There isn't much rated chess down here, but on this Saturday there happened to be 2, both less than 2 hours away. The one in San Antonio was a bigger event with an extra round, but I decided on the one in Victoria because that's place I have not been to. It's always nice to seee new places & meet new people.
The tournament director, Mario Leal remembered my name. I had played in an event he directed back in 2000 when he lived in Waco!
I was the the 3rd seed out of 16 and expected to have a good result.
After winning the first two rounds I was derailed by Ralph Belter(1871) in round 3.
I am White here and liked my position although I was behind on the clock. I had to quickly come up with a plan. This is what I came up with:
- Get rid of the Knight on f6
- Pawn storm
You know what they say "any plan is better than no plan!"
This is what I had in mind 
But f4 by Black has left me with an inferior (losing?) position.
What's amazing is that even right at the end I had a chance to draw, by playing a3 here, but with only seconds left on my clock I played g5.
I finished in a tie for 4th place. Final results here.
