First tournament results

Today was my first OTB tournament and boy what a rush! My head was spinning after the third round and at the end I had a pounding headache. Very good learning experience though. Going in I was really nervous and had a rocky first round but things improved after that. Playing in the Team 45 45 tournament really helped me with my focus under pressure. I also got to split the reserve prize with another unrated guy, to win back my entrance fee. Here are the games with annotations. They were all G45 sudden death time controls.

Round 1. I was matched up against another unrated person who I eventually went on to split the reserve prize with. Like myself he doesn't belong to any local clubs and plays primarily on the internet and at home.

[Round "1"]
[White "First Opponent"]
[Black "PawnSensei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D20"]
[EventDate "2005.05.14"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 {Trading a central pawn for the c pawn. Queen's Gambit Accepted.} 3. Nc3 e5 {I leave book. Correct move is a6.} 4. d5 Bb4 {Blunder, losing the B.} 5. Qa4+ c6 6. Qxb4 cxd5 7. e4 Ne7 8. exd5 Nxd5 9.Qb5+ Nc6 10. Qxd5 Be6 11. Qxd8+ Rxd8 12. Nf3 Nd4 13. Nxd4 exd4 {And Black has the only central pawn.} 14. Nb5 O-O 15. Bf4 a6 16. Na3 b5 17. g3 Rfe8 {Preparing a disc check on the K.} 18. O-O-O d3 19. Bg2 b4 20. Nb1 Bd5 {Blunder. Black has a weak back rank.} 21. Bxd5 Rxd5 22. Rhe1 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 c3 24. Re8# 1-0

I did a lot better in round 2. My opponent is returning to competitive chess as a high school student. He was very confident in the opening but started slowing down the further we got into unknown territory.

[Round "2"]
[White "PawnSensei"]
[Black "Second Opponent"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C44"]
[EventDate "2005.05.14"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 d6 {My opponent plays the Philidor Defence which is bad for Black} 4. Bc4 Bg4 5. h3 {Blunder. Deviated from book and wasted a tempo. Correct was dxe5 where Black loses at least a pawn.} Bxf3 6. Qxf3 {Mate attack on f pawn.} Nf6 7. dxe5 Nd4 8. Qd3 {Trying to prvent N fork on c2. Need to get K out of center.} dxe5 9. O-O Bc5 10. Bxf7+ {Trying to get the B on c5.} Kxf7 11. Qc4+ Ne6 12. Nc3 Qd4 13. Qb3 Nxe4 14. Be3 {Trying to take advantage of a Queen skewer.} Qb4 15.Qxb4 Bxb4 16. Nxe4 Nd4 17. Bxd4 {Trading down for the endgame.} exd4 18. Rad1{Trying to take the half-open files.} Rad8 19. c3 dxc3 20. Nxc3 {More simplification. Trying to force Black to take R so White can control D file.} Bxc3 21.bxc3 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Re8 23. Rd7+ {Rooks are deadly on the 7th.} Re7 24. Rd2 {Not ready to trade Rooks. Black K has better position for the endgame.} c5 25. f3 g5 26. Kf2 {Preparing K for endgame.} h5 27. Rd5 Kf6 28. Rxc5 {Taking another pawn before trading Rooks.} Re5 29. Rxe5 {Trading Rooks with a 5 to 4 advantage.} Kxe5 30. Ke3 b5 31. g3 h4 32. gxh4 gxh4 33. f4+ Kf5 34. Kf3 a5 35. a3 a4 36. Ke3 {Black is in Zugzwang.} Ke6 37. Ke4 {Pushing black king back.} Kf6 38. f5 Kf7 39. Ke5 {Blunder. Kf4 would win.} Ke7 40. f6+ Kf7 41.Kf5 Ke8 42. Kg5 Kf7 43. Kxh4 Kxf6 44. Kg4 Kg6 45. h4 Kh6 46. h5 Kg7 47. Kg5 Kh7 48. h6 Kg8 49. Kf5 Kh7 50. Ke5 Kxh6 51. Kd5 Kg6 52. Kc5 Kf6 53. Kxb5 Ke6 54. c4 Kd6 55. Kb6 Kd7 56. c5 Kc8 57. Kc6 Kb8 58. Kd7 Kb7 59. c6+ Ka7 60. c7 Ka6 61. c8=Q+ Ka7 62. Qc6 Kb8 63. Kd6 Ka7 64. Kc5 Kb8 65. Qd7 Ka8 66. Kb6 Kb8 67. Qb7#1-0

I have played this opponent before and had won a very close game. Again this one went down to the wire and I had a major blunder right before he ran out of time. He was so upset that he banged the table and swore after losing on time. He saw the draw right before he ran out of time. I definitely ruined the rest of his day.

