Michigan Master/Expert 2018

Michigan Master/Expert.5 rounds, 115 minutes per side.

Round 1, opponent 1830: I played a decent opening, and gave up a bishop for a knight to give my opponent a weak pawn. I attacked the pawn, and while my opponent was able to defend, he had to give back the bishop for a knight and castle queen side, where I had some good pawn pressure. My opponent eventually sacrificed a pawn to keep my pawn king in the center of the board. I had a better position, but was still nervous, until my opponent promptly dropped a knight, and resigned soon after.

Good win. 1.0/1

I'm a bit busy, so info about the rest of the tournament will have to come later. JAN 19TH, 4:10PM Isaac

Round 2, opponent 1806:

My opponent blitzed through the opening, as did I. Unfortunately, my opponent knew the opening, while I did not. I lost a pawn for nothing. I was completely lost in my thinking; I couldn't find anything productive to do. I just kept making moves, pressing, and making small plans with little point. My position was very uncomfortable, usually a sign that something bad is about to happen. This continued into the endgame, where I was still a pawn down. I was still uncomfortable, but thought I had a chance at a draw still. And then out of nowhere, my opponent made a horrendous move and hung a piece. I was still uncomfortable, even after getting the pawn back and being up a full piece. My opponent soon resigned, which came as a relief to me, as even though I had a winning position, I had yet to figure out how to win it.

Weird win. 2.0/2

Round 3, opponent 1914:

There were two other people with two points after 2 rounds, but both of them took a 0.5 point bye in round 3. Maybe I should have.

My opponent played an opening I was unfamiliar with, and I played it okay-ish, until I miscalculated, and let my opponent get my pieces discombobulated. And then I saw an interesting move. I could sacrifice my bishop for 3 pawns. My position was looking dismal otherwise, and I want to play interesting chess, so I went for it. It was quite sharp, both of us playing well. Well, that is, until I miscalculated again. I had a good king attack going, but I underestimated my opponent's king attack of his own, and had to give up two pawns. So I was down a pawn to a piece, and my opponent had over double my time remaining. I did manage to trade queens to end the threat on my king. But being in an endgame down a piece for a pawn is almost always losing. Thankfully, my opponent misplayed it, and ended up trading one of his pieces for two of my pawns, and then had to trade another piece for my promoting pawn. Both of us were now low on time, but the position was drawn, and we played it out to a draw.

Long, complicated, mistakes on both sides, draw. 2.5/3, but still tied for first.

(the reason it might have been a good idea to take the half-point bye was that it was the last round of Saturday, and I was tired and probably would have slept better/longer if I had taken the bye)

Round 4, opponent 1934:

First game on Sunday. This was the highest rated player in the section, so I needed to play well. I got the opening I wanted, but then got greedy and made a bad move. My opponent actually made a mistake in response, but I missed it and was just in a worse position. I played on, and my opponent didn't play the position the best, so I was looking good, until I missed a tactic in light time pressure and blundered the exchange (rook for knight), and my opponent's passed pawn became a lot more powerful. I struggled on, but was unable to come back, and lost.

A frustrating loss. 2.5/4, now tied for second.

Round 5, final game, opponent 1840:

I played an interesting move in the opening, which was probably bad, but my opponent misplayed it and I got a great position. I slowly built up, and my opponent accidentally gave me a pawn, which I took, and then poorly traded into an endgame (there was a much better way for me to trade down). I was still a bit ahead, but didn't play it well, got into a drawn position, refused an offered draw, and pushed until I was in a lost position and resigned.

A very bad loss, 2.5/5 middle of the pack.

The tournament started out okay, game 2 was bad, but overall I played pretty decent the first day. Day 2 was worse, game 4 playing a bad opening move when I was happy with my opening and then blundering to a relatively obvious tactic, and game 5 playing a great position to a draw, and playing the draw into a loss.

I need to work on my tactics, and my openings.