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title: My Tournament Report: A Rollercoaster of Nerves and Lessons
description: At one point, I lost four games in a row, and the urge to simply pack my bags and walk out was overwhelming
image: https://image.lichess1.org/display?fmt=webp&h=550&op=thumbnail&path=gqhlOQUyXwNz.webp&w=880&sig=08a5cbfcecb61eba691a8d6103d75060c57ef056
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My latest chess tournament turned out to be a relatively successful campaign. I managed to score 4.5 points out of 9 rounds—a solid, above-average result that I honestly didn’t see coming. Considering I entered the event completely unrated, I was placed at the very bottom of the starting list. My expectations were grounded in reality: I was hoping for maybe 2 or 2.5 points, with 3 being an absolute ceiling.

The organization itself was flawless. The playing hall had a massive digital display board that instantly showed your pairings, so there was no frantic searching through printed sheets. The venue was packed with high-quality boards and pieces, and the hum of intense concentration mixed with the quiet clicks of clocks created a truly electric atmosphere.

However, the psychological toll was brutal. At one point, I lost four games in a row, and the urge to simply pack my bags and walk out was overwhelming. I felt like I was drowning in my own mistakes. There were a couple of games where I had a clear, winning advantage and let it slip through my fingers due to time pressure. And then there was that one game—the one that still stings—where I incredibly stupidly agreed to a draw in a completely winning position.

My opening repertoire stayed true to form: I stuck to the English Opening with White and navigated the tricky waters of the Pirc-Ufimtsev and King’s Indian defenses with Black.