I Scored 2.5/3 Against Titled Players Today!
Hi, chess friends! Well, time to brag about myself. No, the title is not clickbait, today, on Monday, July 11th, 2022 AD, I scored 2.5/3 (two wins, one draw, zero losses) against titled players (one NM who I rematched, and a CM).
As a 2000+ blitz rated player, I get paired with titled players more frequently than I used to. Most of the time, if/when I'm paired vs them, they have a higher blitz rating than mine (2100-2200+), they outplay me, and win. However, today was different!
Started the series vs NM Rene Phillips (according to his profile). I looked him up (just to see what his OTB stats were), and I realized that he has a fascinating story about encountering Hurricane Ida. He also has a Youtube channel. Anyway, I did not know all of that during our series, so let's begin the breakdown of my positive score vs titled players!
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So a draw vs a master in a better position. Honestly, the objective play was to continue, but it's blitz... whatever, I was fine with a draw. He offered a rematch, which I happily accepted, as getting any chance to play a titled player is extremely cool.
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Got the series dub, 1.5-0.5! I offered a rematch, which he declined (or just didn't accept... idk), which is fine with me. The games were interesting.
Later, I was paired with an anonymous CM (apparently) from Chile. I was proud of that game, because I played the Marshall Gambit, and got some thematic ideas. This game was far from a masterclass, but if the Marshall is something you want to learn, this could be a good sample game! 
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That's about it. I honestly hate bragging about myself, but I'm also proud of this. I know they may not be the strongest masters in the world, but they got their OTB titles for a reason, and they're super solid players.
Hope you enjoyed the post, I'll see you for the next one!
