better, and after we castled on opposite sides of the board (which leads to lots of attacking) I was able to infiltrate with my queen, and took so many pawns, my opponent outright resigned.

3.5/6 at this point, with a very good chance to get a place and money.

Weird situation, but I'm glad I was able to pull through for the win.

Round 7, opponent 2150:

Last game. My opponent played an unusual opening, but I was comfortable with it... until I missed a tactic, that is. I was able to complicate things, but things were better for my opponent, and he prevailed. Tough game. I need to be more careful about some opening things, and I also need to work on my move order in openings, yet again.

3.5/7, out of the race for money.

Summary: 3.5/7 is about half a point less than I was hoping for. I never played anyone with 175 points of my rating, which is very unusual, and quite disappointing. I probably only had 3 or 4 good games, because of that. To put it another way, I was the 26th highest rated player in the tournament, and I played no one from 11th-50th (I played people both higher and lower). Very exhausting, and I think next year I'll play in the 3-day section (if I am able to play). On the other hand, I gained some very valuable information on what I need to study, and that is openings. I'm good with the main ones now, but there are other ones that come up plenty that I really struggle with. Openings can be hard to learn just from playing, so I really need to set time aside specifically to get better at them.

An okay performance.