[Chess Blog]Playing in Chess Tournament

Round 1.

In round 1, I was pitted against a middle aged man who seemed like he was in somewhere around late 30s or 40s. (But I am horrible at guessing people’s age by their look, so don’t count on that being accurate lol)

I was playing White, so I confidently played the best move according to Bobby Fischer’s test, e4.

1 e4 e6
2 d4 d5



And so began my 1st OTB experience in what, 5, 6 years? What’s funny here is that although I played the French with Black for majority of my chess life, I don’t have a clue how to play the White side of it! When I play as Black, about 90% of the time, people played the Advance variation where the plan is straight forward for Black and White, so I went with that route.

I was secretly hoping that he would play 1…e5, which I was a lot more familiar and comfortable facing, so I was disappointed. Darn!


3 e5 c5
4 c3 Nc6
5 Nf3 Qb6



Typical moves in the Advance variation I suppose. Black putting as much pressure as he can on d4 while White is doing everything he can to defend it.


6 Be2 Bd7
7 0-0 Ne7
8 Qb3



My first attempt at breaking the tension that has been building up. I would like to develop my Queenside, but that Queen on b6 is really holding everything down it seemed. My bishop can’t move, my knight doesn’t have anywhere good to go (Na3? Lol).

So I said “trade or move away!”


8… Qc7
9 Be3 Nf5
10 Nd2 Be7
11 Bg5?



Oops… My 1st blunder of the day. 11 moves without a capture, I want blood on the field. Without thinking carefully, my reflex made me think “trading my bad bishop with his good can’t possibly be bad” WRONG WRONG WRONG…

I have to admit that I did not notice that the knight on f5 is attacking d4… as silly as that sounds. Not properly counting the # of attack vs # of defender in exchanges is really a nagging habit that’s been plaguing me. Trading the “bad bishop” will lose me my d4 pawn!


11… Bxg5
12 Nxg5 cxd4



It wasn’t until this point that I realized the situation. I was going to lose a pawn…


13 Rac1



Taking on d4 with c pawn would only help his knight get centralized, so I decided “forget the pawn, I need to develop my Rook”. I am hoping that he would take my c pawn so my Rook can have an open file.


13… h6
14 Nf3 dxc3
15 Qxc3



I pondered whether I should take it with the Queen or a Rook here. Adding firepower down the c file could come in handy, so I decided to take it with the Queen.


15… 0-0
16 Nb3 Rac8
17 Rfe1 Qd8
18 Nc5 Nb8
19 Qa3 Qb6
20 Nxd7 Nxd7



Things have cleared up a bit and a healthy tension has been formed in the c file. Here, I wondered wtf do I do? The biggest problem I saw was that most of my pieces are badly placed now. The Queen…wtf is she doing on a3? Defending a pawn? And the bishop on e2? Lol.

With no pre-planned plan, I thought “what if I just start pushing my kingside pawns forward?” And then I noticed something weird about that knight on f5. “If it gets attacked, by a pawn let’s say, then it doesn’t really have anywhere to go… except d4! Yes that is it! I will bring another piece to defend d4 and win that knight!!!”


21 Red1 Rfe8



BOOO. My opponent sees through my petty plan which has all but evaporated. Now that e7 is defended, the knight no longer HAS TO go to d4…it can go to e7.

I had no plan B in cases like this where he provides his knight a way out. I was out of plan, so against better judgment, I decide “Let’s kick his knight out anyway”


22 g4 Ne7
23 Bf1?



I played Bf1 before Anand played it. (reference to Anand vs Mamedyarov or however you spell his name) I gotta admit this was probably the worst undeveloping move in the history of chess. I was not happy with that bishop being on e2 at all. It just seemed too useless at the moment, and the fact that it was undefended could haunt me later on. My idea was something along the lines of move the bishop to g2, bring a Rook to defend the e pawn, get the knight out of bishop’s way…something like this. A bad plan is better than no plan huh?

Needless to say, this move would turn out to be a total waste.


23… Ng6
24 Qd6?



