My most recent OTB tournament was another 8 player round-robin event where all players had a very similar rating and we played one round per week. The ratings in my group ranged from 1630 to 1720 (national Elo) and I was the highest rated player by a few points. Going into the tournament, I wanted to play well and thought that I can win the tournament, if I limit big mistakes which I made recently.
Round 1
I was black in the first round and was pretty happy with my play. The opening went well for me and we soon exchanged into an ending where I won a pawn. However, my opponent got some activity with their rook for the pawn and I didn’t play accurately enough and only managed to draw the game.
Round 2
In the second round, I played white against a Benoni. I won a pawn relatively early on but the game was still very complicated and I usually felt very uncomfortable in such situations. However, in this game I managed to calculate clearly and see (almost) all of my opponent’s threats. They had a chance for a perpetual check near the end, but neither of us had spotted it and I won the game.
Round 3
This was by far my worst game of the tournament. I was black and felt that my position was a little bit better right out of the opening. I felt that I had the advantage through the middlegame and into the ending, but it wasn’t enough for a win. My opponent offered a draw, but I refused with the belief that I can try for a bit longer and run into no danger… In the end, I over pushed and missed one move by my opponent which cost me the game.
My opponent in of the fourth round had withdrawn from the tournament so I only had 6 games.
Round 5
I was also playing black in the fifth round and my opponent started an early kingside attack. Usually, I am not very good at dealing with such attacks but I took my time in this game and played a well timed pawn break in the centre. My opponents position was collapsing by move 20 and I converted my advantage without much trouble.
Round 6
Again, I had black in this round and my opponent also played very aggressively. My Opponent also played very quickly and missed my counterplay in the centre. They miscalculated and lost a piece by move 19. However, the conversion was not as smooth as I hoped and I thought that I gave the piece back at some point, but I found the only move to keep my big advantage. After that scare, my opponent made a mistake which made the win much easier.
Round 7
In the last round, I had white and knew that my opponent played the Dutch defense so I prepared a little for the game. My opponent made a mistake early on and lost their g6-pawn. From that point on, I knew that I had to be much better but the game was far from over. The game reached an ending where I had two rooks and seven pawns against a rook, two bishops and three pawns. I was very unsure how to convert my advantage but I managed to finish the game nicely where I sacrificed my two rooks for my opponent’s two bishops and reached a winning pawns versus rook ending.
Conclusion
In the end, I scored 4.5/6 and won the tournament. In general, I felt that this was my best tournament in terms of quality of play with the big exception of the second round. However, I still had some oversights and I can learn a lot from my games.