My Games from the Edmonton International Qualifier 2024

Hello friends and foes!

It's me again with another installment in my series of blog posts in which I showcase how much I struggle trying to play in rated chess events. Today I have five games from the Edmonton International Qualifier, held May 11-12 at the Edmonton Chess Club. The big incentive here was three spots to play with the masters in the Edmonton International, to be held later this summer. As I don't quite reach the rating limit to play in the International itself, this was just an exercise in gaining experience for me.

As it turns out, this was a good tournament by my standards. I scored 3/5 points against opponents with an average rating of 1706. I increased my CFC rating from 1477 to 1550, which is my personal best. What was the secret? A nice suit jacket. Seriously. I play better if I dress better. I like to make believe in my mind that I'm a professional player at a serious event. Call it B.S. if you will, but my worst game was the one where I decided to show up looking bummy in a hoodie. Agadmator's hoodie guy always loses for a reason guys.

First up I had White against my old pal Mike Z., (1837) whose rating fluctuates between 1800-2100. This was a rematch of the infamous "crash the truck" game from the Northern Alberta Open 2023... (I got a new truck. I didn't kill anyone. Don't ask.) I didn't play quite as well this time around, and got dummied after failing to seize the initiative. The lesson is clear: don't play for equality just because your opponent has a higher rating. Always play to win.

This was a shorter time control (60 minutes + 30 seconds increment) so I barely had time to dash to Listen to see what LPs were on offer. I scored two box sets from Krautrockers Popul Vuh at a 10% discount. Nice one.

Next up I faced Chetan N. (1525). Mr. N. had the misfortune to play into my "prep" (a.k.a. lines I looked at a lot on Chessable over the winter). Thanks to GM S.P. Sethuraman for his analysis; it helped me a few times in this event. The conversion wasn't as smooth as it could have been, but getting the W felt good and felt like a fair result, considering how well I crushed the opening.

My last game of the day was an utter travesty. (Don't wear a hoodie, guys). Mahan E. (2215), my opponent, is an aspiring master and the second strongest player I've ever faced over the board, so a win wasn't likely. But I apparently forgot I could move other pieces besides the bishop and got completely wiped out by my rather bored opponent. Sorry dude. You deserved a better game.

My game having finished rather early, I went searching for something to do in the city. I settled on Awash Ethiopian for dinner, which was pretty excellent, but I failed to communicate my various food allergies to the server. Oh right. They eat everything with bread. Whoops. Next I headed to the Sherbrooke Pub to check out a band billed as "acoustic rock." Now, I can think of many great acoustic rock acts: the Violent Femmes, CSNY, Vic Chesnutt to name a few. These guys (I won't name them) were not one of them. Frontman dad guy couldn't have had less charisma or energy, while the other musicians were drowned out by the humdrum strum of his guitar and workmanlike vocals. They did a bunch of covers, most of which were unremarkable. I left after about 40 minutes and good thing too, as I was rocked by a massive allergic reaction to an earlier poor decision.

Next day began with a game against Mats P. (1200). I really needed to win this one to get back to par and my rating advantage seemed to promise good chances. Mats made it a bit difficult for me though, finding a nice resource to gain the advantage before ultimately crumbling. This was the kind of "last mistake" game that is really about who plays less poorly.

Having scored 2/4, I got a pretty tough pairing in the last round: young Michael P. (1753). I would estimate Michael's age to be around 9 and, while not exactly a prodigy, he is an incredibly precocious and intelligent kid, even managing a draw against Mahan and coming close to drawing the ultimate tournament victor, FM Blagoj Gicev. Because of his inexperience though, I believe he underestimated me. It's true I'm a 1500-ish "adult improver" beneath the contempt of a strong player. But you still have to play a good game. Sorry, kid. I have to think this was the last and only time I'll ever beat him.

And thus concluded my tournament, much more happily than the last few. Makes me think it might be smart to play in more than one of these per year. There is another qualifier coming up in June, so I might consider it if I'm not too busy at work.

Thanks for reading! I welcome your comments.