Universal Winter Swiss - Day 1

This weekend, I decided to play in a chess tournament at All The Kings Men after a nine-month break from tournament chess. The tournament is called Universal Winter Swiss, and it is five rounds of G/90. After the first day, I am 2-1. My brain felt tired all day, so I played mainly intuitively, calculating very little. We'll see if this strategy will hold up tomorrow :)

In Round 1, I was paired against Forrest Reddick. I was Black in a Closed Sicilian. After thirty moves, the following position was reached.



Material is even, but Black has some advantages, such as control of the center, control of the e-file, and maybe a safer king. White now played 31. c3, threatening to win the Exchange by Bc2. Black responded with 31...Ng5 with a threat to h3. The game concluded 32. Rh1 Qf3+ 33. Kg1 Re1+ 34. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 35. Kh2 Rxh1# 0-1

Round 2 was a total disaster. I was White against International Master Ben Finegold, and I elected to play the f4-Sicilian against him. I chose a faulty plan of winning the dark-squared bishop for a knight (losing several tempi in the process), and then shortly thereafter, I found myself stuck with a Jenny Bishop.



In a difficult position, White has just blundered with 17. Be3. (17. Nf3 was better) Black now won material with 17...f6 18. Ng4 h5 19. Nf2 Nxe3 20. Qxe3 Nd2. I played on and on and on, and yet, Ben said after the game that I resigned too early :) 0-1

Round 3 was a game that I felt bad winning. I was Black against Glenn Smith. The opening was kind of like a Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav Attack. After White's furious attack died down, I found myself with the following position.



In my opinion, White has an edge, due to the advanced kingside pawns and more space. (If this was Bughouse, White would be totally winning...) Black has just played 35...Rb4, attacking both the Knight and Pawn. I was expecting 36. Nc3, but my opponent surprised me with 36. Rc3!? I automatically assumed that I could not take the Knight because of back-rank mate. What a clever move, I thought. After thinking for a while, it occurred to me that there is no back-rank mate! (Rc8+ Kh7!) So I took the Knight 36...Rxa4 and won five moves later. 0-1