Yea, so much for the plan. I have a bad habit of either not having a plan or not following it when I have one. As a result, my pieces are often misplaced, moves are wasted, and pieces lack coordination with one another.

I immediately do something stupid. I thought pawn on e5 was indefensible in the long run, but I hastened my downfall with this Queen trade. Trading the Queens when you are down a pawn? Bad idea… I completely ignored the saying “when you are behind, trade pawns, when you are ahead, trade pieces.”


24… Qxd6
25 exd6 Rc6



Yea…that pawn is a goner. I decided to give him another pawn, but get my Rook infiltrated into the 7th rank in return. That, was my new plan. A rook on the 7th rank is pretty powerful, so I hoped that that could materialize into something

I saw some hope in RxR -> bxR -> Rc1 where I can proceed to gang up on the c6 pawn with my knight and bishop, but I dismissed it because I wanted to keep 2 Rooks, and I did not exactly have a plethora of time remaining to calculate all the different responses that he could play. It probably was the better plan though. Even the Bb5 right away may have been better than the move that I played, which looking back, I have NO CLUE why I played.


26 Re1? Rfc8



Now, to my distaste, he forces the matter. I wanted to keep 2 Rooks, but I am forced to trade it if I still want my Rook in the 7th rank.


27 Rxc6 Rxc6
28 Bb5 Rxd6
29 Rc1 Nb6
30 Rc7



Well, I guess mission accomplished. I got my rook to the 7th rank. But the price is too huge. I’m down 2 pawns…2 central pawns that is… I hoped that my rook on the 7th rank and my bishop can make something happen.


30… a6
31 Be8



Before I take the b pawn, I wanted to make his pieces as useless as possible. This move forces his knight to h8, not a very happy place for it.


31… Nh8
32 Rxb7 Nc4
33 Rb8?



A COMPLETE waste of time! Just frivolous ONE MOVE THREAT. I don’t know what I was thinking, but man was this move bad.


33… Kh7
34 Rb7 f6



Yup, now look at what I’ve done…only helped his King get out of the 8th rank… as a gift…


35 b3 Ne5



And he forces an exchange of knights which would incidentally make his 2-0 central pawn majority into a 3-0 central pawn majority. Jeez…This is getting worse.


36 Nxe5 fxe5
37 h4



Perhaps I can play h5 and completely lock his knight on h8?


37… e4
38 b4 d4



Watching that pawn chain inch closer to my 1st rank felt like watching a bulldozer slowly pummeling everything in its path…even though there was nothing in their path.


39 Ba4 Ng6
40 h5 Ne5
41 Bd1? Nc4
42 Rc7 Nb2



Nothing but sigh could come out of my mouth. All of a sudden, that “useless” knight on h8 is in my front door, assisting his pawns to get promoted!


43 Bb3 d3
44 a4 d2
45 Kg2 d1=Q



And… an opposing pawn has reached the endzone. I have to give up a piece for a pawn.


46 Bxd1 Nxd1
47 b5 axb5
48 axb5 e3
49 fxe3 Nxe3+
50 Kf3 Nd5



Perhaps it was naivety. But it was at this point, that I gained a little hope. I said to myself, “Look, I have a passed pawn on the 5th rank. If I can trade the Rooks, and MAYBE… POSSIBLY… trade all the pawns, it’s a draw by insufficient material! (King v King + Knight) So I challenged a Rook trade.


51 Rc6 Rxc6
52 bxc6



Now that the Rooks are gone and I have a passed pawn at the 6th rank, I can feel slightly hopeful that I can somehow draw this, even though I absolutely suck at endgame. I’m down a knight, and he’s obviously not going to let me Queen my c pawn. But I am hoping I can do something in the Kingside… possibly.


52… Kg8
53 Ke4 Kf7
54 Kd4 Ke7
55 Ke5




55… Nc7
56 Kf4 Kd6
57 g5



I had to give up the c pawn, so now I have no choice but to make shit happen in the kingside.


57… Kxc6
58 gxh6 gxh6
59 Ke5 Kc5
60 Kf6



By the way, we both have less than a minute each by this point. But…with 20 sec increment per move, it was unlikely anybody would lose on time.


60… Kd5
61 Kg6 Ne8
62 Kxh6 Nf6



The game was completely lost. He’s going to sac his Knight for my pawn and then Queen his pawn.


63 Kg6 Nxh5



With less than a minute left on the clock, I didn’t even notice that my King cannot possibly get in front of his King, so I played a few more move, but when it was crystal clear that I can’t stop his pawn from Queening, I threw the towel.

0-1

Ehhh…. Was not the kind of pompous return to OTB chess that I was looking for lol. Of course I was not very happy about some of my moves (obviously lol). Too many uninspiring irrational time wasting moves… So many question mark moves that I’m surprised I didn’t get blown off the board. It’s really nice to know that the best moves I can come up with after staring at the board for 5+ minutes are the ones like Bf1 and Rb8

I was down ONE pawn before he Queened his d pawn, but for some reason, I always felt like I was down big. Sometimes, I just need to stop and recalculate how much material there are on the board for each side and get a clue.

Another interesting thing that I noticed as I go over this game was that there was ONE check the entire game. I DID NOT check his king once, and he gave one relatively meaningless check near the end as a result of a capture. I would have liked a more attacking game, but I just couldn’t seem to mount anything. Tough start, but everything stemmed from my own mistake, so I wasn’t too bothered by the result; I just need to be more careful next time.

Round 2

My round 1 game was not the last game to finish. There was this one game where things looked fairly even in the endgame with both sides having 3 pawns and 1 minor piece each. But with these 20 sec increment per move, these guys were literally playing FOREVERRRRRR. I don’t remember whether we waited for 30 min or 40 min after my game ended, but that game took an out-of-this-world time to end. And it ended in a draw.

Needless to say, as soon as they agreed to draw, the organizer reposted the matchups of round 2. Being a Swiss system tournament, the winners of the 1st round were pitted against each other and losers against themselves in round 2.

My opponent for this round was a fair looking lady, probably somewhere in the mid to late 20s I wanna say. This is the 1st time I play an OTB chess game against a female, but that didn’t affect me whatsoever. Once the game began, all I cared was what was on the board.

I was Black this time, and my opponent too plays the best move according to Fischer’s test.


1 e4 e5




2 Nf3 Nc6
3 d4



Oh… I was all ready for Bb5, but she insists on earlier blood by playing the Scotch. While I do enjoy playing this opening as White, I am not a fan of playing the Black side, as things can get quite messy.


3… exd4
4 Nxd4 Nf6



Bc5 is also another move here that I mostly play whenever I come across this opening, but I wanted to see if my luck would fare better if I play Nf6, even though I am less experienced and familiar in this route.


5 Nxc6 bxc6
6 e5 Nd5
7 Bc4 Nb6
8 Bb3 Be7



I wondered if Bc5 is still an option at the time. It certainly would have been the more energetic move, but I play the timid Be7 instead. No wonder my positions were passive!


9 0-0 0-0
10 Bf4 d6



I don’t want that e pawn giving me a cramping effect too long. I want to exchange it and free up my position.


11 c4



An interesting move to say the least, c4 is. I was confused why she blocked her own bishop like that. Maybe she wanted to play c5 and win a pawn somewhere… OR sac it and gift me an ultra-rare TRIPLE PAWN. But I had better ways to take advantage of this.


11… Ba6
12 Qc2 d5



Her last move kept the pawn pinned to the Rook, so I decided that my d pawn would be better used to attack her c pawn instead of being an useless bait for the e pawn. I am accepting the fact that I will have an isolated double pawn on the c file.


13 Rd1 Nxc4?



An easy tactic to win a pawn? So I thought. She did seem rather surprised by this move, which I thought was good, but it very quickly turned into a nightmare.


14 Bxc4 Bxc4
15 b3



To my HORROR, I realized just how much venom this seemingly quiet looking position had in store. I will lose the pawn I just “won” AS A GIVEN, and then I might possibly even lose my d pawn. In fact I am sure I will lose the d pawn. Darn! Not again!!!! The first “tactic” that I play this day was not a tactic, but a falling into a BOOBY TRAP!!


