Terrible Result at USATN

This weekend saw me participate in the USATN for the fourth consecutive year.  Just like last year I had a pretty miserable performance.

This year I went 2.5-2.5 (the same result as my team) and managed to lose to a 1400 player when I over pressed when my team needed the win, and then in the very next round I blundered a two move mate to an 1136 player.

So the tournament was a disaster, and it’s time to get back to work.

Things did get off to an interesting start on Friday when I played this game and held a draw.

Although we both missed some stuff in the above game, it was nevertheless interesting.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

4 thoughts on “Terrible Result at USATN”

  1. Maybe we were twins separated at birth, because I missed an easy endgame win with the exact same tactic, also in time trouble!!

    If I see it correctly, 29.e4 “just hangs a pawn”, because his Queen can just take the Pawn, but then Your Queen could take his Bishop that his Queen was protecting.

    In my case, I sacrificed the exchange for 2 Pawns, and had double connected passers rolling down the board, with Pawns on d3 and e4, and I wanted to play e3, but His Queen would just take it, but His Queen was protecting his Rook which my Queen was attacking!!

    I too had to settle for a Draw.

    I have been doing “Tactics Training” for over a year, and I am somehow worse at tactics than ever before.

    I am also worse at Openings than ever before, because spending so much time on “Tactics Training” has taken precious time away from my study of Openings!!

  2. I’m rated in the upper 2100’s USCF and I also played in this tournament. I don’t agree that the final position is “dead level.” It might, at best from white’s perspective, be objectively equal or balanced, but not dead, especially in a clash between two class players under severe time pressure. I would say that black has the better practical chances because of the trickiness of the two knights and how the b-pawn is so close to promotion (with white’s own b-pawn being so weak). Nd7-b6-a4 is one idea that I see at first glance to pressure the white b-pawn. If either player should go for a win, it’s black.

    And Dean, tactics training works. I’ve seen it myself. I’m naturally sharper at tactics when I work on them a bit everyday; not so much when I don’t. How come you think you’re better at openings when you work on them but better at tactics when you don’t? Doesn’t quite add up.

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