Local Shirt Maniac Devastates the OPEN Event

we are back at it once again everybody, going into my first tournament ever as a OPEN player in the classical format which was a time control of 40 minutes and 5 second delay. this tournament occurred on August 13, 2022 and was a pretty decent performance for my first time there. there were some very funny moments, critical points, and of course the brutal devastation that we all know which is chess so before we get into it, lets dive into some storytelling and chess later.

"the No Shirt Man Legend"

alright so before we begin i would love to tell you all about this very fun story which happened between me and Diego, the tournament organizer. basically i was interested in buying the teams shirt and he had some laying around so he decided to give me one but he kept forgetting each tournament till this one where instead of the black one he got me the red. here is the funny part cause i essentially had no will power and sleep being only an hour so while getting ready my game plan was basically to only wear a jacket and then sneak into the bathroom like a hero.

i did tell one friend i was gonna do this and joked about being "one jacket man" or "no shirt man" so it was pretty cool and i convinced many people i was wearing a shirt even my dad who was driving despite stopping at a gasoline station which was just hilarious. once there of course my friend saw me, i put the cash on the counter for the entry fee and kept whispering to diego for the shirt "Diego where's the shirt" and then pointed to the cash leaving. i then proceeded to put the shirt on in the bathroom and met the others playing some skittle games.

GAME 1 - Utilizing the Dutch and Sacking the queen in Style

alright so after the skittles game the first round started, i was getting ready with some confidence from my friends welcoming me to my first OPEN tournament being above 1600 so i definitely felt like i had the ability to convert a win in the first round. my opponent was Lopez and interestingly enough while i didn't expect him to appear in a blitz event, i managed to beat him there so i was feeling a bit more confident when facing him in classical despite the format.

i think definitely there are 2 main key ideas that can be learned from the game, one being to understand the positions and knowing how to play the opening while the other is simply to calculate long variations knowing how to defend or attack against the opponent. i was genuinely surprised that i was lost in the middlegame as i thought i was holding after he long-castled but i played imprecisely there so overall bad position but cool ending regardless.

BREAK TIME - "subscribe to me now please" - BlitzWizard94

alright so the new thing i am getting adapted to is the fact that the OPEN players unlike other sections in this format get to have a long break and finish last. due to this i was able to spend some time with my friends and actually managed to record some videos in the process. earlier i recorded a video of a game but the guy said to not post online so i deleted that and instead thought since my friend is casual with the idea it would be much better to do so here we go.

GAME 2 - THE RAGE MONSTER IS UNLEASHED?!

the 2nd round actually began when i was actually running a bit late cause i forgot the break ended so i lost essentially 8 minutes of my clock but i wasn't too worried. i stayed with my guns pretty much using a certain favorite opening that everyone knows i love everytime and of course it is the van't krujis opening against a 1900 rated player. the opponent was a bit surprised and he did burn like 3 or 4 minutes so i thought he was just trying to equalize with me on the clock but later on i realized he was just a very serious time burner which helped me a lot in the game.

alright so that was quite the grind and i actually during the queen trade thought i was up a pawn but then was like "alright imma just fight, this is my style and i definitely would prefer grinding this equal position for another 20 moves" so then we kept shuffling back and forth till he blunders the final position where it took me like 5 seconds to see i won a clear piece. i was calculating so much about taking g6 that i was kind of shocked he blundered a piece being a 1900 but then again his reaction was just funny. he basically raged, smacking his scorebook and yelling a bit loud that pretty much everyone was looking at us while i stared at him seriously shaking hands watching him furiously leave. my friend came in saying that "that was brutal" which i definitely agree with and many were really just hiding their laughter and praising me.

GAME 3 - Risking too much and going for creative play

alright so for game 3 i was going against a opponent named ben where i utilize the Dutch again for the 2nd time in a row feeling pretty confident as felt like i was in a must win situation here. unfortunately i risked too much and was a bit pressured thinking about this blog or how cool the move would be, i just had so much on my mind and thinking this would somewhat resemble a super GM game i played this rb6 move which really just messed up the game for me lethally.

it was definitely a painful ending cause i felt like i was doing a bit well but full credit just goes to my opponent who converted the position flawlessly. he understood the key ideas of the position and saw that my pawn structure was pretty much a target leading to my downfall. needless to say he played well giving me no chances but i was somewhat surprised the engine said i could hold the game but again its a machine and would be super hard to calculate for a human sadly.

GAME 4 - surviving a +5 position?!!

so we have made it to the final game and i really don't have much to say except that it was a pretty cool ending to what is basically a lost game. i was a bit bummed out cause of my lost and was rushing as you can see from my moves not really thinking as i was confident i could win. this eventually put me in a very poisonous but exciting position where despite my opponent having a clearly won position, it was yet not that clear and with one bad pawn move the game shifted...

while i was happy to accomplish at least with a very somewhat expected and good performance, i couldn't help but feel a bit bad for my opponent. he is basically an OG who i have always respected and watched since i became a member of those events especially when i was bad. for me to see him just sit quietly and then try to remember the winning position was a bit heartbreaking for me to see but we both analyzed by pointing calculations and yeah tough.

Will i be on the Podium + NEW RATING MILESTONE?

alright so it was pretty much not a surprise that a certain IM known as Yunier won the event again as these events are practically always free cash for him. he annihilated the opponent i beat in a simplified bishop and knight endgame, winning a pawn and ultimately using his better bishop to outmaneuver the knight winning the event with 4/4 like the usual. however i was pretty shocked and when i was the standings i was super pumped seeing i tied for 2nd place.

i was tied with a USCF CM named Marvin for 2nd place but he got it in tiebreaks though we equally split the money for the runner up spot. the winner Yunier as an award not only managed to win 100 dollars but also a special cup which is Diego's unique idea for the champion of the OPEN as many people there really don't value trophies cause they have so many already. Diego envisioned and thought it would be better to use something that can be used so the cup was a very fun idea to use as a trophy cause it can actually be something valued and used at home.

so was i a bit upset? i think at the end of the day i don't really have any reason to be really upset as i managed to pull 64 dollars and was a bit acceptive of my performance. that said i was a bit disappointed i lost the third round but then again its my first OPEN so i say i did well for a novice player there. when the players all left, it was me and Diego who i asked why it was called the bowling open and he just said cause it was national bowling day, i laughed and it was cool.

another big news is that currently there is the FTX crypto cup in miami which is a cool idea giving the opportunity for many players nearby to travel and meet magnus alongside many of the elite players joining in the field. i have yet not confirmed if i am going but i feel positive that i am probably going to be traveling there this weekend and meet magnus carlsen. its such a cool opportunity and again thanks everyone for all the support, until next time cheers and GG