The 12th Annual Mark Oestreich Memoiral Open 3.8.14 (Rounds 2 and 3)

The last two games of them tournament went well for me. I played two class D players and won both games. In round two I had to fight hard for the win. The guy was very under-rated. I felt like I was playing a strong class B player. I will only post the game from the second round. The game from the third round wasn't much of a game as he blundered two pieces early in the game.

[Event "Mark Oestreich"] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.03.08"] [Round "2"] [White "Terlizzi"] [Black "Bennett, Ray"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C00"] [WhiteElo "1570"] [BlackElo "1200"] [PlyCount "61"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. e4 Nc6 8. c3 Rb8 9. Qc2 e5 10. a3 Be6 11. Ng5 Qd7 12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. f4 exf4 14. gxf4 Ng4 15. Nf3 b5 16. b4 d4 17. h3 Ne3 18. Bxe3 dxe3 19. bxc5 Rxf4 20. d4 Rbf8 21. e5 R8f5 22. Qe2 Rxf3 23. Rxf3 Nxd4 24. cxd4 Qxd4 25. Rd1 Qxe5 26. Rxf5 Qxf5 27. c6 Qc5 28. Kh1 Bd6 29. Qd3 Bc7 30. Qd7 Qe5 31. Qe8# 1-0 '/>

The 12th Annual Mark Oestreich Memorial Open 3.8.14 (Round 1)

I did not win first place this time. I lost my very first round against class A player James Pollitt. This was the opponent I defeated two years ago, and I mentioned him and showed the game in one of my previous posts. This time, however, he got the best of me. He was grinding me down out of the opening and I cracked under the pressure and blundered two pawns. This blunder happened on move 18. Nf4. It was really just a mistake of carelessness.

[Event "Mark Oestreich Memorial "] [Site "Salem"] [Date "2014.03.08"] [Round "1"] [White "Terlizzi"] [Black "Pollitt"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B01"] [PlyCount "38"] [SourceDate "2014.03.08"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bg4 6. f3 Bh5 7. Nge2 Nc6 8. O-O O-O-O 9. Be3 Nb4 10. Ng3 Nxd3 11. Qxd3 Bg6 12. Qc4 e6 13. Nce4 Nd5 14. Bf2 h5 15. Ne2 h4 16. Be1 Qb6 17. Bd2 Be7 18. Nf4 Nxf4 19. Bxf4 Rxd4 0-1'/>

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.