Marshall Saturday G50 Open (Sept 2nd, 2023)

This past Saturday, I played a G50 4-SS at the Marshall Chess Club in Manhattan. Due to the Marshall Invitational also taking place that weekend - with GM and IM norms - our tournament only had an Open section instead the usual U1800 or U1600 sections.

Full Crosstable: https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202309025152-30684520

Game 1 vs. Niyazov (1536) - Draw

White opened with 1. Nf3... I didn't have any kind of response to this, so I played 1. ... Nf6 and we ended up some kind of d4 / King's Indian Defense game.

I played solid out of the opening but missed a tactic after 13. Bg5 - which during the game I saw as a dubious move as white was abandoning his plan of weakening my dark squares with a bishop exchange.

Ultimately, I was able to get a perpetual check by repetition - with just 30 seconds on the clock! I was very happy with this result - drawing against an opponent rated almost 500 points higher - until my post-game analysis where I found that I had missed a mate-in-1(!). Argh!

Game 2 vs. Lou (1533) - Loss

I have been studying the Scotch Gambit for a while now, and finally I got the opportunity to play a "prepared" line over the board. However, I messed it up slightly - recapturing on c3 instead of castling - but still was able to pull off a "romantic" bishop capture on f7 when check (not a sacrifice, as the combination allows white to recapture the piece).

But, like a barking dog who finally catches the proverbial car - would I actually know what to do?

In fact, I was again even or better out of the opening, but failed to take initiative.My opponent rallied their pieces to a counter attack, and I found myself on my backfoot.

Game 3 vs. Chen (1266) - Loss

Before this game, my young opponent said to me "I heard you got a draw against a 1500! I'm scared."

My opponent responded to my 1. e4 with the French Defense - which I know pretty well. I played the Advance Variation and we followed the main line of he Paulsen Attack.

Again, I was able to hold my own and have even or better chances out of the opening. But then I made two pretty obvious mistakes:

1. I traded off Black's "French Bishop." Why would I do this? I think I wanted to reduce the count of Black's developed pieces by one - since his kingside was completely undeveloped... But I should have remembered - as a French player myself! - that trading off that bishop is always high on the checklist of Black.
2. I - again - miscalculated a "romantic" combination. This left me down a full piece and completely losing. I fought on (and per the engine had drawing chances at one point - although I would never have found it over the board even in longer time-control).

Game 4 vs. Huang - Win

In my final game, my opponent played 1. e4, giving me the opportunity to play the French Defense. This time, my opponent played a premature kingside pawn storm (before I had castled), and then left himself open to a discovered attack on his queen on move 23.

Of course, as is common in these local tournaments, my opponent did not resign down on material, and I had to grind out the win (this was very similar to a game I played at the Eastern Chess Congress last year - also an "early win" in the French). I had to dodge a few tactics before finally forcing resignation on an unstoppable mate.

Conclusions

I finished 1.5/4 and gained ~45 elo to a new high of 1150 USCF.

Two take-aways from this tournament:

1. If I play solid mainlines out of the opening (rather than "quirky" moves), I will be equal or even better than my opponents, and around move 12 - 15 I might even get an change for a winning tactic or advantage.
2. ...BUT when I see a possible tactical combination, I need to take a DEEP breath - maybe even get up from the table for a minute - and double-check or even triple-check the line before playing it. My two losses were due to flawed / easily refuted tactical combinations.
3. When you have a perpetual check on your opponent - stop for at least 20 seconds (if you can afford it) and try to find checkmate!