500 Points in 364 Days

I ended in 3rd place in the Reserve Section (U1600) in the tournament yesterday and won the $100 Class E prize for being the highest scorer of the U1200 players. I had a performance of 1502 compared to my performance in the same tournament last year of 997! That's an improvement of just over 500 points in just under a year!!

I had 3 wins and 1 loss in the 4-round swiss. My one loss was to a 1438 who took first in the section...I was actually winning out of the opening (2.00+ according to Fritz,) but I got a little too greedy with my pawn-grabbing and let him get an overwhelming lead in development and then later stumbled into a mate in 1 (I was just trying to emulate Kramnik.)

My three wins were against a 772 (who hadn't played in a tournament since he was in kindergarten 13 years ago, so I doubt that rating is too accurate, but unfortunately it is still the rating that gets used for my rating and performance calculations,) a 1208, and a 1447. I am especially proud of my game against the 1447, who I managed to completely blow off the board in a Franco-Benoni that I was able to transpose into a Morra Gambit. I also only used about 15-20 minutes of my clock time, while he used a decent majority of his.

Here are the games:

Round 1
Ron (1067) - Evan (1438) [C18]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Nc6 7.Qg4 Nge7 8.Qxg7 Rf8 9.Bh6 Rg8 10.Qxh7 cxd4 11.Nf3 Bd7 12.cxd4 Qa5+ 13.Kd1 Qa4 14.Be3 O-O-O 15.Qxf7 Rdf8 16.Qh7 Nf5 17.Bd3 Rxg2 18.Bxf5 exf5 19.Kd2 f4 20.Rhb1 fxe3+ 21.Kxe3 b6 22.h4 Bg4 23.Ne1 Qxd4# 0-1

Round 2
Jordon (772) - Ron (1067) [B01]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 d5 2.e5 c5 3.c3 Bf5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Bg4 6.Bb5 Qb6 7.Bxc6+ Qxc6 8.h3 Bf5 9.d4 e6 10.Nbd2 Be7 11.Nb3 b6 12.Be3 f6 13.Qe2 fxe5 14.Nxe5 Qc7 15.Qb5+ Kf8 16.Nd7+ Kf7 17.dxc5 Rd8 18.Ne5+ Qxe5 19.cxb6 Bg5 20.Qc5 Bxe3 21.Qxe3 Qxe3+ 22.fxe3 axb6 23.O-O Nf6 24.Nd4 Bxh3 25.Rf4 e5 26.Nc6 exf4 27.Nxd8+ Rxd8 Jordon Resigns 0-1

Round 3
Ron (1067) - Corey (1208) [B08]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Nc3 O-O 6.O-O Nbd7 7.Re1 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Qd2 b5 10.Bd5 Rb8 11.Rad1 b4 12.Ne2 Nb6 13.Bxf7+ Kxf7 14.dxe5 Nc4 15.Qd4 Nxe5 16.Nxe5+ dxe5 17.Qxd8 Rxd8 18.Rxd8 Nxe4 19.Be3 Bf6 20.Rd5 Be6 21.Rd3 Be7 22.f3 Nf6 23.Bg5 Rb5 24.Rd2 e4 25.f4 e3 26.Rd3 a5 27.Nd4 Rb6 28.Rdxe3 Bc5 29.Bxf6 Kxf6 30.Rxe6+ Rxe6 31.Rxe6+ Kf7 32.Re4 Kf6 33.g4 h6 34.h4 g5 35.hxg5+ hxg5 36.fxg5+ Kg6 37.Kg2 Bxd4 38.Rxd4 Kxg5 39.Rd5+ Kxg4 40.Rxa5 Kf4 41.Rc5 Ke3 42.Rxc7 Kd2 43.Rc4 Kc1 44.Rxb4 Kxc2 45.Rd4 Kxb2 46.Kf2 Kxa2 47.Rb4 Ka3 48.Rb8 Ka4 49.Ke3 Ka5 50.Kd4 Ka6 51.Kc5 Ka7 52.Rb1 Ka6 53.Rb2 Ka7 54.Kc6 Ka8 55.Kc7 Ka7 56.Ra2# 1-0

Round 4
Ron (1067) - Joseph (1447) [B21]
U1600 Tournament Game - G/60 + 5 - 06.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3 Bb4 6.Qd4 Bxc3+ 7.Qxc3 Nf6 8.Bg5 Nxe4 9.Qxg7 Qa5+ 10.Nd2 Rf8 11.Bh6 Qc5 12.Nxe4 Qb4+ 13.Nc3 d5 14.Qxf8+ Qxf8 15.Bxf8 Kxf8 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bd3 Kg7 18.Na4 Nd7 19.Rc1 b6 20.Rc6 Rb8 21.Kd2 Ne5 22.Rxb6 Ra8 23.Nc5 a5 24.Re1 Ng4 25.f3 Nf6 26.Rc1 d4 27.Ba6 Nd5 28.Rc6 Bxa6 29.Rxa6 Rb8 30.Nb3 Nb4 31.Rxa5 Nxa2 32.Rxa2 Rxb3 33.Kc2 Rb7 34.Kd3 e5 35.Rc6 Rb3+ 36.Kc4 Rb7 37.Rd6 f6 38.Raa6 Rxb2 39.Rxf6 Rc2+ 40.Kd3 Rc3+ 41.Kd2 Rb3 42.Rfb6 Rxb6 43.Rxb6 Joseph Resigns 1-0