There's two sections, U2000 and U800, no open section. I'm rated 1830, and am 8th highest rated in my section.
Round 1, opponent ~1450: my opponent played an opening I haven't seen in a long time, but I took my time and played it decently, and got some pressure. I spent 17 minutes deciding whether to make a dangerous move to take a pawn. I did, hung on, got through a little bit of danger, and got to a decent position. My opponent then miscalculated and traded down to kings and pawns in an endgame that was actually won for me instead of a draw. I used my extra pawn to eventually promote to a queen. Relatively smooth win.
So, last two games both went down to the last half hour, so I didn't have time to write about them. I'll go into more detail when I have time. Both wins, the second against the highest rated player in the tournament! (Only a bit higher than me). 3.0/3 for day 1.
Round 2, opponent 1658: my opponent was a young girl, which is unfortunately rather unusual, and she looked very distracted during our game. She gave up a pawn in the opening to a relatively simple tactic. I played only a decent middlegame, and got into some trouble, but I managed to pull through, using the most time I've probably ever used on an opening and middlegame. I then used my superior endgame skill to get a winning endgame. I did however make a mistake to go from an easily winning endgame to a little more difficult to win endgame, but it was still a won position for me, so my opponent resigned. Good, but slow and tense win.
Round 3, opponent ~1950: As previously mentioned, this was the highest rated player in the section. My opponent played a relatively conservative opening, so I pushed hard positionally. I got to what I thought was a good position, about to trade down in to a potentially pawn up endgame... and then made a dumb mistake to drop a pawn and get a difficult position. But my opponent made a bad trade, giving me the bishop pair, (albeit in a closed position) and I managed to get the pawn back. My opponent then sacrificed the exchange, but I don't think it worked out how they thought it would, and I then played a nice tactic in the endgame to win. Not a great start, but a good finish to win.
Day 1 summary: My first two games were relatively boring; win a pawn in the opening but under some pressure, equalize the position by the endgame, then use my extra pawn to win (although in the second game, I got a pretty good position as well). For whatever reason, younger people seem to be good in the middlegame, but bad in the endgame. (I'm the opposite). Game 3, my opponent and I both thought I was on the ropes, but we both underestimated my position, and I was able to come back swinging and pick up a great win.
Last thing: the oven started beeping last night, so I haven't slept well. It's going to be a rough day.
The tournament just finished. Two long games today. I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to drive back before I go into details. So I'll post in about an hour and a half.
Round 4, opponent 1937: I played an opening I've only just started playing, but have liked. This game was no exception. I thought I was going to win a pawn, but miscalculated, and had to hold off. I played some nifty tactics to get my opponent into a bad position, won a pawn in the endgame, and managed to pull out a win via promotion, in part due to my opponent getting into time trouble. A solid win.
Round 5, opponent 1900. This was the game for all the marbles. My opponent and I were the only ones to get through the tournament winning our first four games, so this was the championship match. My opponent made an early mistake, which I almost didn't see. I took advantage, and got his king stuck in the center... and then promptly got a piece stuck (a bad mistake, I could have easily avoided it). It would take four moves to extricate it, and it was going to get captured in two moves, not even close to being able to escape. I spent huge amounts of time, over 50 minutes of my 1 hour and 50 minutes. I was done, not winning the tournament... I made a few threats, trying to get something going, which my opponent easily swatted away. I was tired, and ready to be done with the tournament. BUT then! My opponent made a mistake, and I was able to extricate my poor bishop. The position was down to just the rooks, queen, and a ton of pawns. His queen got near my king; but I was able to fork some pawns in exchange. So I won a pawn, giving myself two passed pawns on the edge! We traded queens. Unfortunately, his position was better; my rooks were stuck behind my passed pawns, which is terrible (you want them in front). My opponent made another mistake, and I managed to trade off one of our rooks, and somehow my 2 passed pawns for two of his pawns on the other side of the board, giving me passed pawns there, and importantly, with my rook in front! I manged to push them; my opponent burned lots of time, but found no way to stop them, and resigned. A game I probably should have lost early one, but my opponent let me back into the game, and I took advantage. A roller-coaster win.
Day 2 summary: A well played game, and a shaky-at-first-but-later-much-better game. Both great games.
Summary: 5.0/5, winning the tournament. I'll gain 50-100 rating points. The best tournament performance I've ever had. I came in tied for 8th in rating, and beat the players rated 1st, 2nd, and 4th. This a huge deal, because it gives me hope that my chess career can recover from college. I was rated about 100 points higher when I came into college. Not too much, but a decent amount. I played chess throughout college, and would normally expect my rating to increase. But I never really got a proper restful break for nearly all of college (my family's vacations are exhausting; I usually feel more tired after than I did before). So this result after a couple restful weeks is a breath of fresh air. Any thoughts I had of ending my chess playing have been put to rest, for now. Woo! And now for a happy picture:
My rating change came in: exactly +100
Interesting fact: There was another undefeated player, but they chose to take a half-point bye (so they didn't play) during one of the rounds, so they ended up 4.5/5. We never played
(obviously, otherwise we couldn't both be undefeated)
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