I Played an OTB Rapid Tournament — Game 1: Start Strong

This is Game 1 from a seven-round over-the-board rapidplay tournament I played recently. I entered the intermediate section, which had an ECF rating cap of 1600. I was the third seed out of around 50 players, with an ECF rapid rating in the high 1500s — despite being over 2000 rapid on chess.com. So this series is partly a tournament story, and partly a test: can the chess I believe I’m capable of online hold up over the board, with physical pieces, a real clock, and stress? In each episode, I’ll go through one tournament game, explain what I was thinking during the critical moments, reveal the result, and then compare my decisions with engine analysis afterwards. Game 1 is about settling into the tournament: playing actively without forcing things, building confidence, and avoiding the trap of playing scared just because the result matters. Series theme: 7 games, 7 lessons. In this episode: Tournament context and rating background My over-the-board thought process Key practical decisions from Game 1 Engine check of the critical moments One takeaway heuristic for future games #chess #rapidchess #chesstournament #otbchess #chessanalysis