Will I Slay The Turkey?

Hello everyone, it's been a while since my last post. In my previous post, I shared my experience of a blitz event at a local club in Florida. Since then, I celebrated my birthday in September and Halloween in October. As we enter November, which is the month of Thanksgiving, it's a time to reflect on our blessings and be grateful for what we have. In the chess community of Florida, every year we have an honorary edition of playing in the annual "Turkey Bowl" event, which is filled with many of the top Florida players in different sections and offers over $1000 in huge prize money. My friend and I decided to take part in it for the first time after a bit of preparation. We took on the risk and tried our best in our specific sections.

 The Turkey Bowl, like many other major events in Florida, was organized by long-time chess arbiter and Florida icon, Jon Haskel. He has made significant contributions to promoting chess in Florida over the years. I chose to participate in the U2050 section while my friend played in the U1450 section. we headed over to the hotel on Friday and began to play our first round...

FIRST ROUND "to overpush or not to overpush"

I was paired up against my friend Jeison from my local chess club. He had the black pieces and was rated around 1847. I arrived at the board early, but he was running late due to traffic. Unfortunately, the tournament director, Jon Haskel, told us we had to start after waiting for 15 minutes. When Jeison finally arrived, we shook hands and I decided to open with the Nimzo-Larsen with b3. I felt a bit confident as I made my move.

As former world champion Magnus Carlsen would say, "self-pinning for immortality." Jeison found the right ideas when I over-pushed with an imbalanced f4. He converted bit by bit and just killed any type of ideas with rf4, all starting from e5, which is again to his credit. I was a bit upset when my friend won his game. I just had to accept that sad loss and move on to tomorrow, which could maybe end a bit better. When I woke up on Saturday, I was paired up against a player with a rating of 1800. I decided to take my chances and see how things would go.

Chilling with Swamp Music - Round 2

It was a fresh Saturday morning and I overslept a bit, but still managed to meet up with my friend. We jammed to music in the car and discussed our strategy for the 2nd round. To gain some ideas for our games, we looked at some matches played by Radjabov, Hikaru, and Magnus from the 2010 World Blitz in Moscow. When we arrived at the hotel, I played my 2nd round game against another opponent who was rated 1800. I managed to win the game quite easily.

I had quite an interesting experience playing the game, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. However, it did motivate me for my next few matches. After the game, I took a well-deserved break and spent some time taking pictures and grabbing a bite to eat at McDonald's before the next round. Unfortunately, my friend lost his game, so we were now even. But the stakes were high because we both needed to win all of our upcoming games to finish on the podium. During my next round, I played against another 1800 and managed to successfully win by grinding a very long game and shuffling for a while till he finally collapsed.

A good positional game??? - Round 3

During the game, I played against an opponent named Roy. Looking back at the event, this was the only game where I faced no issues in the opening and was able to maintain my advantage throughout. Although it was still a bit of a grind to keep shuffling, I managed my time properly and was able to foresee many critical moves, including bringing the knight to f5 and seeing ne6. The only thing that disappoints me is that I could have won quicker if I had played na4 earlier.

I had just finished playing three games of chess - winning two and losing one. Feeling confident, I was excited to play again the next day. Before leaving, my friend and I decided to participate in the side blitz tournament, which included one of the top seeds, NM Raghav. He ended up winning the event, losing only one game to another Florida figure, Akeras Overlingas. Unfortunately, Akeras managed to swindle me in the last round, taking away third place which I would have won. Despite this, the blitz tournament was a fun event to play and it was more for laughs. On the last day, I played another 1800 and although I know I played many 1800s, I was ready to go and give it my all.

THE LAST DAY - WILL I SLAY THE TURKEY TO GET SOMETHING?

it has been an interesting couple of days for me. I am happy that I still have a chance to be on the podium alongside my friend. In my last game, I was paired against an opponent with a rating of 1800. The game was challenging, and I had to come up with creative strategies and bluffs to win. I was losing for most of the game, but my opponent played passively and believed me too much, which helped me score a huge win with the Queen's Gambit. It was a fun game overall.

THERE WE GO CHAT! The wizard managed to score another win and a fun fact was that during the game I kept drinking Dr. pepper in one hand and a water bottle in the other which lasted up till I left the playing hall when I won my game which to me felt like having energy. we decided to go visit the McDonald's one last time where a couple of other friends took a picture of this iconic setting which sort of resembles the breakfast club ready for more action

I'm excited to share with you all the end of the 21st annual Turkey Bowl event, and the last game of the blog. Before I do, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone for their support. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. I have come to appreciate the spirit of this special holiday and enjoy it more and more each year.

I couldn't have participated in this event without the help of my friend, who made it all possible. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to play in the Turkey Bowl. Originally, I was supposed to play in the 20th Turkey Bowl, but unfortunately, one of my friend's cars got into an accident, and we couldn't make it happen. It was a sad moment for me, but I'm grateful for the experience I had in the 21st annual Turkey Bowl.

The picture I just showed features me wearing one of the exclusive shirts that were sold during the event to commemorate my time there. It was a very special time for me, and I didn't care about the cost of the event, but rather about having a good time with my friend who managed to win his last game. I am super grateful that he did. Now, onto me. This is the fifth and last round of the 21st Annual Turkey Bowl. I hope you enjoy it!

And there we go! I managed to win the nerve-racking final game, which in the end paid off as I was tied for 2nd place. The winner of the U2050 section was a friend I knew named Brandon, who had the determination to not only win the Florida State U2000 championship but also the turkey championship with a score of 4.5/5 to secure clear first. we waited there a bit more to watch games unavailing such as Raghav's win over FM Brejesh in a complicated queen endgame which he converted to tie for first place but unfortunately lost on tiebreaks to IM Facundo.

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone

I would like to offer my congratulations once again to the winners of the recent tournament: Brandon, who has now crossed 2000, IM Facundo for winning the open, and the legendary NM Raghav who amazed me with his skills in the final endgame. I am proud to say that my friend and I both had successful performances in the tournament as well. I managed to tie for 2nd place and won around 350 dollars, while my friend placed third. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for the presence of each and every one of you in my life, and I am looking forward to spending a special night with my beloved friends and family. Until then, let us all remain forever grateful.!