Iowa Closed Championship Preview

Hello fellow woodpushers. A few points of interest coming up:

-I just got a new laptop, and am in the process of moving my chess files over, so I will likely not have an update on here until next week.

-The Iowa Closed, which I qualified for will be held this coming weekend in Marshalltown. More specific details can be found at the IASCA site. Here is a preview of what I think the tournament situation will be:

Round 1: White vs. Bob Keating
This is an important game to get on the scoreboard with to set the tempo for the tournament. I have won my last 2 games with white against Keating, but he is a tough player to beat. As long as I don't get too anxious from this being the first round, this should be a good game.

Round 2: Black vs. Pete Karagianis
I have yet to score with black against Pete, but the last time we played I did manage to win a piece with white while Pete was in time pressure although I did lose the game in the ending. The main focus of this game will be to see if all of my recent training will make me competitive against master level players.

Round 3: White vs. Matt Anzis
This will probably be the defining game of the tournament for me. I am currently +1 against Matt overall, but he has recently shown incredible skill development and could be out of reach soon for almost any of us.

Round 4: Black against ???
I still don't know who the 6th player is, so I can't say much about this game.

Round 5: White vs. Tim Mc Entee
This game will either be very long and interesting or very short and boring varying on the course that the tournament has taken. In previous years, if a draw would clinch at least a share of 1st for Tim, he has offered draws, which would not be unexpected here if he were in such a position. However, depending on my own results, there may even be room for me to play the game out for a shot at 1st myself.

Of the 5 currently known players, I am the lowest rated, but I believe given the correct mindset I could win any game in this tournament. My goal is to emerge with 3.0/5.0 or better, but I would gladly take a higher amount. Following the tournament I will provide some sort of tournament report on either Monday or Tuesday.

So everybody, wish me luck!