Today, I played my first official, rated tournament game. What a great experience. It is a small, local chess club tournament, but it is a rated USCF event. It's a four round G/60 tournament with each round played on alternating Saturdays. The tournament is held in a quaint little coffee shop in downtown Worthington, Ohio.
My first round opponent was a (roughly) 14 year old kid with a rating of 1238. Our game was a grueling (at least to this old man) 77 move battle that lasted the two full hours. There was probably a combined four minutes on our clocks when the game finished.
While I love playing chess online, there is nothing like a good over the board game. I'm addicted now! I'll keep you posted as continue my quest for the 2013 World Championship. LOL Seriously, as long as I'm having fun and maybe getting a little better, I'm happy. Here's my game, with my thoughts included. I'd love to hear what you think.