Back Above 1700 (Again)

After all the work I had done to get my rating up to my all time high of 1724 one bad performance at the beginning of the month dropped me down below 1700 to 1699.

This past week I managed to get back above 1700 to 1702.

The third round of a club tournament was this past Thursday.  I was 0-2 in the first two games (lost as Black against a 2100 and a 2000) but I had White in the final round vs a provisional 1600 player. 

The guy I was playing is known as a wild attacking player and so I figured I would just play super solid and let him bring the fight to me.  Sure enough, he wasted several tempi trying to build what was a very fruitless attack.  Then he hung a piece and it was all over.

To see the game please go here: http://www.chess.com/blog/ChrisWainscott/back-above-1700-again

What is interesting to me is that I think that this game is going to wind up being a huge building block in my continued progress.  The reason why is that this game was played on a Thursday when I had to leave town early Friday morning to drive eight hours.  So I strongly considered not playing this game at all.

At one point I was 99% that I wasn't going to  play.  But I decided that I didn't want to let the chance to make it back over 1700 slip through my fingers.

Typically in the past when I haven't really been mentally committed to playing a game I've stood no chance.  I would make terrible blunders and just get crushed.  I'm not saying that I played perfectly in this game, but I was able to maintain my composure and I won.

So hopefully this is the next step down the path of progress.