| A tough first game. I miscalculated a complex sequence and declined a free pawn, thinking my queen would be trapped, when in fact she had a way out. I then got slowly outplayed. I got a full-point bye in round two, due to a player withdrawing at the last second. In round three the game was a wild tactical spree that eventually came down to an endgame with two symmetrical pawn islands and a knight + bishop for each side. Again, I was outplayed in the endgame. My opponent showed up 55 minutes late for the fourth game (5 minutes short of a forfeit). I applied pressure in the opening and middlegame, and found a way to win a piece. Then in an amazing display of total ineptitude, I dropped a rook in a simple tactic, reaching a drawn position, and then blundered my queen in another simple tactic. Times like that make me want to give up chess! In the final game, I outplayed my opponent in the opening and the middlegame, preventing him from finishing development and castling. I'm not sure if I missed a win there, but we finally reached a fairly level game when he offered me a draw. I accepted, thinking that if I blew this probably drawn game and lost, I would have scored zero points in games I actually played this tournament. All in all, a pretty sorry performance. I do tend to perform badly when 1) I haven't played in several months, 2) the tournament is held at Emory University, and 3) the winners get trophies. Now I feel challenged to prove in next month's tournament that I really don't suck at chess. So I'm going to start preparing now, and we'll see how that goes. |
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