I managed to win the rapid event! I'm going to copy wlrs
and present a highlights reel.
Round 1: very easy win in 17 moves, nothing to see here.
Round 2: Black against a solid 2100 guy. We reach the following position:
He is going to play f4 next, and while I'm certainly comfortable enough with the a-file, I decided to mix it up: 1...Ra2!? 2.Nc3 Rxb2 3.Rxb2 Nexc4 4.Rc2 Na3 5.Ra2 Bxc3 6.Rxa3 Bd4 reaching the following position:
One pawn for the exchange, but the bishop on d4 is a monster. I think Black has a very reasonable position. Actually later on I was completely lost, but swindled the win when we down to our last minute each
Round 3: Black vs 2300 FM.
Round 4: White vs 2000.
http://chess.tuxtown.net/game/view/i...306854a134986e
After a bit of a trainwreck opening (I completely forgot I can't do the standard 10.Nd5 Nxe4 11.Qxb4 because d5 is hanging!) I found this interesting 13.Nc5 idea. I guess he missed Qxd7+ because then I'm up a pawn. 23...Rb8 was annoying, stopping my plan of playing c3. I'm pretty happy with my move 24.g4!?, I'm not sure how good it is objectively but it operates on the principle of opening up a second front of attack. Anyway it provoked him to move his knight after which I got in c3 and won pretty easily from there.
Round 5: Black vs 1950. Yeah, I got a really nice draw! The FM I drew with in round 3 took out the one IM, so now it was just a case of both of us trying not to mess up against lower rated opposition. My game was crazy, and went down to the last seconds again. Here is the game, although I can't remember the last few moves where I'm easily winning and just need to beat the clock.
http://chess.tuxtown.net/game/view/i...8902f6d966bc99
Fortunately for me, the FM got into a lost position. He somehow escaped with a draw, but that was enough to win me the event.