15… Ba6
16 Qxc6 Qc8
17 Nd2?



Uh… I mean… What?
This move mega confused me. Why would she not take the d pawn? And why d2 instead of c3? But none of them is of great worry to me. I’m just going to save the pawn.


17… Bb7
18 Qc3 Rd8
19 Qg3



Whenever the Queen makes a sweeping move across the board, it really unnerves me. This was especially the case as this was an open declaration of war against my King essentially.


19… Qe6
20 Nf3



Her pieces are ominously gathering on the Kingside. It was now that I maybe got a clue as to why she made the Nd2 move. While I certainly would have preferred the material if I was in her shoes, maybe she wanted to get her knight to f3 asap and go for kingside attack and mate? Maybe? I’ll never know, but it definitely didn’t seemed very good, which is good for me.


20… c5
21 Bg5



Hmm… She wants to get her knight to g5 it seems from this move. But then what? I just don’t think she can expect any sort of mating attack with just Queen and a Knight when I have my own Queen on e6. Maybe she’s not going for mate? Whatever her plan is, I was going to exchange the bishops on my term, not hers.


21… Rd7
22 Nh4 d4
23 Rac1 Rc8
24 f4 Bxg5



With her knight placed on h4, I thought now would the time to exchange the bishops. She certainly looked disappointed that I didn’t exchange it right away on Move 21. Whatever her plan was, I certainly threw a wrench in her works and I was pretty happy about that


25 Qxg5 h6
26 Qg3 Be4
27 Re1 Qd5



I liked this position that I reached here. My bishop and Queen are completely centralized, I have a passed pawn that is very well supported, and her knight on h4 is being silly.

I’m not sure what I would do as White in that position, so I was glad I’m Black and don’t have to think about it. I bet by now, she was regretting not taking the d pawn when she had the chance. She was taking extremely long time to think from this point on. (She was taking pretty long time per move anyway) At one point I even wondered if I didn’t press the clock and whether it was my clock that was still ticking, but no, it was hers.


28 Red1 d3



“No reason to be fancy here” I concluded. Passed pawns should be pushed.


29 Rc4 d2
30 Qe3



Ganging up my bishop huh? Well, it’s alright. I got a strong passed pawn on d2 which will tied up his pieces and my bishop can be tucked away safely. By this point, I think I had somewhere around 9 minutes and she had 5ish I think.


30… Bh7
31 Nf3



ARGGHHH. As I was pushing the d pawn, I had a feeling that I was prematurely pushing. I didn’t seriously expect to Queen it obviously, but I did hope it would stay there long enough for me to profit. Now it seemed like I was just going to lose it!


31… Bb1



My gimmick…a bad one too, but I was in the mood for it. I was disappointed that what I hoped would be a strong pawn on d2 is now just going to be lost.


32 Rxd2 Qc6



My opponent wasn’t interested in bishop. She took the pawn and gains a tempo on my Queen. I am now down a pawn after all…AGAIN.
HOWEVER, at this point, she has something like a minute left…


33 Rxd7 Qxd7
34 a4 Qd5



Trying to centralize my Queen while protecting my c pawn. Even though down a pawn, I hoped that my long ranged bishop could outperform her short hopping knight and cause her some problems. Again, my opponent sank into the meditation mode. She was thinking and thinking and thinking… It was here that I realized “THIS PERSON DOESN’T KNOW SHE’S IN TIME TROUBLE!!!” To facilitate the matter, I refrained from looking at the clock, as that would remind her that she should look at the clock also and give her a clue of the situation.

She thought and thought and thought… until a little girl, who was spectating our game, broke the silence and pointed out that she was out of time.

0-1

She was SHOCKED.

I acted like I was somewhat surprised too (sneaky me). Needless to say, she seemed VERY disappointed. Pity too since there was a 20 sec increment per move, so the very least she could have done was make a king move and gain some time. If only she was conscious of how much time she had left…

I wasn’t very happy either though. I was still pretty bummed about losing the d2 pawn, and in contrast to online game, where I cherish winning on time, winning on time here, especially when I was down in material, was not very noble lol. I bit more than I could chew with the knight, should have lost a pawn, but she bailed me out for some reason. Then I had a passed pawn, then I threw it away, and I was down a pawn anyway. Not a very impressive performance at all.

