1st Serious Tourney since restarting play: Austin Chess Club Championship

This last weekend was the inaugural Austin Chess Club Championship. 5 rounds of 90 minutes games with 60 second increments. I entered the tourney with a 1279 rating and after 5 fun rounds including a win, a loss, and 3 draws I managed a 1239 post-tourney rating. Whew! Who knew such hard effort could be so pitifully rewarded. But I consider the tourney a success.  I stayed focused and made no outright blunders at least from my perspective. Obviously, in at least one game I made a mistake or two. You're welcome Forrest! ;-)

A few general observations: I hadn't realized the amount of downtime between rounds. With games of this length, there needs to be an ample amount of time between rounds. Still I was surprised how much time one has to deal with between rounds. I'll be factoring that in as I go forward with more tournament play. It is a very encouraging thing to be playing in a room full of people also playing. There were over 130 people playing in this tournament and expectations had run closer to 50 so the turnout was a pleasant surprise. Finally, the organizers and assistants of the tournament were excellent. While I haven't experienced much in the way of chess tournament organization, I have had experience with organizing training conferences and know some of the work that occurs behind the scenes. Again, very impressed on this front.

Now, its time to start figuring out the process of actually getting better. That'll probably mean less fun blitz chess and more serious study, focus, and analysis.

Much to learn on that front.

Some photos from the event:

The event had 135 participants!

The photo above shows the few top tables.
I'm already looking forward to next year!