Dying on time in the Vulcan tournament
Maybe I'm feeling motivated enough today to actually restart this blog in some desperate attempt to restart my chess career. Maybe it's just because I was able to get back to 1700 Elo. Either way, here I am.
So, the Vulcan 2022.
Up until then, it had been about two months or so since I attended a chess tournament, first because AP tests and second because I got emotionally damaged at Memphis, Tennessee and ended up losing 50 ELO and my 1700 rating. I hadn't practiced much (if you count spamming puzzles rushes and 10 minute online games as practice) before, so I was honestly prepared to go beneath the 1650 mark.
Game 1 - Charles Medinger
I almost got paired up against @B1ZMARK but people like coming in at the last second and signing up so I got to get paired up a 2000 geriatric instead.
yeah, not really the best start at all.
Game 2 - Samuel Baskarraj (@Stothe2ndletter)
We were both severely depressed for the entire game, me because I screwed up my Grand Prix and because I didn't really want to be there and him maybe because he didn't want to be there either.
Then it soon became Samuel who got really low on time, which was when he noticed that my clock didn't have the delay set. We called over the TD who went "well none of you noticed until 2 seconds before the flag so I'm not changing anything". This won't the only time you hear from the clock either.
Game 3 - President Snow II (@Lightning)
Ah yes, Zachary the Isaac Snow II, probably the only 2000+ player whom I've beaten in these recent times. I'm sure my Alekhine's was solid, but my terrible time management certainly wasn't.
Game 4 - Steve A. Perry, the Revenge of the Clock
In the last round, a bunch of people decided to randomly withdraw at sporadic rates, which led me to be paired up against several different people before finally settling on my present opponent. There's uncertainty surrounding my kingside, but luckily, good time management and trading keeps the game firmly in my control. As it turns out though, my clock once again decided to screw itself over, but this time the problem was noticed earlier and we got a provisional Excalibur clock to use.
A temperate end for a cautious step back into competitive chess, I'll take it.
