This past weekend, I played at Michigan Bottom Half Class Championship tournament, in the U1900 section. I did rather poorly the first day, losing both official games I played, and winning against a 772 when I had a bye. The second day I did a little better. I won a game I should have lost and made a neat sacrifice to draw a game I should have lost.
There were six players in my section, so it should have been round robin. However, due to one player taking a half-point bye the first round, and a pairing mistake, I got a bye, and never played my section's winner. I ended up with first U1800 because the U1800 player ahead of me was the section winner. I won 75$, which isn't actually that much, since the entry fee is $40.
In Round 1, I had a bye. So, the TD paired me up with from another section who had a bye, Robert White, for a rated, non-tournament game. He was 772 on the tournament sheet, but his provisional rating was 1129 after the tournament. I opened well, and he hung a piece for a pawn. He had a better position, so we were equal for much of the middlegame. He finally made a mistake, to trade off some material, and allow me to use my extra piece, but made a few mistakes to get him right back in the game. However, right after I did this, he hung the exchange, putting me up a rook for a pawn in the endgame, and after making a few more moves, he resigned.