The timing of it was pretty weird too, right when I lose material, I win haha. But whatever, it is not my fault. It was very anti-climactic nonetheless, but I guess I’ll take the win. She can have the moral victory, and I’ll have the real victory.

Round 3

After round 2, there was the lunch break. My game, surprisingly, was the last game to finish in round 2, so we were the last 2 people in the room to leave to get lunch. I went out and got myself a burger for lunch. Because everybody had a head start on their lunch, I felt kind of pressured to hurry up and eat, which was not good since I am slow eater.

By the time I finished my lunch and came back, everyone was already back, waiting for me to come. So before I even had some time to digest, we dived headfirst into round 3.

My round 3 opponent was a young teenager, probably somewhere around 14 or 15. He was quite energetic, sucking on his lolli pop and jumping up and watching other boards after he make his moves. Whenever I make my move, he would come over, give the board a look and make his move and leave. It turns out, despite his youth, he was one of the stronger club regular here.

I was playing White again.


1 e4 c5
2 Nf3 g6



Hyper-accelerated Dragon… I’ve never actually played against this opening before, and seeing that he was young yet strong player, I was wary of venturing into the theoretical jungle of the Sicilian where he, most likely, knows the way better. So I decided to side-step the mainline. (by mainline I assume it’s 3 d4. I know next to nothing about accelerated dragon)


3 c3



Ha! My emergency plan in situations like this. I don’t know the theory of c3 Sicilian either, but at least it’s not as sharp, and it can sometimes transpose into French-like positions, so this was a logical choice for me.


3… Bg7
4 d4 cxd4
5 cxd4



Aha. I have reached the ideal pawn center of d4 – e4.


5… d5 (immediately challenging my center)
6 e5



Let’s turn this into French advance! And along the way, I am making his fianchettoed bishop look silly.


6… Bg4 (getting his bishop out before he shuts the door)
7 Be2 Nc6
8 0-0 e6




9 Nc3 Bxf3
10 Bxf3 Qb6
11 Ne2 Ne7



So he’s getting ready to castle, and I need to finish my Queenside development, but just like in game 1, his Queen on b6 is really limiting my freedom. But this game, I try something different.


12 Rb1 0-0
13 Be3 Nf5



I hate it when my opponents have their knights on f5. It seems very foreboding. You just never know what you’re going to get and when.


14 Qd2 f6
15 g4?



Here I go again. I was feeling pretty positive about my position in the beginning, but I knew once he starts his move to destroy my center, I would not be happy with the ensuing melee. I manage to convince myself that it is not a good idea to open up lines for his bishop and rook as it would completely tie me down to the defense of the d4 pawn, so I ruled out exf6… as silly as that sounds. And once I ruled that out, it was obvious I was going to lose a pawn and have my center completely wiped off the board one way or another. So I resorted to funky move like g4, game 1 style.


15… Nxe3
16 Qxe3 fxe5
17 dxe5 Qxe3
18 fxe3 Nxe5



All of a sudden, the board is a helluva lot emptier than it was 4 moves ago, and I’m down a pawn again.


19 Nd4 (saving that bishop AND eyeing that e6 pawn) Rae8 (protecting his pawn)
20 Rac1



Here, despite being down a pawn again, I felt pretty good, because just like game 1, I have a prospect of putting my rook on the 7 rank. From there, it’s anybody’s game, I thought.

20… Nc4 (blocking my path)



At first, I thought this move was purely to block the rook’s path, which was silly since I can easily chase it off with b3. Then… I realized that he is forking my two undefended pawns. Oops.

Then… I realized that if I defend my e pawn, he will take my b pawn, then I can skewer HIS b pawn and put my rook on the 7 rank anyway! WHOO HOO!

