My Fifth Chess Tournament, Game 2
This game was one that I probably should have won at the end, but I ended up drawing this one. While it would be great for me to win a game this tournament, especially against my 1799 rated opponent, I am still glad that I have at least been drawing my much higher rated opponents. Unlike when I played in the lowest section, my opponents in the middle section rarely make any blunders. This makes it harder for me to take advantage of their blunders and therefore harder to win any games. Hopefully I'll play better games as I continue and actually win some of them.
In this game I chose to start with the less common first move of 1. c4, signifying my intent to play the English Opening. The English Opening isn't too rare, but there are several other more common first moves from White. Among some of the more common options are 1. e4 (King Pawn), 1. d4 (Queen Pawn), 1. Nf3 (Reti Opening), 1. g3 (Benko Opening, not to be confused with the Benko Gambit which goes 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 Bxa6 ), and even 1. f4 (Bird's Opening). Regardless of my first move of 1. c4, the game quickly transposed into a King's Indian Defense. As can be seen from the first several moves of the game, I knew the first few moves of this opening at the time, but on move 7 I deviated from theory and fell into an equal position. Here is the game: