My chess tournament- Part 14

Hi everyone! I actually played in two tournaments since my last post, so I'll be posting about the 5th Annual Golden State Open held in Concord, CA. This time, I decided for a challenge, to play in the Open Section (2200 and up). That meant that I needed serious preparation. I don't have much experience with masters, since I've only played around 2 or 3 before this tournaments, so I just practiced my tactics and hope it would be enough to put up a fight. 

I was pretty surprised by how well I did. Before, when I would play them they would always crush me. Of course, some of them still crushed me, but some I actually managed to beat. These players are REALLY hard, so you have to be really patient to beat them. Even after an attack that seems to crash through your best just might be to trade into an endgame two pawns up or something. Most of the times that's all you'll get. 

I took the 4-day option, because I could take my time for each game. For the first round, I was paired with a 2264 from Nevada!! I was happy to finally get such a strong opponent. My opponent attempted the Pirc Defense, an aggressive choice. He blundered his center pawn and I took over the position. Since he delayed castling it basically cost him in the end. Here's the game:

I can't believe I actually beat a master! Whoa! I didn't find the best way to end the game but the game overall was pretty good in spite of that. I currently have 1 out of 1.

For Round 2 I received someone even harder- a 2388 from CA. Apparently he won the Cadet Championship so it was an honor to play him. I made things hard for him, and under time pressure he made a crazy sacrifice which required me to be precise, but I didn't find the draw and I lost . Here's the game:

Overall I think I played a pretty good fight, although it was sad to miss Re7! as the drawing move. Currently I have 1.0/2.

Even though I lost I still got a really good pairing. I played a 2237 from CA. I've lost against him before so I decided to use a different opening. As long as I get the positions I want the opening should not play a big factor. Here's the game:

That was a blunder-filled game, but I managed to win  I almost threw away the game, but he had time pressure too. I currently have 2.0/3.

For Round 5 I played I played an FM, rated 2314! My opening was awkward, and I got killed. White got to play f3 which freed up his position, and it was equal from there until he won a piece. Here's the game:

So basically, it was an equal position, but I let him get the bishop pair and get all his pieces in. My pieces didn't put up much of a fight. Probably next time I should try to put up more resistance by blockading the square in front of the isolated pawn which would limit my counterplay. Also, letting him get the bishop pair was bad on my part. White's rating was actually 2314 but there's no way to edit this is there?

Since I put game 5 by accident, this is game 4: I played a CM rated 2344. My opening was really bad lol. It didn't take much to lose this one:

That was not pretty. I think the f6-e5 thing should wait until I actually develop. Once white plays c4! things are awkward and cramped for me. Strong play by the opponent.

For the last day, round 6 I finally was paired with someone easy. Well not easy of course, he was still a master, but he was around my age and rated 2216. He's really good and he showed it once again when he beat me. I got a really good position but I let it deteriorate and soon he won critical pawns on the queenside and I couldn't hold the draw. I put up surprising resistance so I can tell that playing these masters is helping my skill a lot! Here's the game:

I made the mistake of trading pieces when I was the one with the active position. I should have played h4 at some point to take apart the g5-h6 pawn structure. I ended up with 2.0/6.

I took a bye for the last round which was good since I would have played someone around 2000.

Psychologically, I was a bit nervous of my opponent and I wasn't playing fearlessly. I didn't take any risks and let him crash through. 

For my next tournaments I need to:

1) Revise errors in openings. Like in Round 4 where I got demolished because of the opening. I should review my openings and fix the errors in them which is important when I face strong players like these again.

2) Be fearless. Honestly I didn't take many risks, especially in the last game. where I resorted to trading pieces, which only backfired in the end.

3) Don't trade pieces in an active position. I basically helped my opponent in round 6 when I played Nd4?! allowing a trade of 3 sets of pieces. I need to find ways to keep up the pressure, which means working on my positional chess a bit.

4) Finding the right plan. In round 5 when I played the FM, I should have found a way to trade pieces and limit white's activity. I let it get out of control and it backfired in the end when I suffered a painful loss. I should have blockaded the isolated pawn by controlling the square in front of it (d5). After that I didn't have a chance to get back in the game.

Based on this I can make a study plan .

Overall this was an invaluable learning experience and the right decision to play in the open section. When I face players who jump on the mildest of errors it allows me to fix deficiencies in my play. Then when I meet them again I'll score better result.

My rating went up to 2051, and it still went up! It's a new peak!

Thanks for reading!

So far I have only played through the first game but wow! that has my vote for best game! so many tactics that you could create a tactics puzzle book from just that one game :-)

A couple of very nice wins and a well-written, insightful article. Congrats!

Abhishek, just a piece of advice from a weaker player than you... You seem to be very talented, good at tactics and positional chess etc. but you seem to play garbage openings, which can't be healthy for your chess. Trying to beat FMs with Elephant Gambit? Smith Morra? Albin? (well, at least this one is a bit more respectable, but still...). If you played more serious openings you would certainly be higher rated. You can't usually get a good position out of the opening against a master if you play for tricks. It's just my opinion.

To the OP. This is one if not the best thread ive ever seen here at chess.com. May i suggest that you make this thread as a blog too.

And RE: the games and annotiations, dude! Its like im reading a Larsens, Soltis review. Very well analyzed and played even to the losses youve had. Great post. Congrats.

Abhishek, well done!!! Even in your losses, you put up a fight and better yet, at the end of this post, it is clear that you learned from the experience. I'm very happy for you! This must have been a real thrill. Congratulations to you!! Btw, I agree this is superbly written and I'd love to feature it in the newsletter if okay with you.

@romanic666 thanks! :)

@rajnikant001 thanks!

@-waller- Thank you!

@NkvL Yeah, that's why I revised some of my opening strategies. I'm still looking for a good option against e4. However, there's so much theory for everything- 1. e5, 1. e6, 1. d6, 1.c5 especially. I think I'll stick with some of them for now. Still, note that I did get equal positions, except in round 4. It was just a matter of finding the right thing to do, which I failed at several times!

@konhidras thanks so much!

@Dr_Cris_Angel Thank you! Yes, it was a thrill to see that I've improved ever since last year and an encouragement to keep practicing and playing! I don't play in the Open Section that much but i plan to do that often! That's okay if you feature it in the newsletter. 

@Abhishek2, you are becoming a fantastic chess player, congratulations!

thanks!

To answer your question in the note to the Banik game, 5.Bc4 is answered by Qc7.

ah i see

@rajnikant001 no, I don't like it.

Great improvement! I liked the games! 

Remember that your openings are fine, and it'll always come down to playing with the right style, the right level of aggression, and tactical maturity (which you have a lot more of now). 

You're consistently getting good results with your current opening repertoire (though I agree you can marginally improve them with some small tweaks here and there! e-mail me if you're wondering how).

Don't get bogged down with opening study -- it's not the best use of your time. Keep up your tactics and Morphy and you'll continue to make good progress.

Good luck!

Nice advice :-)