So as I was making my mind up to move my rook to e1, I noticed something spooky about the position. My king is more or less pretty exposed, while his king is safe. I’m trying to get something going in the c file (more or less) and he’s got most of his big guns in the kingside. So I kept examining the board, until I finally realized, that this position is a tactical fireworks that is about to go off… for him.

I can’t actually stop him from taking the e pawn… because of the devastating move bishop takes knight, which would pin the rook if I take back with the rook. From there, it’s only a matter of time before I am wiped off the board. It would be a miniature.

That means I have to give him free connected central passed pawns! Now that was a scary thought. And after what happened in game 1, I shivered at the thought of giving him NOT ONE, BUT TWO CONNECTED CENTRAL passed pawns.

Feeling incredible danger right at the doorstep, I looked for a Tal-like magical move that can save me. Sac’ing the exchange with Rxc4 was the 1st to pop up in my head, but I was not sure if I liked the continuation which likely was a Rook + Bishop vs Knight + Bishop. Still, there didn’t seemed to be any other moves. AND THEN, I found something interesting. The a2-g8 diagonal.

At first, this diagonal seemed like an untouchable maginot line. But upon closer inspection, I realized that this wall is rather fragile and is VERY suspect to sacrifices. Yes, I said sacrifice. I was willing to sac a piece to break that line up, because I thought I could get just as much back in return. Extreme situation calls for extreme measures and I knew this much: I wasn’t going to get out of this mess with “normal” moves.


21 Nxe6



Opening the pandora’s box of complications. Although I couldn’t have been certain of the “soundness” of this move, I knew immediately that this was a very good “practical move” when my opponent came back and saw my move. His facial expression was enough to make this trip worth it on its own. It was a look of COMPLETE surprise and confusion. I could tell he did not remotely consider anything like this to be played. What’s more interesting is that now, he was more or less forced to sit down and calculate through all the variations, something he didn’t have to do much up until now. And to make things even more difficult, his lolli pop is now all gone, which means that his sugar advantage is no more. So this move, sound or unsound, gives my opponent the maximum chances to screw up, and for me, that was good enough.


21… Rxf3 (eliminating my most potent piece right now)
22 Rxf3 Rxe6
23 b3



Well, well, well… My opponent decides to give up a rook and get 2 minor pieces in return. Decent trade I supposed. Materially, it’s 6 points for 6 points, but I got out of my predicament, and his central majority is gone. So while down 3 against 2 when it comes to pieces, I was perfectly happy with how this move turned out for me. As for him, clearly, he was not very happy about it.


23… Nd6
24 a4 (classic space grab)Bh6



His bishop finally bursts on to the scene, eyeing that juicy looking fork.


25 Rc3 Bg5
26 Rc7 Bxe3+



Move 25 was a waste of time, but since it took him 2 tempi to take on e3, I technically didn’t “lose tempo”. I decided to gambit away that pawn to get my rook to the 7 rank. I was not sure if I could do it after protecting that pawn with my king. This automatically gives him a passed pawn, but I was ok with it, as I was sure it would be won one way or another.


27 Kg2 Bg5



In preparation to get his rook to 7 rank and swap off the rooks, which would take away the only thing I got out of that gambitted pawn. I was not going to let that happen.


28 Rd7



Condemning his rook to the defensive duty of his knight, which itself is tied to the defense of the b pawn. His forces seem rather immobile at the moment, and I happy to witness the power of rook on the 7 rank starting to manifest itself.


28… d4



My opponent makes the only move that has a chance to slightly make me nervous, to push the passed pawn. He was more than happy to use that to leverage his situation.


29 Rd3 (passed pawns must be blockaded and captured) Be3



Now, we’ve arrived at one of those point where nobody can move.


30 h4 (another space grabbing move) Ne4



This move surprised me at first since it leaves his b pawn en prise, but I quickly noticed the intention behind it. There were TWO forks in sight, one on c5 and another on f2. Either way, my rook on d3 could be in peril. I played the only way to meet both of these fork threats.


31 b4 Nf2
32 Rb3 d3



I thought he would take the g4 pawn here, but he surprised me by pushing the pawn. After all, the closer a passed pawn is to queening, the more nervous the opposing player gets, so my opponent may have played the right “practical move” here.


