Illowa Fall Classic 2014

Today held the Illowa Bi-State Chess Club's annual Fall Classic tournament. As in the past, it was a four-round Swiss tournament with 65 minutes and 5 second delay time control. Since there are four rounds and each game can last more than two hours, this tournament was an all-day event. Since my rating is a little under the cutoff for the U1400 section, I played in the Reserve.

I arrived early in the morning to help set up. My first game was against a 1000-rated player (about 350 below me), but it was surprisingly tough. I violated the four opening principles with wild abandon, and got into trouble in the middlegame as a result. I did manage to castle while there was a lull in the action, and things started looking up from there. I gained a pawn or two, then went on to win a king-and-pawn endgame.

The second game, after lunch, was against an unrated player. He blundered a piece away in the opening, but played a pretty solid game after that. I was much more careful to play a decent opening, so I got into a good position and stayed there. I don't remember much about the game, but it was easy and didn't last too long. (I got to finish my calculus homework!)

At the beginning of the third round, I was the only one with two points. I was paired against one of the few people with 1.5, and as is usual in the Swiss, the second-to-last round's game is the most important. This opponent's rating was actually a little above mine. He played the French, but since I know nothing about the French, I just played what seemed tactically sound. That went fairly well, and I established a strong position for a strong game. I gained a pawn along the way, but the game was very difficult. In the endgame, when each of us had a rook and a knight (plus miscellaneous pawns), he blundered and let me fork his king and rook with my knight. He resigned when I was about to promote a pawn.

The last game's opening did not go so well. My opponent - 200 points below me - played the King's Gambit, about which I know even less than I do the French. That made my development a total disaster, and I could never get my rooks connected. Though I didn't go down in material, my position was absolutely awful. At this time, we had been at the chess club for more than 6 hours, and everyone was tired. I offered a draw after I eeked out a somewhat equal-looking position, and by some small miracle he accepted.

With 3.5 out of 4 points, I won the Reserve section, the following nice trophy, and $102.

From left to right: winner of the Open section, the TD, me