Memorable Game 13: My First Tournament Game, J. Monaco-R. Pearson 1-0, Reno City Ch. 11.23.81

It has been over 30 years since my first rated tournament game. For fun, I thought I'd share it. My play is actually not all that bad, considering that my first tournament was the city championship and I would go on to score one draw and 13 losses! I haven't annotated the game in detail like the previous "memorable" games but a few highlights and questions:

What am I doing playing the Sicilian?!? I usually played 1. e4 e5 as black for some time after this. 4. ..d6? is a bad error after which black is almost lost, but I scratch and claw and my opponent (a 1550-rated player) makes some inaccuracies and after his 14. Na4? I actually am all the way back and as late as move 24 I still have an edge, but I don't know what to do with it. I forget (or don't really know deep in my bones) that my rook must come into the game right now, and he wins a couple of pawns and the game.

All in all, not bad for someone whose first rating was 1198. I still remember this game and the magical feeling of playing serious chess with clocks and score sheets and ratings. The nice thing is, the magic has never really gone away!