Well, after six months of tournament inactivity I'm back in action this coming Thursday in the Reno CC Class Ch., 'B' section. Interestingly, it will be a match with Steve Kesti, who last year took the B section with 5 straight wins (and a double forfeit in the final round). That's because there are four Experts, four A players, seven C and five D-E signed for the Class Championships, but only us two lonely B players.
Kesti is rated about 1760 to my 1600, but I'm feeling pretty good about my prospects in the match--despite the tournament inactivity, I've been studying at least a little most every day and have done some work on the two games we played last year. I don't necessarily expect him to repeat the same openings, but I do think I've got a good idea of the kind of positions he likes.
About half of my study time has been devoted to the endings, using Muller and Lamprecht's Fundamental Chess Endings, and I am also feeling more confident in this part of the game.
Finally, I've recently reread Jonathan Rowson's Seven Deadly Chess Sins for inspiration and psychological prep, and I think it's been a real help to getting into the spirit of things despite not having played in a rated tournament for about six months.
Whatever the final score of the upcoming contest, I feel that I've done my best to prepare in the time available, so now I'm just going to go out and enjoy the match.
I just recalled, too, that I won the Reno Class C title back in 1985 by winning a match. I know how to do this!
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