Purging my blitz brain: My Biggest lessons from first year of OTB chess

introduction
Hello my name is ben i am your average club player in Colorado. i started playing OTB chess 1.2 years ago although i have been obsessively playing chess these last 2 years with goals of becoming stronger. With this post i hope to share with you some of my biggest lessons I've learned from my first year of OTB chess.

Lesson # 1: Calculation is not enough, you need to have a plan

As a pure speed chess player (15,000 speed games before my first 70-10 OTB game) i hadn't yet grasped the level of chess that occurs during a 90+30 game. I was spoiled for blunders in my 1-0 3-0 and 10-0 online speed games. This was to my detriment as i lacked any sort ability to beat a player without tactics. This especially showed in the opening and middle game where my typical traps were nothing but positional mistakes. This first game comes from the 3rd round of the National Open U1900 in Las Vegas this year. it was my first major tournament and i still thought my chess.com rating of 1800- 2000 meant i was 1700 OTB. in reality i think my 1564 rating was quite appropriate. In it i avoid blunders but 10 anti positional moves make for a loss also.

I learned a lot of from this game. mostly that every move i make truly does have a lasting impact on the game. be it opening a file or giving up control of a key square. Higher level players are going to know how to make good use of positional advantages.

Here is my only win from Vegas in the 6th round. This game is a positive example of having a plan. I played normal moves for the opening and was able to find an advantage fast against passive playing. I was thankful to get this win as i was 0.5/4 at this point.

Lesson # 2: 100% concentration or you lose

This is my first round game from the National Open this summer. A game of ups and downs. My first ever 90+30 game. Kevin was 1800 and the president of Vegas chess club. He was the same age as me and was very confident. In this game i played a good move and stopped thinking. Kevin never stopped and won in great fashion.

You need nerves of steel in chess and you always have to be playing the board and not the player. Playing the player is a gamble while playing the board is concrete.
Here is another example of me getting too confident and not treating every single move with respect. its the 3rd round and I am 2/2 at my local chess club i get paired against a player who is 1550 around my elo. I know hes strong because i saw him take down a tough 1700.

complete arrogance. i considered nc3 as an option but i didn't actually look, i was missing bishop a3 as the final piece to puzzle. to make matters worse when i had to defend my mistake i went for an unsound trap instead of just staying focused on the position. This one hurt a lot.

Lesson # 3: Use your time especially during critical moments.

This may have been one of the stupidest moves ever played during a 90+30 game with a lot of time. if i had just spent maybe 2% more of my time could i have found the extremely obvious qxd5. i could have turned my luck around at Vegas and i may have come away with a less significant loss in loss in ego and elo. It could have been but wasn't because i was tilted and rushing.

Lesson # 4: Never play for time OTB

Unlike in my typical 1-0, 3-0, 10-0 time controls online. OTB there will always be an increment most likely. This basically means you will never be flagged or flag someone because your opponent should always have enough time to make a move. Here is my first game against a National master OTB i played great up until he got down to 2 minutes where i foolishly stopped playing chess and started playing the clock.

You cant play for time when you don't have any pieces. 2 minutes is enough time for any club player to mate you when they are up 5 points.

In conclusion OTB chess is a unique beast in itself that the blitz brain does not synchronize with in the slightest. Its not a sprint its a marathon. Thank you so much for reading my blog. ill leave you with my newly accomplished best game against the strongest opponent i have ever beaten.

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