By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
April 23, 2018
During the lunch break, I walked home, refilled my water bottle and noodled with my phone until it was nearly time to return to the tournament. I picked up and scarfed down some pizza before sitting down to start the afternoon session, which would consist of five games.
We’d be employing king of the hill format the rest of the way. Four players had perfect 3-0 records; of them, I had the best spread at plus-189, which put me in first place. I was paired with the No. 2 player in the standings, N.C., for the fourth game.
My foe was the division’s top seed, having entered with a player rating of 1013 — substantially higher than my 931. N.C. and I had played just once before, in June 2017. That encounter had gone poorly for me — a 506-288 defeat, my first after two wins in that single-day tournament. Obviously, I was hoping for a much more competitive battle this time out.
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