My Greatest Tournament Of all time
Well folks, its certainly been a while.
But im back, and after a streak of bad tournaments, the recent studying has all paid off. I went into the 2025 Northern Open with a rating of 1912, having just hit my online peak of 2449 I was feeling like I was in good form, and it certainly showed.
Round 1: My best win ever
Generally, when I see that im facing a 2198 NM with the black pieces, I would be pretty concerned. However, thanks to some new opening prep, I was very happy to have black. As I could play the Najdorf.
And well, lets just say it worked in my favor.
And just like that my confidence was through the roof, not a hard win, just played my theory into an endgame and then I pressured him until he cracked. Onto the next one! 1/1 and im already up 25 rating points.
Round 2: Riding the crazy train
In round 2 I was paired against my friend Michael, who happens to be incredibly strong and actually went on to win every game except against a 2500 IM. So lets see how I managed to goof this up
Even though I lost, I wasnt upset in the slightest. I had my chances but it was a really hard advantage to push for and he simply found the right move at the right time.
Round 3: Same Opening, New plan
This round was actually a rematch, as me and Ajay played at my last tournament, which didnt go great, as he beat me. Ill put both games here as they are the exact same line, besides when I deviated with my new, far superior prep.
Here is when he beat me, I didnt know the line well and I wont annotate much as its not from this tournament
Here is the actual round 3 of this tournament
Round 4: Sweet f*cking revenge
I will admit to you all, this is the most satisfying win I have ever gotten, not because of a huge upset victory, but because John has had a mental block over me every time we have played, he is always so fast and accurate and because of him beating me in the playoffs for nationals, I ended up being eliminated from the running as early as round 2 of the 5 round tournament.
This was a win I needed, to prove to myself and him that when state comes around again this year, im ready for him.
And somehow, I did it. I am 3/4 going into the final round and at this time, I had been playing at a performance rating of 2314!!!!!!!!!!! With me needing only a draw or win in the final round to reach 2000, naturally my opponent was NM Josiah Jorenby, who has a 3-0 Record against me.
Round 5: My brush with 2000
Now, I do apologize as I will spoil the game. I lost. But for a solid bit in the middlegame I was better, and literally I could feel the 2000 rating within reach, as I could have maybe even offered a draw in a position of strength, but I played for the win and was punished accordingly.
Conclusion
In the end I finished with 3/5, and a performance rating of 2207! Definitely promising and I hope to reach 2000 and 2100 very soon, ideally before State, but who knows.
Thank you all for reading this! Hope you enjoyed the analysis and good luck with all of your chess goals.
-Owen
