Hail and well met, chess traveller, and welcome to my tale of the Delancey UK Chess Challenge Megafinals at Broughton High School, Edinburgh. But what is that, I hear you cry? It sounds stupid and low quality and made for morons like the author of this blog, you say? Fear not, I have proof of its worth, for here's a quick rundown:
The Delancey Chess Challenge is a UK-wide chess tournament for ages 5-18 and is one of the largest junior chess tournaments on Earth. It comprises of 5 rounds: The preliminary school tournaments, the Megafinals, the Gigafinals, The Challengers and the Terafinals. Only 12 people per age group qualify for the Terafinals held at the beautiful Blenheim Palace in England, and the winners of the whole tournament gets a nice £2000 cheque. And if you want more information, just look here.
So, with that in mind, let's jump into...
January: The Prelims
Nothing much really happened in these games, as in my school's age group I dominate (andnobody else really cares much about chess ), meaning most games were simple thrashings or fun training games. There was, however, one entertaining game between me and my best friend, who came in third...
If you want to find me and Zan's ratings, just look here and here.
So, with those sorry excuses for preliminary stages done and dusted, let's turn our attentions to the true focus of this TB-esque blog (haha please notice me ChessCOM)...
MAY: THE MEGAFINALS
On a dreary May 29th, I woke up and groggily rose out of bed, made myself a cup of iced coffee (bi core) and set off to the tournament. As I arrived, I knew the MO: simply don't lose. To qualify for the Gigafinals, a score of 3.5/6 was needed, or alternatively come top 3, where I would probably get higher than 3.5, making it redundant.
Fun fact about me: I have never won a single Round 1 in an OTB tournament. I either lose from the beginning, fumble the bag, or play the London System (Yes I'm a scumbag, all of you knew this already!) for a draw, which I used against my 1700 ELO good friend Shang Gao, AKA @OverLordItami.
I'm really trying dudes...
So as I sat down at board 8 as Black against new player Karthik Kannan, I knew I only had one plan; for him to shake my hand and for me to pick up the half-point.
GAME 1: VS KANNAN
Half the variations which are calculated in a tournament game turn out to be completely superfluous. Unfortunately, no one knows in advance which half.
- Jan Timman.
Ho. Lee. Crap. I ACTUALLY WON! I know this reaction may seem a bit overexaggerated, but I promise you I was ABSOLUTELY BUZZING after this win. I truly thought even the atrocious accuracy (or lack thereof) could take me off Cloud 9, or the fact I was on Board 8. My elation was short-lived, however. Here's a representation of the moment that disaster struck:
RONEN: Who could beat me now? Huh? What, is my next opponent a 1700 online or something-
SIMON (organiser): Your Round 2 opponent is Shang Gao on Board 3.
I want to follow in Sayori's footsteps right now (elite ball knowledge required)
So that's a goddamn problem. This could probably be the worst match possible for me. Firstly, on this account I have one recorded win against Shang, and it was not easily won. Even worse, I was playing White, and that's a valuable match starter, but against such a strong opponent it was effectively wasted. Third, just the thought of facing such a monster shook up my mental, and the mind is (obviously) the most important part of chess. So with all that in mind...
Yeah, it'll be fine.
GAME 2: VS GAO
During a chess competition a chess master should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk.
- Alexander Alekhine.
After the game, I was left leaving more than a little dejected. I had just fumbled a game multiple times against an illiterate NEET who used h*ntai profile pictures for past banned Chess.com accounts a charming fellow and wonderful chess player who is very clearly better than me.
But then it struck me like a stone unto two birds: I had just nearly beaten a player who is very clearly better than me. I wasn't going to give up that easily! And surely other people would support me if I told them-
I love Gravity Falls! Can't say the same for critics...
With the spirit of approximately nobody (including myself) spurring me on along with the thousands of calories from approximately 5 doughnuts, a pain au chocolat and a cup of coffee, I charged forward onto my next game as Black against young fellow Charlie Li... five minutes late.
GAME 3: VS LI
The winner is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake.
- Savielly Tarkatower
YEEAAHHHHH BABYYYYY! A very important win was now under my belt, as games 3 and 4 are usually the deciding factors to whether you go through to a next round of a tournament, and having just one give you the full point can be the difference between success and failure... again.
But the win wasn't the only exhilarating part. I was now at the peak of my sugar high, and combined with my adrenaline and copious amounts of ADHD I was the very epitome of overstimulated and it was absolutely INCREDIBLE.
SIMON: You're playing the 1400-rated number 1 seed, Shriya Madhu. Um... good luck!
I just won a game bro...
So. That's quite bad. Not only was this a match against the top seed, but I also had never heard of her (yes, her. Girls may be less common at tournaments, but when they do they obliterate boys 99% of the time!) and that meant she had come a long way just to be here. Needless to say, I was shivering in my timbers. But hey, c'est la vie!... or something.
Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.
- Rudolf Spiellman
I- I won? I won. I ACTUALLY WON!
At this point, I was entering the sugar crash, but who cares? I had just beaten the number one seed and it wasn't even close (mostly). Like come on, nobody's sick enough to make someone play the number 1 and number 2 seeds back to back-
He's just trolling me at this point...So, let's tally this up. I had just played the number 1 seed, had played the number 3 seed in round 2, and now I'm playing the number 2 seed, the locally feared Kyriakos and his signature walk (more on that later) who many would argue is actually better than Shriya. Wonderful, Simon. Just wonderful. But hey, what can I do? Even if I lose, all I would need is a draw to qualify...
GAME 5: VS MCKENZIE
Every chess master was once a beginner.
- Irving Chernev
Well, that went about as well as I expected. Considering I was playing a former 1800 and still got a good advantage in the early game, I was pretty proud. Still, I lost. It wasn't that bad, though. I only needed a draw to advance to national semi-finals, and my opponent would probably also have 3 points and would accept a draw.
And luckily for me, my opponent was my friend Sam Veeradaseri, otherwise known as Sam Gambit, named after the gambit he invented where you make a move, and then make a draw offer. Every single move. So basically, the London System.
Additionally, if I drew with Sam, it would really annoy my friend William that both of us got through because he didn't believe in us fully, and nothing makes me happier than proving people wrong...
I'M IN! I'M IN! DESPITE EVERYTHING STACKED AGAINST ME, I GOT THROUGH! I did the math afterwards, and if I had won the last game I would've gotten enough performance points to come third and get a medal, but I was happy with the certificate with the QR that gave me permission to enter the Gigafinals in Stirling, along with Sam and my other friend (who I'm just a little better than) Zach Patel.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coming home afterwards, I was proud of myself. I knew I would've upped my rating a bit, I had a good topic for Blogchamps Season 9, and I could finally prove that all those years of practice were worth it. (I improve at things very slowly) And hey, I was going to Stirling University with my friends for junior national semis as an 800! That's something.
), meaning most games were simple thrashings or fun training games. There was, however, one entertaining game between me and my best friend, who came in third...
