Success! :) 4/5, 3rd=
Fantastic result, 4 wins, 1 loss for 3rd= :)
So how did I do compared to my goals?
Goal 1: Higher performance rating: Fail (!) due to playing too many lower rated opponents
Goal 2: Higher percentage: Pass
Goal 3: Higher placing: Pass
2/3 goals = successful result :)
The tournament had 70 entries, far more than expected, and 5 rounds was probably not really enough to find a winner. However in the end there was a clear winner on 5/5 (the person I lost to), and a clear 2nd with 4.5/5 but nine people were 3rd= on 4/5.
My expected performance, based on my opponents rating was 3.78/5, and I scored 0.22 points more than that so my rating gain will be about 7 points. Yes thats right, 7 measly points for a 4/5 performance! No wonder I cant improve my rating!!
Round-by-round commentary:
Round 1: White vs very lowly rated player (typical swiss system first round mis-match). A complete thrashing, I checkmated my opponent after just 13 moves. My opponent had a rating of just 685 (! yes ratings go that low). This first game pretty much ruins my chance of getting a good performance rating.
Round 2: Black vs an under rated junior. After some not exactly inspiring moves I find myself under huge pressure, and with badly placed pieces. Somehow I manage to swap queens, then play a strange looking follow up move, he misses the point, and I win a knight for nothing. About 10 moves later his king is trapped in the centre and the only way to stop mate is to lose a rook. He resigns.
Round 3: Black again (!) against 4th seed. I quickly get under pressure, and lose a rook for nothing, resigned on move 19. I thought I was only losing the exchange, but was wrong! My opponent went on to win the tourney with 5/5.
Round 4: White, and finally a chance to play my smith-morra! He declines with e6 and b6 and it isnt really a smith morra anymore, just a weird no opening opening. I pile on the pressure, he responds quite well, and the game remains finely balanced. I turn extremely agressive, and get an initiative in return for a couple of pawns. Under time pressure I move my rook to g3, when h3 was far better. He finds the saving move and sacs the exchange to force a queen swap. We are now in an endgame where I have 2 rooks and 3 pawns vs rook, knight and SEVEN pawns! My chances are not good, and I came very close to resigning the move after that queen swap. But I decide to play on, and a few moves later he blunders and loses the knight. Now it is 2 rooks and 2 pawns vs rook and 5 pawns - still could go either way. I manage to slowly grab his pawns one by one until it is 2 rooks vs rook and 1 pawns, and he is threated with mate. He resigns, an absolute swindle.
Round 5: 3rd Black vs another under rated junior, and I need to win to get amongst the prizes. He comes out fighting from the start and I am under huge pressure again. But I resist and defend like an immovable rock. Slowly my pieces get better and better positions, with a beautiful knight outpost on e5 the centrepiece of my position. Finally my queen + knight infiltrate his position and he cracks, dropping a bishop and then resigning a few moves later.
After 2 long days I have emerged with 4/5 and 3rd= place, a very satisfactory result. About 5 or so years ago in the same tourney I got 2nd= place with just 3.5/5, but the huge number of entries means that 4/5 is only good enough for 3rd= this time.
So how did I do compared to my goals?
Goal 1: Higher performance rating: Fail (!) due to playing too many lower rated opponents
Goal 2: Higher percentage: Pass
Goal 3: Higher placing: Pass
2/3 goals = successful result :)
The tournament had 70 entries, far more than expected, and 5 rounds was probably not really enough to find a winner. However in the end there was a clear winner on 5/5 (the person I lost to), and a clear 2nd with 4.5/5 but nine people were 3rd= on 4/5.
My expected performance, based on my opponents rating was 3.78/5, and I scored 0.22 points more than that so my rating gain will be about 7 points. Yes thats right, 7 measly points for a 4/5 performance! No wonder I cant improve my rating!!
Round-by-round commentary:
Round 1: White vs very lowly rated player (typical swiss system first round mis-match). A complete thrashing, I checkmated my opponent after just 13 moves. My opponent had a rating of just 685 (! yes ratings go that low). This first game pretty much ruins my chance of getting a good performance rating.
Round 2: Black vs an under rated junior. After some not exactly inspiring moves I find myself under huge pressure, and with badly placed pieces. Somehow I manage to swap queens, then play a strange looking follow up move, he misses the point, and I win a knight for nothing. About 10 moves later his king is trapped in the centre and the only way to stop mate is to lose a rook. He resigns.
Round 3: Black again (!) against 4th seed. I quickly get under pressure, and lose a rook for nothing, resigned on move 19. I thought I was only losing the exchange, but was wrong! My opponent went on to win the tourney with 5/5.
Round 4: White, and finally a chance to play my smith-morra! He declines with e6 and b6 and it isnt really a smith morra anymore, just a weird no opening opening. I pile on the pressure, he responds quite well, and the game remains finely balanced. I turn extremely agressive, and get an initiative in return for a couple of pawns. Under time pressure I move my rook to g3, when h3 was far better. He finds the saving move and sacs the exchange to force a queen swap. We are now in an endgame where I have 2 rooks and 3 pawns vs rook, knight and SEVEN pawns! My chances are not good, and I came very close to resigning the move after that queen swap. But I decide to play on, and a few moves later he blunders and loses the knight. Now it is 2 rooks and 2 pawns vs rook and 5 pawns - still could go either way. I manage to slowly grab his pawns one by one until it is 2 rooks vs rook and 1 pawns, and he is threated with mate. He resigns, an absolute swindle.
Round 5: 3rd Black vs another under rated junior, and I need to win to get amongst the prizes. He comes out fighting from the start and I am under huge pressure again. But I resist and defend like an immovable rock. Slowly my pieces get better and better positions, with a beautiful knight outpost on e5 the centrepiece of my position. Finally my queen + knight infiltrate his position and he cracks, dropping a bishop and then resigning a few moves later.
After 2 long days I have emerged with 4/5 and 3rd= place, a very satisfactory result. About 5 or so years ago in the same tourney I got 2nd= place with just 3.5/5, but the huge number of entries means that 4/5 is only good enough for 3rd= this time.
posted by Smith-Morra at 12:30 AM
5 Comments:
Congratulations! I am curious how things went.
Congratulations on the success. It sounds like a busy tournament!
Good job!!!
Nice!!
Congrats. Great to see a knight come out well in a tournament. Huzzah!
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