How I Became a National Master 🎴🥊🐲
Hey everyone, it's a lovely night, and I'm excited to share that I achieved the title of National Master in chess. It was a promise to my late mother, and reaching this goal brings me immense relief and joy. The event was held at Miami Lakes and organized by a dear friend. It was the first "think and thrive" event aimed at helping players gain USCF Norms and have a good time. I didn't consider playing because I was tired from winning a tournament the day before and had to wake up early on Sunday to play but I decided to take the risk so here we go guys the end....
THE NIGHT PRIOR....
I played in a local club event and did well, finishing 4.5/5 and boosting my live rating to 2192, meaning I only needed 8 more points to become an NM. After a night of playing blitz games until the early hours with friends, I felt tired and unsure about joining a tournament my friend TD Oscar organized. I barely slept but ended up waking up at 8 am and deciding to go. I wore a Venom shirt, recommended the new movie, and took an Uber to the event, but I felt sick due to food poisoning. After dealing with that, I was ready to focus on the competition ahead.
The highest-ranking player registered was an FM from Cuba named Reyson. He had a provisional rating of around 2300, but the main page lists him as 2243, which is still impressive. Other top seeds included FM Penya, NM Calixto, USCF CM Shama, Santiago, NM Wilson, and Jose. it seemed like I was in for a ride and not a comfortable one like I hoped to expect but here we go onto the first round as I was paired against TD Frank rated around 1881 USCF.
the game was well-rounded and had a bit of opportunity as it all came crashing down once TD Frank struck down with a Kingside attack. it was impractical and I took advantage of it by simply placing my knight on a potential square and using the dark squares to convert easily. Round 2 saw me take part against the other 2200 seeker Shama Yisrael who now as of August 2024 has broken the record for becoming the first African American Female Chess Master. We were both aiming for 2200 at the time we played and still needed around 10 points each to secure the barbaric title. Jack Rodgers has written an article on breaking the barrier so congrats!
I didn't know she was rated 2199 while I was rated 2192 which made me a bit sad considering she kept dropping afterward 3 more times till finally in July she broke 2200 at another local event in which I took place. A huge shoutout to her for making history and check this article by Jack Rodgers for more... onto the game we played a Janowsky in which I converted a position where a seemingly poisonous pawn was a bluff, the rest just took a bit of technique that I comfortably converted and won with style. A heartbreaker!
What a terrible miss! She had an opportunity to save the game. Had she seen that after trading the rooks, she would have been able to control the opposition, but luckily, under time pressure and given the fact that it seemed risky to capture, I won easily. As of August 2024 after many tries back in July she had managed to become the first African American Female chess master so congratulations and make sure to check out Jack Rodgers' article right here! Back to the event which happened in June... Now that I have gone 2/2 and in the next round, I was to face my biggest rival.... the #1 seed FM Reyson Rodriguez!
"You Can't Lose What You Don't Put in the Middle... But you Can't Win Much Either" - Mike McDermott
It was the 3rd round and the obstacle I had to fear the most to secure my title. Retrospectively speaking I had already achieved my title after beating Shama as I was only 6 points away from the title and could have withdrawn. however, that just doesn't sound like me and I always love to play an event to the fullest even if my NM title and everything I have worked for are on the line!
It was a very excruciating opening as I had to withstand multiple blows and burned a lot of time calculating to equalize. given the circumstances and time pressure the FM soon entered the position complicated more in my favor where I simply had nothing to lose... only to win. there is a famous poker movie called Rounders and a quote I have always been a fan of was the quote by the main character Mike McDermott "You Can't Lose what you don't put in the middle. But you can't win much either". I could have chosen to bail out if I wanted to but that wasn't even in my mind at the time and I was only interested in doing one thing... going all in and doing what I had set out to do since the beginning to become a chess master. and the game...... well you guys will see the bluffs ha
That in my opinion up to date has to be the best game I ever played or at least one of the most important games I have had in my chess career. I am looking at this result 3 months later as it's September and my birthday is on Sunday so I hope you guys can give me a nice happy birthday! back to the tournament, this a6 idea was always simply helping me and got me a very incredible win rate as black so to beat a strong player like FM Reyson with this and become a national master froze my heart.... I was speechless... I was battered..... but at the end of it all I stood feeling invincible and with my last round pairing I knew that I would become a National Master no doubt securing and converting the last minuscule obstacle in my coffin.
And that is the end of my story on how I Became a Chess National Master..... was it easy? no. Did it feel stressful? Yes but man am I happy to finally just secure what I had longed to achieve. I know my late mother would have been happy to see me become a master. She told me before her passing that I could become an amazing player and that she believed in me so I did. My future goals now are simply to aim higher than before and maybe become an FM or IM soon. In the meantime currently, I have had some fun tournaments and have felt less stressed now that I am titled and feel hyped to play more FIDE events. recently I got my certificate on becoming an NM many weeks ago and just this weekend became the Florida State Blitz Champion on tiebreaks so let's gooooooo!
Wishing you all a Peaceful Night!
These were some very nice pictures taken after the event where I had just become a National Master. In the picture are my following companions and chess enthusiasts (L-R TD Frank Castillo, Santiago Casares, Myself, FM Reyson Rodriguez, FM Roberto Alvarez, and TD Oscar Gonzales) Celebrating the end of an Inaugural Tournament.
I can't tell you enough how much I was holding in tears that day and felt chills down my spine knowing I had finally achieved what I promised my mother I would do and it just breaks my heart every time knowing it won't ever be the same without her. My 19th Birthday will be this Sunday and the future is looking brighter than ever at least for my chess that is haha. I can't wait to post more blogs in the future and I am sorry for postponing this one for a while and got lazy. one more thing is that if you guys want make sure to subscribe to my YT channel and watch my recap of the event here! thank you guys for the support!
I have recently become the 2024 Florida State Blitz Champion this weekend so I wouldn't mind a bit of cheery fun in the comments to celebrate my New Blitz title! Also, make sure to wish me a happy birthday again thanks, and see you guys in the future!
