Happy 4th of July - Independence OPEN 2023

Welcome back everyone in another blog to commemorate the 4th of July for all my fellow Americans with some pretty decent chess. now i have been quite on a hiatus recently in blogging but have been participating in quite a few tournaments OTB managing to reach 2000 again. I have not managed to get near another CM norm since February but have had some pretty neat accomplishments like drawing International Master Pedro Rodriguez in Classical and getting my blitz rating over 2150 OTB which was a boost for my confidence in these past weeks.

Apart from some of those OTB achievements i have also made some new online breakthroughs like making a new Blitz Record with my all high peak of 2551 and also having 100% on a game which is pretty rare nowadays. I have gained pretty much a ton of experience throughout the year and more or less know how to deal with my nerves being confident that i can be 2000 at the Independence OPEN. the players were was a bit empty as usual but some names popped up in the list which we will see in some of our games so lets get going to some amazing fireworks.

A Bishop Endgame Masterclass 

so in the morning i felt cold and decided to wear my sleeve dragon sweatshirt alongside a new jacket which i bought days prior. I arrived at the club with my dad and was playing some games with my friend getting ready for the first game. I was paired against long time club member Jordanyz who is known by everyone and decided to Implement my Favorite Larsen Attack.

that was a pretty good game on my end with the only parts leaving me a bit surprised being b5 and c5 idea which liquidated the position a little uncomfortable for me but it was still good. the other thing was qg4 which is a pretty good resource to try and draw but trading the queens made everything worse and unfortunately for my opponent he just got outplayed in endgame.

Playing Florida Legend Akeras Overlingas once more

After catching up with some friends i eventually realized one of my close friends derek had lost his game and was visibly frustrated. we played some blitz games but unfortunately it was already time to depart for the 2nd round where surprisingly i had to play the iconic Akeras Overlingas with the black pieces. it is pretty weird as i have never played akeras with white in a tournament game which annoyed me but thats life sometimes so i was expecting a london....

I was visibly surprised when he played against the Caro Kann knowing he is more of a consistent london player throughout the months i've known him. I had a pretty memorable game from start to finish converting the Endgame with ease having the better knight which was a hero.

"Because he is the hero the fouth of July deserves, not the one it needs right now" me & Akeras watching the amazing Dark horse slaughter the Endgame

Now anyways back to the chess so as i explained before Akeras is a icon in the florida community mostly being seen as a prodigy by his father and is quite seen in a ton of drama. really nice person but crazy stories have been said a lot of times but hey what do i know? i am just pretty happy i have a positive score without being involved in some of the madness. He also has a youtube channel named Akeras Planet for those of you who want to support him.

Dueling the Coral Legend NM Otis

Alright now that we have finished the 2nd game lets move onto the third round where i was paired against another Florida legend named Otis Wilson who is a National Master. Now his rating may appear weird as he has fallen off a bit throughout the years but nonetheless he is still a NM in my eyes and nothing to look down upon. he is the founder of chess tournaments in Coral Springs and has a site named 954Chess so go support if your interested in playing there.

that was such a missed opportunity by me but then again it still gained points and was against a NM so ill take what i can get. that silent move rc1 would have ended the game and the fact that somewhat disappointed me was i knew the advantage was mines and had calculated all the way till rc3 but missed rc1 unfortunately. great defense from Otis as usual and this means we each have had to win our last round to have any chance for the top prize so lets get into the finale.

Missing a Opportunity but Drawing the Game Somehow?

i was paired up against a player named Jonathan who i remembered having a game with in a rapid tournament many months ago at another club. i had over pushed myself and eventually lost that crucial game but now was my opportunity with white to try and win. Otis would win ongoing win versus a 1900 named Jacorey who made a simple blunder which gave a free piece. this would mean i was on the pressure and eventually began to struggle trying to win so badly that i eventually end up on the defensive side in the whole endgame within the larsen attack.

that a game was a total disaster at the end as despite having a bit of a huge time advantage i kept playing fast to try and pressure him on the clock as he was under 2 minutes in the endgame which was horrible. however despite me being completely lost i managed to still save the game somehow regardless of being a piece down in a very funny end where we laughed.

it was quite a stupid save to be frank and i don't even remember what happened to the dark square bishop but the ending with 2 knights was pretty ironic so thats how the tournament ended pretty much. Otis had left early so he didn't even get his trophy which i tried to claim since i got 2nd but i didn't really deserve it. i had ended with 3 points and won on tiebreaks for runner up but had to split the money with Diego Jimenez who only lost against Akeras.

Jacorey also managed to win the U2000 Prize which was pretty funny but luck sometimes does exist in this game and i was glad. we took a celebration photo from Diego Jimenez which the TD Diego Milla added in his post on instagram. it was a pretty neat finish which resulted in me reaching 2000 again right on the mark with no losses. Now with that being stated i hope everyone has an awesome 4th of July and can't wait to do this again Next year so stay tuned.

Also if your interested please support the channel if you want to see my new Series Blitz Nights where i am uploading videos featuring OTB blitz from my club and once again Happy fourth!