It's worth mentioning before I start with the stories that I've only played four rated tourneys in my life. #2 was best, #3 was worst, but the first three all sort of blend into one story, so I'll just tell it that way.
It all started in July of 2001, when my dad bought me a membership in the USCF for my birthday. Up until then I had always liked chess, but never really studied it seriously in any way. I was good enough to play evenly with my dad, and we both found tactics more interesting than strategy which made for some wild and fun games. I also had a collection of chess books that I had inherited from my grandpa, who was a pretty good chessplayer (I think he was roughly 2000-strength, but I'm not sure). I enjoyed reading them, but never used them properly for study, aiming instead for entertainment.
With the membership, I quickly realized one of the coolest perks was that I was eligible to play in tournaments. The first one in the area was in September, The Oregon Open, and I went eagerly, but with no idea what to expect. Obviously I wasn't very good yet, and even so I probably didn't play quite to my peak ability, since I was completely unfamiliar with using a clock, recording my moves, or playing for so long. Still, I had a lot of fun, and managed to beat two of the weaker players in the field plus pull a bye for a 3.0/6.0 score, and 32nd place out of 60 in the Reserve Section. More importantly, I learned that my High School actually had a really strong and large chess club. Close to twenty members of the club (including middle schoolers) were there, and I made a few new friends and learned when the meetings were.
When school started up, I started attending the chess club. I had a pretty fair amount of natural talent but almost zero practical knowledge (I wonder what would have happened if I had found the club when I was 8, instead of 17? Would I actually be good at chess?), which meant I was behind the curve at the club but also was able to improve rapidly. I mostly played with the middle school kids, because the skills matched up better. There was also the fact that in their young eyes, I actually qualified as "cool", and that wasn't something I'd really ever been before, so I enjoyed it. I was actually one of only 6 high schoolers that attended regularly. The club had three really good players (expert level), one of whom was an eighth grader, who kind of kept to themselves. The other high schoolers were a kind of cool punk kid, a very attractive girl, and a guy who I considered to be an extreme douche, mostly on the grounds that he and the girl mostly just played each other. And it bothered me that he got to do that, not me
Of course it made sense, they were both rated over 1400, and a step above the rest of the non-expert crowd. Still...
Anyway, after a couple months, it was time for my second tourney, The South Eugene Open, and I went in feeling I could probably improve on my 1128 provisional rating. I opened against a guy rated 1309. And lost. In round two, I got a full point bye. Swiss gambit! Round three matched me up one of the middle schoolers from the club, 1294 provisional rating, who I knew I was pretty evenly matched with. And I pulled out the win.
In round four, I was suddenly relatively high in the standings at 2/3, and I got paired with: The douche from my high school. He was rated 1461, and knew he was better than me, and I knew it too. He had white, and he played d4. I was a pure king's pawn player. Unfortunately I don't still have my scoresheet, so I don't exactly remember how the game went, but somehow or other I managed to pull out the upset win! He stormed off while I looked the game over with some of my middle school buddies in the skittles room. I didn't think it could get any better than that.
Which brings us to the final round. At 3/4, I was in a four-way tie for third. First place was a kid from Washington rated 1503, and with a 4/4 score, who is apparently now a candidate master ranked 2098. In second at 3.5/4 was a guy rated 1600. In third was me, the hot girl from school, a 1366, and a 1654. Of course she got the easy draw, and I had to play the 1654. Oh well, sure I was going to lose, but at least it was fun, and I made it to the final round tied for third. Pretty solid, and I was happy with it.
I don't have the game in front of me right now, but I'll edit it into this post when I can. Long story short, I made a dubious trade (bishop + knight for rook+ pawn) but kept my position playable, until about move 13 when he inexplicably hung his knight. Afterward he explained that he thought he was winning a pawn with a combo, not noticing that he didn't get the piece back. It wasn't until three moves after I won the knight that he realized he wasn't up a pawn. I converted solidly, never letting him back into the game, and won to finish the tourney 4/5, tied for second place with the hot girl, as the wonderkid from Washington finished off his 5/5 domination. He took home the overall prize, she got first in the U1600 section, and they gave me first in the U1400 section. I won money! It was freaking awesome. Obviously my best tournament ever. My final round game ended up getting published in the magazine Northwest Chess, with annotations from FM Chuck Schulien who had won the open section of the tourney. He made a special point to comment on how even up a piece for a pawn it's not necessarily easy to beat someone rated 500 points higher. And I'll never forget his use of the phrase "excellent use of pawns".
At this point I was flying high. I quit the chess club that winter, because it was baseball season and practice mattered more to me, but I figured I was still playing good chess. After all, I was rated 1332 now. Which brings us to the Oregon Class Championships the following April. Obviously I was still improving. I beat a 1460 and a 1654 last time I played. These U1400s didn't stand a chance, I was going to take home the Class D prize! I opened against one of the middle schoolers, who I scored about 65% against in club games. He blew me off the board. I recovered to win round two (against an 1116). In round three I was paired with the *younger brother* of the punk guy from school. This kid was rated 691. I don't remember the game at all, but according to the tourney cross-table... he beat me too. To his credit he scored 3.5/5, tied for second, and bumped his rating up to 993, but that was hardly consolation at the time. In round four I lost again, this time to an unrated (who finished 3/5). I did win round five, against a 1081, but I finished 13th out of 17, and the two people I beat finished tied for dead last. My rating dropped to 1231, and my high school chess career was over. Worst tournament ever.