Crossposted to reddit:
TL DR: I went 4/4 in a tournament and got my rating over 1700. Games with comments here: Lichess Study of May Tournament Games Recaps below.
Recap: I played in a tournament in INDIANA this weekend. Four rounds of 60+10, my section would be the 1401-1800 section. If I had good performance, I'd make it over 1700, which is my goal for the year. Realistically, I hoped to play some people higher rated than me and get some good games in. I was the 9th seed out of 24 according to the signup sheet, so there was a good shot of at least that much. I was kind of surprised at the relatively low turnout to the event -- past events from this organizer had over 100 participants while this one was just short of 90. I suspect the conflict with the National Elementary Championship had something to do with it, but some of the missing usual suspects are older than that. Still a good turnout.
Round 1: since I'm in the top half of the pool, I knew I'd be playing down in at least the first round. It was an Indian kid in the 1500s, very nice. His live rating was actually higher than mine, but the pairings are based on the published ratings. This made me wary, since that's a sign of rapid improvement that might not be captured in the ratings. We played a semi-Slav, I got a little tricked in the opening into a slightly worse position. I sacrificed a pawn for some activity which the computer liked but didn't follow up right, then made a big mistake which my opponent missed too, instead deciding to give up a piece for three pawns. I then coasted to victory.
Round 2: there were enough upsets and draws that I ended up getting paired down again, this time against another Indian kid in the 1500s. Again, another very nice kid. I had Black and played the Qd8 Scandi, as one does. My opponent didn't really fight for the center at first, which is a mistake. Against the Qd8 Scandi, just be aggressive. Get your pieces out and take the center. We ended up trading all the minor pieces and, while I had a bad pawn structure, my opponent had open lines and a king in the center. He decided not to castle presumably because I would immediately attack, but getting stuck in the center was also bad. We traded queens and I got both rooks to the 7th. Done and dusted. 2-0.
Round 3: because of more upsets and draws, I played down again against... an Indian kid in the 1500s. Very nice kid, we had time to analyze after and he's really going to go far. We got a Trompowsky with g6 and I managed execute a typical plan: play on the light squares, expand on the queenside, limit the scope of the opponent's minor pieces particularly the g7 bishop. I had an edge but no clear victory in sight for a while until my opponent tried to counterattack with a pawn break on the queenside which just didn't work. I got a rook to the 7th, won a pawn, made an outside passer, and then just finished it off. 3-0. Man, I'm going to get picked up by CPS for beating all these kids.
Round 4: there were only two people with a 3-0 score at this point: Me and an adult 1500 who took the path I wanted. He played an 1800 and two 1700s and dispatched them all. Granted, the 1800 and one of the 1700s were floored, so perhaps not truly at that strength. I wouldn't be unhappy with a draw -- my energy level dictates how well I play and the fourth round of 60+10 in a day is a stretch for me -- but I'm not going to just give it away. We played a Qd8 Scandi, he seemed to know what he was doing, and I deviated from what I should play, instead going for opposite sides castling with the idea of dumping a box of pieces on his king before he could dump a box of pieces on my king. I saw something where it looked like I could bail out to a draw but gave opportunities for him to mess up and went for it. Unfortunately, I flubbed it after he did indeed make a mistake, so I was down a piece but his king was in the open and I had some initiative. Still, a few accurate moves and I'd be dead. And then... my opponent made a huge blunder and I mated him. He was stunned. 4-0! And I made it over 1700. My opponent also made it pretty close to 1700 based on his 3-1 performance, a draw probably would have bumped him over the threshold. Well, there's always next tournament!
Aftermath: got some cake, some bubbly, and boasted online. Next goal: 1800, but I'm not going to make it part of my goals this year. It's kind of funny that I made my goal of hitting 1700 by playing 4 people in the 1500s, but, that's the way the cookie crumbles. I'd say my best game was the third, I'm pretty happy with it apart from a couple minor points. The fourth shows I really need to work on my calculation and then I will never ever look at that game again. The first suggests the same and that I need to look at that line in the semi-Slav. The second, I don't know, there are just a few points in the game where I need to look at my decision-making.
And, man, I really need to play something besides the Qd8 Scandi but I keep winning with it.
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