I played in the North American Open tournament in Las Vegas this past week and scored 4.5/7.0 in the Under 1500 section while rated just under 1300 myself. I scored 3 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss and should gain about 120-140 USCF Elo points for my troubles.

A quick breakdown of the rounds without necessarily getting into the openings I play:

• Round One (b): Hard-fought game where I was fortunate to draw; was never better against a 1590 rated player.
• Round Two (w): All-out attacking game with multiple sacrifices on my end; one miscalculation by me that wasn’t punished, scored a win.
• Round Three (w): An absolute devastation by yours truly; GIF embedded below the rounds to review.
• Round Four (b): A completely equal game until my opponent inexplicably hung his queen in minor time pressure.
• Round Five (w): Scored a draw against the tournament winner, who got 6.5/7.0 (lone blemish was against me). I include the PGN and my annotations below in this post.
• Round Six (b): Opponent played a strange double-fianchetto’d English setup and I turned a solid Semi-Slav setup into a kingside attack where I miscalculated in time pressure and ended up getting a perpetual check draw when I was quite a bit worse.
• Round Seven (w): My lone loss of the tournament in a gambit where my opponent played a tough line that neutralizes my attack; need to come up with an alternative plan against it.

First, the Round Four crush in the Four Knights Spanish, Open Variation:

And now, my PGN with brief annotations in my game in the Panov-Botvinnik Attack vs. the Caro-Kann Defense, essayed by the tournament winner, Lucas Maokhampio. A truly excellent player who put me to the test nonstop. I watched his other games as much as I could, and he absolutely rolled over everyone. I consider myself quite fortunate to draw.

Lichess computer analysis – all mistakes are in the end when we are repeating. Otherwise, the game had just one inaccuracy on my end, and two on Lucas’ end. An extremely well played game by myself… and one I think that Lucas plays in most of his rounds.

Follow along with the PGN below by clicking this Lichess Imported Game:

https://lichess.org/0WHzKVU3

PGN with my minor annotations:

1. e4 c6 (Not like this.)
2. d4 d5
3. exd5 cxd5
4. c4 Nf6
5. Nc3 Nc6
6. h3 dxc4 (Realized here I was already out of book of the mainline. Not great. Time to learn on the fly. I threw this in to stop Bg4. We’ll see how it turns out.)
7. Nf3 e6?! (Inaccuracy. Be6 was best. Guess he didn’t want to play Be6, too ugly. This is fine though, now.)
8. Bxc4 Be7
9. O-O O-O
10. Be3 Nb4
11. Qb3 Nc6
12. Rfd1 Bd7 (He prepares it. Now Na5 wins on the spot.) (12… Na5: Literally every move loses but Qa4. Even that is sweaty, but I calculated enough to realize I don’t get cooked here.)
13. Qc2 (I should have moved the bishop.) 13… Nb4
14. Qb3 a5 (Oh my god. I tank and play a4.)
15. a4 (No idea how I am evicting this knight.) 15… Bc6 (A calm move. Very nice ideas beyond just taking on f3.)
16. Ne5 (Hero has 40 minutes, villain has 38. We are both in the tank in these crazy positions.) 16… Nfd5
17. Nxc6 bxc6
18. Nxd5 exd5 (I get the bishop pair for my troubles, though this knight on b4 is a monster.)
19. Bf1 Bd6
20. Qc3 Qc7
21. Bd2 Bh2+
22. Kh1 Bf4 (Very nice set of triangulating checks to drive the king away from the defense. I consider g3 but can’t bring myself to do it, even though I sort of know that it’s a Glek System idea.)
23. Bxf4 (23. g3) Qxf4
24. Qd2?! (Inaccuracy. Kg1 was best.) 24… Qf6?! (Inaccuracy. Qxd2 was best.)
25. Ra3 Rfe8
26. Re3 Rxe3
27. Qxe3 Nc2 (Hero has 18 minutes. Villain has surpassed – he has 25 minutes.)
28. Qd2 Nb4
29. Bd3 (Hanging the f pawn, but giving me dynamic chances. I need this knight gone. Also 1% chance of the French queen blunder, I guess.) 29… Nxd3
30. Qxd3 Qxf2
31. Qc3 Qf6
32. Rc1 Ra6 (Forced, and my idea. Villain 20 minutes, hero 12 minutes.)
33. b4 (Creating the passer. Considered Re1 for blunder equity after Kf8 but decided to not play like a jackass.) (33. Re1 Kf8 34. Qc5+ { whoops! }) axb4
34. Qxb4 g6 (Despite having a passer vs. the backwards c pawn (even if it’s an extra one), white is fighting for a draw.)
35. Re1 Kg7
36. a5 Qf4
37. Qc5 (I give this a dubious mark. This cannot be correct to trap my queen here.) 37… Qd2
38. Ra1 Qb2
39. Ra3 Qb5
40. Qc3 (Obviously queen trades are losing.) 40… Qf1+ (Time control reached. Hero has 3+30 minutes, villain has 10+30 minutes.)
41. Kh2 Qf6
42. Kh1 Ra8
43. Rb3? (Mistake. Ra1 was best. And white is worse! Wow.) 43… Qd8? (Mistake. Qf1+ was best.) (43… Qf1+ 44. Kh2 Qf4+ 45. Kh1 Re8)
44. Ra3 Qf6
45. Rb3? (Mistake. Ra1 was best. Again, white is worse.) 45… Qd8? (Mistake. Qf1+ was best.)
46. Ra3 (I offer a draw here, he declines.) Rb8 (I go in the tank for 5 minutes. I cannot possibly take on c6… right? But Marc’s lesson from the World Championships looms large: “If you don’t take, you need to explain why.”)
47. Ra1 (My opponent sighs after Ra1 and offers a draw. We briefly analyze after the game and in the sidelines you will know my opponent’s name is the lord if you take on c6. One of the sweatiest games I’ve ever played and defended. Very proud of staying in the fight despite feeling like I was getting cooked all game. 4.0/5.0. One day remains.) (47. Qxc6 Rb1+ 48. Kh2 Qb8+ { DEAR GOD } 49. Rg3 Rb3 { And the truth very much hurts. })