Smashing the 2000 Barrier

Hello everyone welcome back to another Wizard recap where today i will be showing the tournament that got me over the 2000 ELO barrier. originally i was going to post about my 2nd FIDE event which i won but i had lack of energy and not much motivation for it although for a small summary i was the only person undefeated and had a ton of draws winning by half a lead. I managed to win 300 bucks in that event alongside a club hat as a gift but i only gained 1 point so more realistically this is the tournament i should recap instead of a long and dry finish.

that ends the FIDE recap, onto the more important tournament which started on the 28th of January dubbed the New Years Open. this was the monthly tournament they always host in my club which i never won but today fortunately was not the same story. Before going to the tournament, i recommended one of my teammates from school to participate which he did by registering for the U1200 section. my other classmate is 1500 and played in the U1600 section.

Arriving to McDonalds

it was a Saturday morning where i felt often tired as usual but nonetheless i woke up in a fury of chess spirit waiting for my dad. together we made it to a McDonalds eating some Hash browns before he had to leave for work, giving me some money for the entry fee. I waited for my friend derek to arrive so that we could play skittle games till the tournament started. we also played "Invisible chess" for a bit of time before unfortunately the Hash Browns were poisoning me to be stuck in the bathroom. i probably shouldn't have ate 4 hash browns but it was worth it cause i never ate anything else till i got near home. Also for many of you who don't know "invisible chess" is this term we used to describe how we play chess without a board, its fun check it out

Chess.com even decided to lay a comment which made me extremely happy as not only do i have my channel growing but my video is now over 500k views which is insane. the road for one million will probably be achieved before the summer hits so i can't wait for that awesome goal.

anyways after the nuclear bathroom break and some casual fun we again checked the list of players competing in each section. i was nervous for my section as i saw Yunier was competing but to my fortune, it was a different yunier which made me chuckle with relief. the first game i played was against a 2000 who i swindled on time which was very lucky, the worst game.

the London again? another annoyance....

i was expecting something more confrontive in the opening with complications but seeing so many club players from experience, i wasn't surprised he played the London. he is a middle aged man and he was undoubtedly crushing me with the space advantage in the middlegame. i only survived in the end where he missed some easy tactics leading to me being in a good position. however i play the wrong order with Rg8+ and then c5 which made me very frustrated but fortunately he flagged and i escaped, granted this was the only bad game from me here.

Well dang that was very close but luckily the flag occurred and i was able to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat. yes that makes no sense does it? well we must still continue onto the 2nd round where i was surprisingly playing a 1500 instead of Felix, the other 2000 rated player.

is the Larsen still Practical?

for round 2 i was paired against a guy named Christopher and while i have seen him play once before, i wasn't sure how this game would go realistically. i thought i had good chances in general but was still unsure of what to play and decided to use a opening to examine his play.

the game against Christopher definitely was risky as playing the Larsen is not a good weapon for classical but it got the job done. i thought giving the rooks for the queen was a fairly decent trade as i didn't see any real huge advantage but apparently black is superior with rc7 which just felt unnatural as we discussed after the game. the rest just felt like clean conversion so yeah practically a good opening advantage, nice tactical play, and a fun easy endgame converted.

Shockingly Outplaying in the Endgame

the third round came and i was paired against the top seed known as felix, another wise elderly man who i managed to equalize easily with a comfortable position out of the opening. you may ask why i am trying to equalize with white? well i am not a very brutal player, instead often wanting to be on equal footing with my opponent grinding it out and finding the right moment. here we went into an exchange QGD declined game where i was practically better in the middlegame and knew that i was capable of winning, the endgame was just very astonishing.

i can't exactly remember all the remaining moves of the game but he eventually resigned as there weren't any stalemate traps and promotion was inevitable. this was the first time i have ever gotten 3 wins in a row at the OPEN section so i was filled with joy, knowing that if i drew i would win for the first time a trophy. it was a very tense and satisfying feeling where i had the spirit to feel composure and calm, not wanting to be too distracted and instead finish well.

Beating the Final Boss

my opponent for the last round was a teenager named Lopez who i have a positive score against in the few tournaments we have played. we drew in my 2nd FIDE event which frustrated me as i was on a drawing streak but still was better than a loss. this was the moment that mattered a lot to me as i knew that cup meant more to me than anything in the world at that point so i felt pumped. we met at the board and as usual i bust out the iconic legendary weapon known as the Caro Kann, sacrificing a pawn, and going full chaotic mode on the kingside attack.

he did have some time quite left but missed that Qh4 actually is a draw with correct play although at the time i was very emotional and still wanted to play for the win. it was to my fortune that he played inaccurate with f4, allowing me to counterstrike and smash through his kingside. i had tons of joy knowing in the last few final moments that the prize was mine, no one would catch me and that i finally had succeeded in the goal of Breaking the 2000 rating barrier.

I AM NOW 2000 AND I FEEL LIKE A CHAMP

after all the games settled and the dust had finished, i was in clear first by a full point winning 100 bucks in the process alongside the OPEN trophy which is a Glass cup. you may be wondering why this cup means much to me? well this is a special trophy not only cause i've never won it before but that its very unique and really meant a lot to show if i were to Improve. 

well yeah that is the end of tonight's blog and so far my plan towards reaching NM is working but not completely as i can't be super confident. i know the road is still hard despite being only 159 points away, i will have to be smart and try to remain consistent throughout it. this may disappoint or even get me being emotional at times that i have to hold draws but its part of the game and that for what its worth, i really am very happy to now be a 2000 rated player. My next blog will be a club event where i play another FIDE event but for now stay safe and be good.