33 g5



Well, he wasn’t going to take it, so I take my time to save it. I realized that having more of my pawns closer to queening can be a great advantage once I am through with this passed pawn.

I also noticed at this point, that if my opponent makes the same mistake I made in game 2 of pushing the pawn mindlessly, I can completely even out the game by the simple removal of the guard tactic. I was praying inside “please play d2… play d2…”


33… d2?



YES!!!! PRAYER IS ANSWERED!!!!!
My young foe did not exactly have much time left by now (less than me in fact) and decided to keep things simple by pushing. He overlooked a simple tactic.


34 Rxe3 Rxe3
35 Kxf2



Rook for Bishop + Knight, and the pawn is lost.


35… Re4
36 Rxd2 Rxb4



It would seem that my opponent would maintain his one pawn advantage, but it wasn’t to be.


37 Rd8+ Kf7
38 Rd7+ Ke6



Although I “helped” his king get more centralized, it was not without something in return. I was going to get my pawn back.


39 Rxh7 a5
40 Kg3 (relieving my rook of the defensive duty) b6



Looked like he was doing everything he can to get his pawns out of my rook’s line of fire, but all was futile kekeke.


41 Rb7 Kf5
42 Rf7+ Ke5
43 Rf6



Now, he was in trouble. His g pawn cannot be saved, and my pawns are one square closer to queening than his (those space grabbing moves coming in handy)

43… Rb3+
44 Kb2 Rb2+
45 Kb3 Rb3+
46 Kb2 Rb2+
47 Kb3 Rb3+



I think here, he could have claimed a draw by repetition, but for some reason, he did not do it, so I decided to see if I could win this thing.


48 Rf3 Rb4
49 Rf6 Rb3+
50 Rf3 Rb4
51 Rf6



1/2-1/2

When it was clear that he wasn’t interested in exchanging the rooks, I offered a draw, which he accepted. Onlookers from other finished games were disappointed that neither of us “manned up” and “played for a win” by pushing a pawn, which I admit would have spiced things up, but I was pretty sure whoever pushed a pawn would be at a disadvantage. But I was totally happy with a draw. After all, I was about to lose to a miniature.

Round 4

This game was a travesty. Mentally, I was still somewhat jubilated at the fact that I salvaged a half a point last game from what felt like an incoming doom, so I was not really ready to focus on the new game at hand. I should have “reset” my mind and really concentrated on the game, but my mind kept drifting away to the last game. I guess dealing with this type of stuff just comes down to experience and willpower, something I will do better next time.

Add to the fact that my opponent from this round was the strongest player of the 4 that I played, rating wise, did not help at all haha. He seemed like a very experienced middle aged man who apparently was not having a good tournament; kept drawing against people he should have beaten. Incidentally, this man was the participant of that ridiculously long game in round 1. I could tell then, he was trying really hard to win (refusing draw offer and so on), but to his disappointment, win would be few and far in between for him that day.

All of which were catastrophe for me. He was ready pour out his frustration on me, slowly and methodically strangling me until my defenses cracked and were full of holes. Just like the past 3 games, I made several bad moves, of which my opponent clinically took advantage of, more so than my previous three opponents. After being down a piece, and with his pawn marching towards Queening with no way for me to stop it, I made the last and biggest blunder of the day, putting my rook on a square that was defended by his bishop at the other corner of the board. After he took, I facepalmed hard and called it a day. Fitting end for somewhat of a disappointing day, but I shall be back…

Well...

1.5/4... it could have been worse. It could have been 0/4 haha, but that's ok for me.
I felt like with some more work on little stuff like counting and not making stupid time wasting moves, I could be right up there with those guys.
After all, at my level, games are mostly decided by one side self-destructing before the other.
I shall keep working on my weaknesses, and hopefully play some better games and actually win.
I'm definitely planning on going there every week if possible and get as many games in as I can. Playing OTB chess again was really an enlightening experience in a way; I regret that I didn't start doing it earlier hehe.

Alright, thanks for reading.
See you next time!