[Round "3"]
[White "Third Opponent"]
[Black "PawnSensei"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C44"]
[WhiteElo "1315"]
[EventDate "2005.05.14"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Qe2 Bc5 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bxd4 7. Bg5 O-O 8. Qd3 Bxb2 {Rook is lost.} 9. Nc3 Bxa1 10. Nd5 Re8 11. Be2 d6 {Freeing B on c8.} 12. O-O Be5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 {Attacking Q with tempo.} 14. Qc2 h6 15. Bxf6 gxf6 {At this point I saw N fork but too late. I will be punished for ignoringcomplete development. Will try to minimize damage by finally developing the B.} 16. Qxc7 Qxc7 17. Nxc7 Be6 18. Nxe8 Rxe8 19. a3 f5 20. f3 fxe4 21. fxe4 Bc4 {Attacking the pinned B to simplify with a superior endgame for Black.} 22. Bxc4 Nxc4 23. Rb1 Re7 24. a4 Nd2 25. Rb2 Nxe4 26. Re2 d5 {Freeing the R to get to the first or second rank.} 27. g3 Rc7 28. Kg2 Nc3 29. Re8+ Kg7 30. Kf3 d4 31. h4 Rd7 {Rooks belong behind passed pawns. The pawn will queen.} 32. g4 d3 33. g5 hxg5 34. hxg5 d2 35. g6 d1=Q+ 36. Kg3 Qd3+ 37. Kf4 Qxg6 38. a5 Rd5 39. a6 bxa6 40. Kf3 Rd3+ 41. Kf2 Qg3+ 42. Kf1 Rd2 {Major blunder in time trouble. Rf3 is mate. White loses on time.} 0-1

I was told that this opponent plays at a higher strength than his rating. He was able to rattle off sequences and games from memory. He loves fast games and I don't think he even used up 5 minutes on his clock compared to my 25 to 30 minutes.

[Round "4"]
[White "PawnSensei"]
[Black "Fourth Opponent"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[BlackElo "1294"]
[EventDate "2005.05.14"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nf3 {Trying to prevent trading central pawn for c pawn.} Nc6 5. Bb5 Qb6 6. Bxc6+ bxc6 7. O-O Ba6 8. Re1 Nh6 9. c3 cxd4 10. cxd4 c5 11. b3 {Protecting the b pawn before moving the bishop.} Nf5 12. Bb2 c4 13. Nc3 {Taking with bxc would lose at least the bishop.} Rb8 14. Rb1 {Preparing for Q attack.} cxb3 15. axb3 Qxb3 16. Ba1 {X-Ray check on b8.} Qa3 17. Rxb8+ Kd7 18. Qa4+ {Forcing a Q trade. The R on e1 will now join the attack on the centralized K.} Qxa4 19. Nxa4 Kc7 20. Reb1 Bd3 21. R1b7+ Kc6 22. Rxa7 {Black resigns} 1-0

I really felt lucky to be able to play the leader. It was neat to see him slowly squeeze my position and punish me for my mistakes. He appeared to be very humble and seemed to truly enjoy the game. During the post-mortem he told me a little bit about himself and helped me with my opening mistakes.

[Round "5"]
[White "Fifth Opponent"]
[Black "PawnSensei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[WhiteElo "1856"]
[EventDate "2005.05.14"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 {My opponent was nice enough to point out my mistake after the game. Here, the main line goes 1...b5 2 b3 0-0.} O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 {The usual reply is dxc6 but I thought the action was going to be in the middle. What the hell right? Might as well have fun.} 8. Nxe5 Bb7 9. Nc3 Bd6 10. Nc4 Re8 11. e5 Bxe5 12. Nxe5 d6 {Planning to post a R or Q on e1 to tie down the B and harass the K.} 13. Nf3 c5 14. Rxe8+ Qxe8 15. h3 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Qe1+ 17. Kh2 Re8 18. d3 h6 19. Rb1 {Creates a disc attack on e1. Ex. Bxh6.} Qe5+ 20. Bf4 Qf5 21. g4 Qg6 22. Rg1 c4 23. g5 hxg5 {Trying to prevent the dis attack on g6.} 24. Bxg5 cxd3 {Trying for desperate pawn push to c1. After Qh7, Bxf6 loses more material.} 25. Bxf6 Qxg1+ 26. Kxg1 Re1+ 27. Kg2 dxc2 {Now I see Bg5 ending my hopes and dreams.} 28. Bg5 f6 29. Bd2 Rb1 30. Qd5+ Kh7 31. Qd3+ {Black resigns} 1-0