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.
Good luck at the tournament. Let's see a 4-0 finish! The Hales Corners Challenge XI is April 17, 2010, so perhaps you can make it up to Wisconsin for it. Robin
ReplyDeleteHave fun at the tournament. Be relaxed when playing.
ReplyDeleteIvan, i think your plan to pawn storm the Kingside was in error, as the center is not fixed. Perhaps better was a minority attack, with a3, b4 ne4 [to prevent c5] etc
ReplyDeleteI remember Mario. He did a lot for Waco chess when he was there. The scene seems pretty dead there when I last visited.
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