United States Amateur Team North 2018

United States Amateur Team North:

his is a team tournament, so me and three chess friends are playing against other teams of 4. Each match between teams is 4 individual games, and the team who wins more games gets the win.

My friends are rated about 2350, 1400, and 1300 (I'm about 1900). Our team average is 1758. The highest team average in the tournament is 2199 (the limit is 2200). My team is gunning for the best under 1900 prize. My team's name is... Reese's Pieces! Most of the teams have funny names; one is even named literally "insert team name here".

Round 1, opposing team average rating 2085:

Our top rated player was the only player on our team rated above his opponent, so it was tough going. All of the games went pretty long. My game was interesting, and I think I played well, but towards the end I don't know if I was winning or losing; I blundered in time trouble and lost. My team's board 4 (lowest rated) pulled a huge upset and won his game, but unfortunately my team's top board lost, even being higher rated, as did our board 3, so we got 1/4 and lost the match. If our top board had won like he should have, we would have tired. A loss was not unexpected, but we had a big chance.

0.0/1, an early expected loss, with a big upset.

Round 2, opposing team average rating ~1350:

So, my team was higher rated in every game this match, but that didn't mean our games would easy wins. In my game, I played awful in the opening and hung an important pawn. It was terrible going, and I struggled to not outright lose. I was unable to recover the pawn, and my opponent eventually brought the game to an endgame. And that's when I saw it: a terrible swindle, a plan that was probably really bad if my opponent saw it, but if he didn't... and the best part was, I didn't have to reveal my plan to my opponent until it was too late for him. And he fell for it. I won a game that I really should have lost; my drawing chances had been pretty slim. My team's board 3 player sacrificed a couple pawns for a massive attack that looked shaky to me, but demolished his opponent, and claimed after the game that his opponent was completely lost even before the attack really got going. On board 1, my team's top player won a pawn, gaining a passed pawn (no other pawns could stop it) in the middlegame and just rode the game out to a modest win. Board 4 was an up and down game, my teammate in the lead, but gaining an advantage, then losing it, and so on, until they got to a probably drawn, but still better for my teammate, who successfully executed a trap of his own to win the game. So we swept the match, getting our first win.

1.0/2, an expected team sweep, where I played awful and should have at least drawn, but managed to win. But a sweep nonetheless. Middle of the pack.

Round 3, opposing team average rating ~980:

So, I was pretty happy to see this for round 3; hopefully I'd have an easy stress-free game, and get to relax a bit before going to sleep. My game and the board 3 game went this way. We were done in about half an hour. (easy wins) On board 1, my teammate had a better position early on, and was winning, not too long after, but his opponent played very defensively and dragged the game on a long time. To be clear, he definitely had a reason to play on, as my teammate could have made a mistake to draw or lose the game. But the game probably went on an hour and a half after I was done. Board 4 was a long, even game, neither side gaining an advantage; it was still even when the Board 1 game finished. Unfortunately, my teammate blundered, losing a queen for a rook, and after a lot of aimless moving, his opponent figured out how to beat him. A disappointing loss for my teammate, especially after his big win in round 1.

All in all, a decent match win (I did get to relax), but a disappointing loss for our board 4.

2.0/3, in good position to win something, but probably with a match against a better team next round.

Round 4, opposing team average rating 1966:

It was a tough team, but I knew we could still win the match. My opening was going well, until I hung a piece to a simple tactic. My position was unrecoverable, and I resigned a few moves later. Our board 4 fell under a big attack and lost, our board 3 lost a pawn in the middle game, and after some bad trades, ending up letting his opponent dominate his position, and lost. Our board 1 managed to win a couple pawns, and convert that into a win. So we lost the match, but at least got one individual game win.

2.0/4, in position to maybe win something on tiebreaks.

Round 5, opposing team rating around 1600ish (it was weird):

First of all, this was the first tournament for the other team's board 4, meaning they were unrated, and didn't factor into their team's average rating. Secondly, their board 3 had to leave, and they got someone to fill in who was ostensibly better; they were higher rated at least, and so moved up to board 2, playing me. It was an old man, who was very excited to be playing me. He hadn't played in several years. Our game was relatively short, he gave up a piece to a moderately simple tactic, and I won soon after. He apologized for not giving me a better game, but I don't mind. Our board 1 slowly ground out another game, our board 4 played some nifty tactics to pick up the win, and our board 3 "officially played [his] worst game ever" and lost. But still we got the match win, without any big surprises.

3.0/5, we'll probably go to tiebreaks to see if we get anything, but decided not to wait around to find out.

It was a fun tournament, but I got 1 good game of chess (first round), 1 very shaky but hard fought game (round 2), and 3 super short games. My round 4 game was super disappointing, but I'm really happy with my round 1 game. Decent tournament, but I need to work on my tactics and openings