My (Gracia2000) Participation in the OTB ITB Rapid Series 10'+3"

7 games (7 rounds), OTB (over the board), Rapid 10'+3", Swiss system, at Kampus ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology), Bandung, Indonesia, 10 May 2025. 150+ participants. About 10+ Titled Players are participating: 1 IM, 2 FMs, 1 WFM, several NMs. Details on the participants, pairing every round, etc. can be found at : https://chess-results.com/tnr1160908.aspx?lan=1

As the time control is swift (no time to type down the notations; the rule may also prohibit) I try to reconstruct every game till some n moves after I got home. Of course the real games still continue, they consist of m moves where m= n+1,2,3, ... There may be wrong order of moves or even errors.; your comments or refinements are very welcome.

1st Round: Sicilian Defense. I play Black against a FM, got squeezed, lost after some struggle and time trouble.

2st Round: Ruy Lopez. I play White, got some advantage in the early middle game but somehow am not able to found the correct smash continuation. Finally lost in the endgame.

3rd Round: King's pawn Opening. I play Black, got some advantage in the Queen-less middle game, and manage to keep and increase it till the end.

4th Round: French Defense. I play White, manage to find little Tactics so winning the exchange, and proceed taking the risk of hunting my opponent King.

5th Round: Sicilian Defense. I play Black, tough play, blunder is replied by blunder, until finally I deliver the Mating pattern. My opponent resigns 1 move before being checkmated.

HAPPY, FUNNY, & INTERESTING MOMENTS

Happy to meet and chat with (old) chess friends here in the tournament! After the 1st round is over, two of the participants sitting next to me are playing their game, displaying a special mating pattern. The position is very much different from the game of Karpov vs Taimanov 1977 below, but the essence is pretty much the same.

Black to play. Can you solve it?

Funny thing is that that kind of mating pattern arises in my game here in round 5 (see Diagram below)! Also in the next round (i.e. round 6) game! What a nice coincidence.

So I swing my Queen to d2-square precisely due to this specific mating pattern plan. There follows Rd1, and then I send the final blow which is ...Ng3+.

6th Round: English Opening. I play White. I've decided to play something different in the opening as I usually play 1.e4. To my surprise this might be my best game in this tournament.

7th Round: English Opening. I play Black. This is a dragon game, each one is attacking the opponent's King; one single tempo is deciding. I am lucky to win the race. And then my opponent is having his time trouble as well.

All in all I have 5 points out of 7. Reaching the top 30. PTL.