Played in my first tournament tonight... it was just casual and unrated and only about 8 people (had time for 4 games). My end result was 2-2. I'm so used to playing only online that I miss tactics and hanging pieces on a real board. So the first game I left my rook hanging and lost. Second lasted only 5 minutes maybe, I forked my opponents king and queen and it was over.

The third game I have a question that I hope someone might answer... Is it considered rude to run out your opponents clock when your position is inferior, and it's just a casual tournament and everyone is waiting? I won on time with two pawns down but I felt like I had committed a big faux pas. The fourth game was against the strongest player on the island so I lost pretty soundly but he's nice enough to analyze the game with me afterwards.

Probably no one will read this blog, but I felt like writing about my first tournament experience anyway.