(Sorry beforehand for the nerdiness of this post)
This past weekend I (Jon) had the opportunity to play in my first chess tournament. This is something that I have been thinking about for a while, but it took my friend Martine asking me what was one thing that I wanted to make sure I did in 2011 (besides having a baby of course) to actually look at tournaments that I could enter. I found one that was in Loveland, which is about an hour away from our house that seemed a reasonable one to enter. The cost was 35 bucks if you signed up the day of and 30 if you pre-registered. I made sure I did this and I also got a 7 buck discount for being an unrated player.
In the chess world there is a ranking system that any player that once to move up in the 'scene' must have. To give you an idea of the scale of this ranking system, the average person on the street that simply knows the rules of the game and occasionally plays with his/her friends would probably have a ranking of 500-600 while the best player in the world right now has a ranking of about 2820. Interestingly, computers have largely surpassed human players in the last decade or so and the best computer has a rating of 3300! Someone who has studied some of the basic strategical ideas of chess and would fairly consistently beat a person off the street would likely have a rating of 900-1200 while someone who has studied a great deal of strategic ideas, tactical problems (a series of moves that either gains material or leads to checkmate), openings (common starting moves), middlegame ideas(after the opening and before the endgame), and endgame study (when very few pieces are left and mainly pawns and the king on both side) would be in the 1500-1800 range. An extremely good player that has a large handle on openings and other ideas would be above 2000. I have played a good bit of chess online, which gives you a rating that is supposedly similar to the official rating given in tournaments. Online I have a rating that averages out to be around 1800, but I was unsure how similar this would be to the real thing.
With that said, the tournament that I entered, called the Loveland Open, actually had two tournaments going on. The first was a completely open tournament where anyone with any rating was capable of entering and the second had a rating cap of 1610. The unrated players could enter into either tournament so I decided to enter the second one because this was my first tournament and I knew I wasn't at a place to possibly play against tome 2000+ players.
The tournament would last for two days and I found out that I would only be playing four games that were each potentially very long because each player had 2 hours each to make their first 40 moves and then an hour each to make the rest of them, so a game could possibly last 6 hours! The tournament was set up in a Swiss system, which basically means that the winners keep playing each other and the losers play each other so that it narrows the field very fast but everyone still plays all 4 games. If you win a chess game you get a point and if you lose, you don't get one. If the two players agree to a draw (or tie) or there is a stalemate, then both players receive half a point. The person with the most points at the end wins, pretty simple.
My friend Rusty has been interested in chess for a while now and we have played a good many games, teaching each other things when appropriate. He was very interested in seeing how a tournament went, so he decided to come along with me even though he didn't feel he was strong enough to win, so he didn't enter. The morning of the first day of the tournament I felt pretty nervous mainly because I didn't know how I would match up and didn't know what to expect. When we got there I found out that I was supposed to bring my own tournament style chess set and a clock, which of course I didn't have because I didn't know. I thought they provided them I guess. No big deal though because almost everyone else brought theirs so there were enough.
The match-ups for the first round were posted and I found out that I would be playing a 1300 rated person my first round. I felt good about this, but knew I still had to play good. When I started playing I got extremely thrown off on the whole situation with using a clock and having to write all of my and my opponent's moves. I was playing horrible and I knew it, but I just didn't know how to get out of it in the moment. I walked around for a while as my clock was running and that helped and I actually had a solid position that I know now I could have won. But then I made an extremely stupid move that basically made me lose all hope of winning, but I knew I could possibly pull out a draw. At this moment I should have regathered myself, take a break, eat something, and then come back to the board because I had plenty of time left. But I didn't and played hazily because of this. I ended up losing the game. This sucked for me. If anyone has ever played me in a game of any kind, and especially chess, I am pretty competitive. Lea knows well that I think about and complain about lost games with players for DAYS. I actually remember the exact moment that made me lose every single game I've lost for the past three years because of this obsession. So imagine where I was after losing this game to a player I know I could have beaten. I was so mad at my play and my inability to beat a 1300 player. And I still had to play another game that day at 4.
I needed to get out of the poorly lit tournament room so Rusty and I went to a BBQ joint for lunch to 'shake it off.' I knew I shouldn't eat something very fattening right before the next game so I drooled over Rusty's HUGE pulled pork sandwich while I munched on a salad with balsamic dressing... boring. Rusty encouraged me to let the last game go and I agreed, which was easier said than done of course. I notice though after talking to him that the distractions of the clock and writing my moves down had kept me from just playing chess. As silly as something like that sounds, it was amazing the difference in my play when I was worried about so much more than what was going on in the game. I decided in the next game to just forget about what happened in the last game and just play chess.
Rusty had joked with me that I would be playing one of the five kids that were there that were probably 11 and younger. Because of my loss, I played someone else who had lost, which turned out to be a kid that was rated 1050 and was probably 7! He was so cute, I didn't want to have to play him. But the game started and about eight moves in I was up a pawn and had a significantly better position. After 20 moves I had connected passed pawns (pawns that are right next to each other so they support each other and are also 'passed' because there are no other pawns in front of or on either side of the pawns) which is a significant advantage (as a refresher, a pawn is very important in the endgame because it can be promoted to any other piece if it reaches your opponents back rank). I won that game easily after this. I played much, much better in this game and I believe it was because of my focus on just playing the game.
The next day Lea came with me and brought lots of books to read because she didn't have a clue what was going on in the games but wanted to be there to support me. I was matched up with a 1450 player for the 3rd round, which I knew would require me to play well. I just kept in mind that I needed to just play chess, and it again helped. After about 15 moves one of the guys knights was far from being involved in the game because it was trapped on the side of the board, which gave me a huge advantage, because he was basically a piece down. I also had dominating control of the center of the board and an attack brewing against his king. I brought all of my pieces into the attack and checkmated him in what I thought was a beautiful attack from my knight. He had missed it, but it was a lost position anyway. I played much better again, and was starting to play my normal style and confidence, which were both lost in my first game.
For my final round I was set to play a 1500 rated player which I knew would play for a draw if he had the chance because he had won one game and drawn two already. I had to watch out for this in the game, but again just focused on playing correctly. This game was a positional struggle (a battle of trying to get pieces in better positions for future attacks instead of actual attacks) but I knew after about move 9 that I liked my chances because of a premature attack on my king that was unfounded. I really enjoy and am good at defending positions against attacks that are not as strong as the attacker thinks, so I knew I would be good against what he was threatening. With his attack basically stopped, I was able to win two pawns and eventually his bishop. This led to a win for me pretty easily after losing that material.
Because I had completely changed my attitude to playing, I was able to win my last three games and ended up tying for second with three other players who also had a score of 3. The winner had gotten a 4 and had won $125, but I had won $54, which basically paid for my entry fee and lunch during the two days. Overall I am very happy about how it turned out because of how much I learned from it and getting my foot in the door for possible future tournaments and maybe even more money. After the tournament I have a provisional rating of 1570, so we will see where it goes from here.
Jon
