I am bad at chess (part one)

Welcome to my blog! The quest continues to officially be "caught up" on my blog. At the time of this writing, I'm two tournaments behind, and when I publish this, I'll be one tournament behind. 

So where did we leave off? Ahh yes, so I was happy about gaining rating and tying for 1st in Waco. During the tournament, I heard about an opportunity to help the Dallas Chess Club with setup and takedown for their monthly FIDE event. I wasn't initially planning to play, primarily because of the hefty entry fee (around $100), and I didn't feel the need to play in it. Although, now that there's the opportunity to play for free, I saw taking it as a value play. The opportunity was announced right before round 4 in Waco, so after the game, I made it known that I was willing to help, texted my friend who lives in Dallas to make sure I have a place to stay, then suddenly, I have a tournament on my calendar for next weekend! 

Also, even though no one requested these details, I went to Houston that week with my family for 4th of July weekend (it's obvious that I'm behind when I'm writing about 4th of July in August haha!), and I decided to stay the whole week in Houston.

In fact, Friday rolled around. I signed up for the 3-day schedule, which means one game Friday night, then two games Saturday, and two games Sunday. The alternative is the 2-days schedule, which is three games Saturday, and two games Sunday. I like doing 3-day if possible, so that I don't have to cram all three games in. So anyway, I decided to drive straight from Houston to Dallas. It started to sound daunting. 4 hours. I've driven from Waco to Dallas (and vise versa), and from Waco to Houston (and vice versa), but I don't think I had ever driven THAT distance. I hopped into my car, and the drive actually wasn't that bad! I was a little concerned about having to play a Friday night game after a 4-hour drive... but... I'm an adult, that's how it works sometimes!

In round 1, I was paired vs a kid who's nearly 2000. I looked at his tournament history, he had just returned from the World Open, and is now playing in Dallas. That's a lot of chess and traveling! 

It wasn't the worst loss in the world. My opening experiment was clearly a disaster. I think I was fortunate that I got a holdable position, my resourcefulness is just not there, and time pressure didn't help. Tough game, but we got more rounds to go! 

In round 2, which was Saturday afternoon, I was paired vs a player similarly rated. Those games are always interesting, because you don't strongly expect to win or lose. Sometimes, there's a little bit of pressure to "prove" your rating against those players. I tried not to be too concerned about it, and just play a chess game! 

A draw is fine. It was a weird game, because I think we both thought that I was under pressure, especially after 18... Qb6. I guess the piece alignment just worked out to where I was fine. I was a little bit surprised when I plugged the game on Stockfish, and I was never worse. 

So Saturday evening before my round 3 game, something off the chessboard happened. Usually, when something happens "off the chessboard" during a tournament, it's not a good thing. I went to the bathroom, and after I... uhh... got stuff out of my system, I started to feel a TERRIBLE stomachache. It was pretty bad. So bad that I wanted to scream in the bathroom. So bad that I was THIS close to forfeiting my upcoming game. The pairings had already come out, so it's too late to take a bye or whatnot. Ultimately, I decided to play the game, just in a little bit of discomfort. I started feeling better as the game progressed. 

Was it weird that I prefaced my round 3 game with that information?

That was unfortunate. I should have drawn had I played 24... Qc5! Okay, maybe that's because I'm literally writing about it now. I don't blame the stomachache at all for the loss. I miscalculated when I traded Queens, and I believe that thought process would have stood regardless. 

I probably ate something that upset my stomach. Given the discomfort, I decided to be safe, and request a round 4 bye... so I could rest up, and make the final round determine if I walk away with a respectable result or not. 

So... I slept in Sunday, hung out with my friend a little bit, and I was paired vs a 1700 in round 4. Uhh... yeah! 

It's a bit sad that I was never able to capitalize. I guess you could say 9. e4 was rushed. There were apparently several opportunities for me to play c5, and gain space, but it seemed so anti-positional, I never considered it. 

Honestly, I was homesick. However, I still needed to earn my free entry, and help clean up. It was a bit of a chore, but worth it in my opinion. I got back to Waco sometime late Sunday night, and was glad to be home after staying in Houston then driving to Dallas, and back to Waco. I shed 20 points. Not ideal, but not the end of the world either. Everyone was super strong.

So NOW at the time of this writing, I'm only behind by one tournament! I have the Austin Chess Championships coming up this weekend. If I can write about the Houston Chess Festival either tomorrow or Friday, I will officially be CAUGHT UP!!! Miracles happen!  

Oh, and before I let you go, here are some photos from the tournament! They were taken from the Texas Chess Association Facebook page, but I believe individual credit goes to Deborah Shafer.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!