My Strongest Tournament Victory - 3.10.12, Oestreich Memorial

[Event "2012 Mark Oestreich Memorial"] [Site "Salem, IL"] [Round "2"] [White "Pollitt"] [Black "Terlizzi"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1919"] [BlackElo "1472"] [Annotator "Terlizzi"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2012.03.10"] [TimeControl "2700%2B45"] 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 a6 6. Nc3 Qd8 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. Bc4 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bb3 Nc6 12. Be3 Nd5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14. Ne5 Bf6 15. f4 Qd6 16. Qf3 Ne7 17. g4 Bxe5 18. dxe5 Qg6 19. h3 h5 20. g5 h4 21. Bc5 Re8 22. Bxe7 Rxe7 23. Bxd5 Bf5 24. Kh2 Qb6 25. Re2 Rd8 26. Rd1 Red7 27. Red2 Be6 28. f5 Bxd5 29. Rxd5 Rxd5 30. Rxd5 Qxb2 31. Kg1 Qb1 32. Kf2 Qxa2 33. Ke3 Qxd5 *'/>

This game was played in my hometown two years ago (2012). I was playing a guy from Indiana who was rated nearly 500 points higher than me. It was the first time I had ever beaten a Class A player. I ended the tournament with a perfect score - 3/3 and received first place. I had always planned for white to play the anti-Sicilian (Alapin) whenever I play the Sicilian. My plan is to always play ...d5 on the second move. He responds 3. exd5 and I recapture the pawn with my queen on move 3. I surprised myself a bit on move 5 by playing ...a6. The move looked too passive but in hindsight I think it was a very important move and it helped me build a strong position for the opening as it prevents white from moving the bishop to b5. The rest of the game was fairly simple. He just made a tactical blunder in the middle of the game and I capitalized on it by winning his rook. I remember punching in the numbers on my computer when I got home that night and I discovered that I had a performance rating of over 2300 ELO, which is well into the master class. This tournament is coming up again next month and I hope I win it again. I'll keep everyone informed. Thanks for reading.