My chess tournament- Part 15 - Chess Forums

NM Abhishek2

May 11, 2014

0

#1

Hey chess.com members! Lately, I've been busy with schoolwork so I realized I really need to catch up on these. I actually played 3 chess tournaments after that, including the one I'm doing now, so those will be parts 15,16, and 17.

This tournament was called the US Amateur Team West. There's also an East, a South, and North. The teams that win get to play against each other for the title (which the West won ) so in order to play you had to form your own team. I joined with a team that had two players from Arizona, one around 2450, one around 2200, one around 1975, and then there was me (around 1960). Since half of our team was from Arizona we called our team the Rising Phoenix! I was a bit bummed out the previous night on playing last board since this was a scholastic tournament and my pairings would not be very good. I found it annoying that they took the January published ratings, since mine ended up lower than third board, even though my rating at the time was 2051, and the third board was around 1920. So almost a 130 difference, but I ended up as 4th board by 12 points. I still wanted to go so I ended up going.

I didn't regret it. Playing in teams and the team spirit was really fun! Especially seeing your teammates win and feeling happy inside. In individual tournaments only if you won you would feel satisfaction, but for example if you lost your game and the other 3 team members won, you would not feel that bad because your team still won the match.

Our team average was 2140 (the limit was 2200), so we ended up with a really good team! Of course there were 1 or 2 cutting it close, having an average of 2180+.

In the first round we ended up playing the same team as last year, and I ended up with the same person. That was pretty funny. Our team sweeped 4-0, not surprisingly. I could have dropped a half-point, since I allowed an endgame that's really, really hard to win, but thank goodness, my opponent blundered a piece. Against someone a bit higher, they would have not many problems to draw. Here's the first round:

For the next game our team played a weaker team who did not average very high. In the game, my opening didn't work out for me and I allowed my opponent to achieve a rock solid position, and my position crumbled. I did have some opportunities to draw the rook ending, however. Since an analog clock was used the game became harder overall. Our team tied 2-2. Here's the game:

That was a tough fight! Our team has 1.5/2 and I have 1/2.

The next game was easier, however. Our team finally played a strong team, 3 of them in my grade. My opponent was still scared in the opening, opting to not double my pawns and trade pieces right out of the opening. His king got really exposed, but I missed a more accurate move that I was definitely considering. Instead I traded too many pieces, and we reached a queen ending where I had the passed pawn but there was no way to stop my opponent from a perpetual check. Our team tied once again 2-2. Here's the game:

I was pretty happy with how I played overall since I didn't have that desperate position where I play over aggressively and start to self-destruct like what usually happens, when I create square weaknesses. Even though I missed a better way to chip away at the shelter of white's king to exploit the awkward 21. Kxf2.

Since our team dropped a point in these two rounds, we got a really easy high school team. We scored 3-1 and another point without much difficulty (3.0/4). In my game I got a break so I played super quickly but my carelessness caused me to be careful later on. But, it wasn't too serious or anything because I won easily. Next time, I would probably look for tactical tricks and avoid any endgames, even if I end up with an extra piece. I'd rather checkmate and get it over with.

Yeah, took much longer than it should.

The next game was a real challenge, however. Even though we played a slightly weaker team they were still pretty strong. I faced the USCF President WIM Ruth Inez Haring. I played her before last year and got to ask some questions about USCF (lucky me!). This time she put up a good fight after going wrong in the opening, losing her right to castle. Soon her position fell apart, and I managed to grind out a win up an exchange. Here's the game:

That was a tough game, where white defended but I managed to keep my advantage I gained at the start. Currently, I have 3.5/5 and our team has 4/5.

In the last round we faced an extremely strong team the Undercover Llamas- led by a strong 14 year old IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti (now 2500+!) . His performance in this tournament was outstanding (PF of 2786!)! Their average was 2190+, so they were obviously stronger than us. It was painful to watch Board 3, where the 1900 got crushed very, very badly. Board 2 was a draw between two players of similar strengths. Board 1, however, was bad. Our top player lost his game, so we were already down 2.5 before my game even ended. So we ended with 4/6, which isn't very good. Being a 4th board I got a hard opponent- Luke's brother. I ended up with a bad position out of the Caro-Kann (can you believe it!) which I never really used to have trouble with, and before I knew it I was down two pawns. I did not want a repeat of last game. But my opponent is known to just randomly blunder pieces, for literally no reason at all. Sort of like a computer set to a low level which plays really well, finding good moves and getting a winning position, but then making an obvious blunder and losing. Thank goodness for that, my opponent blundered a piece with the inexplainable 21...Bd3??. Even I was in shock. It just didn't seem to make sense how my opponent could find moves like 18...c3! an interference move wrecking my pawn structure, yet blunder away his bishop. The win was easy from there especially with my active vs. his passive rooks. Here's the game:

I was happy to save that game, because it really looked like I was going to get crushed on the queenside. Since I won this game, I gained 5 points

to become 2056. Our team didn't win anything, but the experience was definitely worth it!

Thanks for reading! If you're interested, here are the previous parts below:

Part 14- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-14

Part 13- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-13

Part 12: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-12

Part 11- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-11

Part 10- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-10--my-experience-at-the-naycc-in-toronto-canada

Part 9- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-9

Part 8- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-8

Part 7- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-7

Part 6- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-6

Part 5- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-5

Part 4- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-4

Part 3- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament--part-3

Part 2- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament---part-2

Part 1- http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/my-chess-tournament

ChezBoy

May 11, 2014

0

#2

Interesting read. Good luck in your future tournaments!

NM Abhishek2

May 11, 2014

0

#3

ChezBoy wrote:

Interesting read. Good luck in your future tournaments!

thanks!

anon26324

May 13, 2014

0

#4

"In the first round we ended up playing the same team as last year..."

:D

NM Abhishek2

May 13, 2014

0

#5

nragunat wrote:

"In the first round we ended up playing the same team as last year..."

:D

YEAH AND I PLAYED THE SAME EXACT PERSON

anon26324

May 13, 2014

0

#6

lol we sweeped them last year, when we were on the same team...

no wonder he was "scared" of your gambit :)

NM Abhishek2

May 14, 2014

0

#7

nragunat wrote:

lol we sweeped them last year, when we were on the same team...

no wonder he was "scared" of your gambit :)

haha yep but he actually played the opening bit really quickly so I was quite surprised.

anon26324

May 15, 2014

0

#8

My guess is that he knew you played the Elephant Gambit and prepared a boring line against it in an attempt to draw or win, considering that you played a gambit line against him the previous year and won.

NM Abhishek2

May 16, 2014

0

#9

nragunat wrote:

My guess is that he knew you played the Elephant Gambit and prepared a boring line against it in an attempt to draw or win, considering that you played a gambit line against him the previous year and won.

lol why would he prepare for it....but yeah I should have tried something but I didn't know he would go for that. Either way, the better tactician prevails.

anon26324

May 17, 2014

0

#10

"Either way, the better tactician prevails."

Or, the better positional player. Or, the player who actually knows how to play against the Wing Gambit.

NM Abhishek2

May 17, 2014

0

#11

nragunat wrote:

"Either way, the better tactician prevails."

Or, the better positional player. Or, the player who actually knows how to play against the Wing Gambit.

Well i don't play positional openings, I thought you would know that lol. True, but probably only strong IM's and GM's are bad choices for it haha. Either way, my losses are usually because of weaknesses in my position, which are supported by tactics, Or because I couldn't generate enough counterplay or I chose a bad plan. Strategy is based on tactics- they're not really separate.