Spencer St. weekly Swiss January

Spencer St. Week-by-week Swiss, four rounds, Game in 55.

This tournament is played over the course of a month, one game per Tuesday night.

Round 1, opponent 1699: I started out good, getting an advantage out of the opening, but then instead of taking a lead, I blundered, giving the game to my opponent. I almost resigned on the spot. In the endgame, my opponent, being the generous man he was, decided to give the win back (through a horrendous piece hang) and we were back to a drawn position. My opponent then decided he wanted nothing to do with points in the game, and traded down to kings and pawns for a won endgame for me. A bad win.

I did not at all deserve to win this game after my first blunder, but my opponent made even worse blunders.

1.0/1, leading the pack in a tournament in which I am the highest rated player.

Round 2 next Tuesday

Due to the TD's wife giving birth, round 2 was delayed a week.

Spencer St. tournament weekly swiss round 2:

I got a decent opening, allowed a bad trade to put me in a slightly worse position, and then blundered a pawn. My opponent did me a favor, and blundered an exchange, and gave me a way out of my poor positioning... which I missed, and blundered the exchange back and a bunch of pawns. My opponent was able to use the extra pawns to win.

1.0/2, middle of the pack.

Spencer St. tournament weekly swiss round 3:

I played a decent opening, had a good position, and played a tactic where my opponent had to retreat their queen, allowing me to win a pawn. My opponent missed this, so I won a queen. My opponent took a long time losing, but it wasn't too difficult for me.

2.0/3, 3rd place in the tourney.

Spencer St. weekly swiss tournament round 4: I got a decent opening, my opponent lost an exchange for couple pawns, which I managed to win back in the endgame. I converted the rook and pawn vs. knight and pawn endgame for the win.

3.0/4, 2nd place in the tournament. Overall a pretty bad tournament. As the highest rated player there by far, anything other than going undefeated is a disappointment. I should have lost game one, and did lose game 2. I lost 11 rating points.