Mounting Mastery #20: 5/26/2018 Tournament Analysis

Prepare for a long one...

Hello, everyone, and welcome back after a long break from my comprehensive series on my path to chess improvement! Before we dive into the meat and gravy of this article, let's ask and answer a few questions:

Previous iterations were called "Path To Chess Prosperity". Why the name change?

I think either name is fine, though as I am 1800+ USCF, seeking that master title (2200), I thought the name Mounting Mastery was a little bit more fitting for sharing with you guys my journey, plan, and stumbles to my ultimate goal!

OK. But you took a break from the series. Why?

After 20 iterations of the series, honestly partly from possible indirect pressure from other users, I thought it was a little bit of a better idea to keep my study plan to myself without the possibility of people criticizing it. And plus, I wanted to post more geared towards the benefit of other members (like "Learn From The Masters", and "Member Game Analysis", etc), rather than a whole post mainly for the benefit of myself. I definitely plan to keep the other series going!

I see. But why did you decide to continue this series?

I realized once I quit the series, my study plan and productiveness was clearly going down. I did not track my tactics as I did, some weeks, I did not study my endgames, I was not getting enough practice games... even though my tournament results might not quite say so, I was bluntly slacking on my chess preparation. I clearly need the accountability as I did when I had this series going!

Thank you very kindly for your interview, imaginary friend!

So... where did we leave off?

Oh yeah! So you see, I participated in the 2018 North/Central Texas Scholastic Championships in the High School Championship section. After my impressive 5/7 feat, I claimed the 11th place trophy, though I came 4th overall by TPR, including a win with the Black pieces against the highest rated player in the field. My rating jumped over 100 points from 1704 to 1816.

That was March. A month later, I participated in the 2018 Waco City Championship Qualifier. The winner would claim a ticket to challenge the defending champ for the Waco City Crown. I was expecting to take home the tournament victory, only before we were presented with a surprise visit by a local master who had not played rated chess since 2004. Though my 3/4 score may say otherwise, my games were simply lousy... and understandably, as I lost the second-place tie-break game. I was lucky to finish tied for second! At least I gained one rating point! 

So, a month later, here I am at this "casual" (non-championship) local event. I was hoping to gain some rating, though my main goal was to get in some reps against good opponents and play some interesting quality games, which I practically fulfilled.

A random picture of some of the participants in the tournament.

So here is the setting: we planned this tournament at a local church to pretty much get together some players from the Waco area to participate. I guess kids were on some form of summer vacation, so we did not have very many young people participate (for how many more tournaments will I be able to say that I was the youngest player in the Open section?). 

Thanks to Mr. Jeffrey Spyrison, we were treated with some coffee, sandwiches, and doughnuts! 

Anyway, my expectations were somewhat significant, as I was the #2 seed in the open, just behind #1 seed and defending Waco City Champion, Jason Howell. My first game was against a player 500 points lower than I was, though the game was anything but easy and smooth. I will display this game as well as the three others, and hopefully, we can learn something from those games. Enjoy!

Round 2 was in the books. Going into round 3, three people were at 2/2, which included Waco City Champion Jason Howell, and myself. We were paired, as we are practically every tournament we play together! Out of 150 USCF games, I've played Jason nine times, and I've only been able to manage two draws. I have historically played underdog in our matchups, though I thought it might be round time to maybe collect a full-point on him?

A quick note before we dive in, Jason Howell was kind enough to annotate the game for me, as well as for the enjoyment the whole Waco Chess Club. I included some of his notes for instructional purposes, some I didn't. I also added my notes. I will make sure to designate his notes:

I have nine career games against Jason Howell, with a depressing 1/9 record... though I am significantly larger than he is! 

It's never easy playing Jason. Next time, Mr. Howell! I had the classic "recovery" scenario: just came off a critical loss, Black against another fellow 2/3 player, and not a bad player himself, Matt Potts. Even though going into the game, I had three career games against him with three wins, he is never an easy opponent, and this game was no exception:

I hope you enjoyed the game and my sense of humor!  But in all seriousness, White's plan is to keep check to my King, and 27. Qd3 was the way to go.

What a tournament! Some crazy moments, blunders, but most of all, quality games to learn from! I hope you enjoyed this comprehensive tournament report! Here are the final results of the Open section for your enjoyment:

Since summer break started, I will have a lot more time for productive study. I don't have a formal plan for this week, I should come up with one this coming weekend. I hope you enjoyed the read, and have a good day!

P.S. Photos were taken by myself, Jason Howell, and Eric Brown. If any individuals in the photos are not happy that I posted them, feel free to let me know, and I will erase that photo!