BigC Rules: 2010

I played Philadelphia Open Easter weekend. This tournament was the Foxwoods Open. Continental Chess Association moved this tournament to Philly this year because Foxwoods increased the hotel rate and other fee. My friend Alex and I made the last minute decision to join the tournament. I played three day schedule in the U1900 section. My April is 1885, which put me on the top 12 spot in this section. My first two games were quick game (game 75 minutes). I won the first one and lost the second game. The first game was pretty even until we entered knight pawns end game. I woun because my knight and king were more active. I was to passive in the second game. In the second game, I played black vs Colle System. I am not very familiar with this opening and I was too passive. Even though there were chances, I lost under the attack, Starting in the third game, we are playing the regular time control. The third game turned out to a wild game. I missed a caculation. It seemed that I could win a the Exchange. But it put my king under fire. My opponent made a wrong move to exchange the queen. If he did not do that, he would win the game. After the queen exchange, I slowly got my game back. In the end, I won the end game. So I got two points of three games in the first day. It is not too bad.

In the second day, I drew the first game and won the second one. In the first game, I did make one bad move. Luckly my opponent played too quick and did not find the his best move. After that we quickly got into rook three pawns vs rook three pawns end game and we agreed on a draw. In the second game, I spot a good tactic opportunity and won the Exchange. After that we got into rook six pawns vs bishop six pawns and the was an easy win for me. After the second day, I got three and half points out of five games.

The games in the third day were the toughest. My opponents and I were still possible to get a prize money. We all played as hard as we could. Both games ended with a draw. My first game tunred out to be the longest game that I ever played. It was 108 moves. It was an even game and we got into rook two pawns vs rook two pawns ending. Then my opponent took away one of my pawns. Later, we took each other one pawn. It became rook vs rook pawn ending. After 108 moves, there is not way that my opponent could win the game. I am a little bit disappointed with my last game. Both my opponent and I wanted to win the last round. If one of us won, the winner would share the 8 to 10 place prize. We started attacking on the each other. Then suddenly I was up to pawn. However, I did not play well in the end game. It ended with a draw.

It was a good tournament for me. I made some mistakes and my opponent made some mistakes too. The most important thing is that I fighted hard in each game.