Results

Back home from my tournament, and I am wiped out.

Four games, G/60. Coming in, my rating (based on 20+ yr old results) was 11245. My results were:

1: loss as white vs. a 1900+ player. Blundered a piece for a pawn in an opening trap, and succumbed to a withering attack down the center.

2: loss as white vs. a 1300+ player. This should have been a draw, but for one minor mistake I made in the ending that ended up costing me the game. It was a knight vs. bishop ending with a couple pawns left. If I had sac'ed my knight for his last pawn, it would have been a draw. Instead, I exchanged the knight for the bishop and he ended up queening his pawn and winning.

3: draw as black vs. a 1500 player. Tight rook + pawn endgame. I think he missed a win - still need to analyze it. I feel the best about this particular game out of the four.

4: win as white vs. an unrated player. I had a win, then turned it into a loss, then salvaged a win as he ran out of time. It was a nasty opposite-colored bishop endgame with the queens on the board for a long, long time.

So, 1.5/4. And, given the opposing ratings, the performance estimator on USCF's website says I pretty much did exactly as expected given my rating. I'll take that for the first time out.

Games will be posted as I have time. I'm "anno-fritz"-ing them right now. I feel pretty good about my thought process - I didn't blunder away a piece (except for that opening trap), though I'm sure I played a lot of sub-standard moves. And I NEED endgame practice...