Journey to NM - Back on the OTB Chess Grind

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Lighting Reports! For the first time since September, I competed in an OTB chess tournament. Now, I know you have some very important questions regarding the thumbnail. "What's with the cards?"  "Why is he holding a trophy? Did he actually win an otb tournament for once?!" "What's with the dorky smile?" Yep, very important questions. The cards relate to the tournament name, The Queen of Hearts. Regarding if I actually won an otb tournament for once, read on to see what happened. And the dorky smile? Well, uh... just not my best picture

TOURNAMENT DETAILS

This past weekend, February 5th-6th, I competed in the 50th Annual Queen of Hearts chess tournament, the 2nd biggest chess tournament in Alabama (the State Championship in September is the biggest event). It was a 5-round Swiss tournament, and the time control was G/120; d5. Translation: 2 hours for each player with a 5-second delay in between moves. It was a 2-day event, with 3 games on the 5th and 2 games on the 6th. The prizes in the premiere section, for players rated above 1600, were $450 for first place and $300 for second place. There was also a $200 prize for the top U1900 player. For Alabama Chess, those are amazing prizes! Here's the flyer with the tournament details btw, for those of you who are interested.

DAY 1: PERFECTION

In the past, I have performed rather poorly in The Queen of Hearts. I had lost rating points the previous 2 times I played. Despite that, I was very confident in my chances to win the tournament. Generally, I have no confidence whatsoever and expect to lose in round 1 to someone lower rated than myself. But this time was different. I entered this tournament intending to get a perfect 5/5 score and I believed I could do it. New year, new me? I dunno about that, but I've learned that confidence is important.

I arrived at the hotel where the tournament was located about 10 minutes before the first round. I entered the hotel and saw a sign that said chess and had an arrow. I followed the arrow, wandered around aimlessly, and somehow managed to get lost. The arrow said to go right, but it meant to go right and then pivot left and go straight. Silly me. I eventually found the playing area and found the pairings. For round 1, I was paired with an 1800 from Florida, someone I had never played before. And honestly, the guy got closer to beating me than anyone else did...

Phew, that was a close call. I'm not happy with that game, but I'll take the win. I screwed up early on and was slightly worse for almost the entire game, but I defended well enough to not ever be badly losing. Well, except for 2 moves later in the game. I gave him 2 chances to beat me and, fortunately for me, he failed to capitalize. In the end, he made the last mistake and I got the win.

After a 4-hour battle in round 1, I could only hope for a quicker game in round 2. I was pleased to see I was paired with a 1900 from Louisiana. Why was I happy with this pairing? Because he beat me last year. Not only did he beat me, but he did it in the last round of the tournament, and if I had beaten him I would have tied for first. Instead, he thoroughly beat me and sent me home with a loss. So of course I am thrilled to get a chance to avenge last year's loss! Let's just see how it went.

That went surprisingly well. Had he not played e5 when he did, allowing Nf5, it would have been interesting. I still liked my position, but then again I seem to always like my position when it's against the Sicilian. Fortunate for me that he played e5, but hey, I'll take it! Also, I'm pleased to report I was the only player who managed to defeat him. He ended up scoring 3.5/5, good for a tie for 3rd place.

In round 3 I was paired with @B1ZMARK, one of my top competitors for the Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championship. He and I will likely face off again in March, so it was interesting that we would get a chance to beat each other a month before our seemingly inevitable showdown. The game itself didn't go anything like I planned, however...

Yikes. Winning because of touch move? I mean, ok, a win is a win, and I had the better position anyway, but that's not at all how I wanted to win. I felt bad for B1Z cause that's a crappy way to lose, and that's not how I wanted to win. I did consider just "forgetting" he touched the knight. And maybe I should have... I don't know. I mean, rules are rules... sigh. What would you have done? Btw, B1Z posted about this, so go see his perspective of things at www.chess.com/forum/view/general/touched-moved-1 

B1Z finished the event with 3.5/5 (he only lost to me) and even had a chance to tie for first in the final round. He still gained 25 points, so nice event overall for him.

DAY 2: NO WINS, NO PROBLEM

At 3/3, I'm feeling great about my chances here. As long as I don't lose any games, I should still win the event and gain rating points. Easier said than done, of course. But I thought for sure I could do it. However, things didn't go according to plan. In round 4 I was paired with a 2100. But this guy isn't just your average 2100 like me. He's Alabama's current state champion, and he has proven to be a force in Alabama Chess. I knew it would be tough to win, but I tried my best, so let's see what happened.

What a game that was. I pretty much played a mistake-free game. Maybe some inaccuracies, sure, but no real mistakes. I was never worse. And yet, my opponent also played a mistake-free game. It is what it is. Getting a draw against such a strong player as black when he played mistake-free chess? I definitely can't complain. Good game, mister state champion. I'm sure we shall meet again someday.

Because I failed to win, I am no longer alone in first place. I have now been joined atop the leaderboard by a 2000 from Georgia. Having seen some of his games already, I knew this would be tough. I went into the game intending to win. I was not about to choke away my tournament lead. No way. I couldn't do that! There have been multiple instances throughout my playing career exactly like this one where I played terribly and blew it in the last round. Even just last year in this same tournament I had a chance to tie for first in the last round and blew it. Surely I wouldn't blow it this time, right? Actually, I was very close to choking, with the winner taking clear first and a draw resulting in a tie for first. A loss would have been devastating. Anyway, here's the game.

Well, it was not my best game, to say the least. I believe I would have lost if we played on. However, I got a draw and secured a tie for first place. Because board 2, between my round 3 and 4 opponents, also drew, it was only a 2-way tie first place between me and my round 5 opponent, so we split the prize money, each taking home $375. Not bad. I actually won the tiebreak, hence the trophy in the blog thumbnail, and that was quite shocking considering my bad luck with tiebreaks. I did let him take the trophy though, as I don't need it, and he can use it for one of his tournaments. In the end, it was the first otb tournament I won in a year, and I did gain 17 rating points, so my new USCF rating is 2121. It's not what I was hoping for, but I can't complain. Just 79 more to go and my journey to NM will be complete!

FUTURE BLOGS

Regarding my future blogs, I can't say when exactly they'll be posted, because I don't know yet. my next post will probably be out within 2 weeks as I dive into my experience in the chess.com leagues and the pros and cons of it.

I hope y'all enjoy my tournament reports because Journey to NM is the next blog series I'm starting. I don't mean to be lazy with my content, but I am trying to earn the NM title by the time I graduate highschool in May, and at least by the end of the year. So while I'm at it, I'm sharing my journey there with you guys. Hopefully, it all works out. 

There is one more future post I know I will make, and that is part 2 of my Questioning Non-Chess Players About Chess series. You guys really enjoyed part 1, so eventually, there will be a part 2. And maybe a part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Etc. For that, I will likely use most of the same questions, but if you'd like to suggest a question for me to use, please suggest one below and I'll consider it. I will shout out anyone who suggests a question that I choose.

Aside from that, I don't have anything else planned. I have some ideas, but I shall not reveal those just yet. For the time being, these are my future plans.

Thank y'all so much for reading, I truly hope you enjoyed it. You know, my favorite part about being a blogger is reading the comments you guys leave. Please, if you read this, leave a comment below. Tell me what you think of this blog and what you think of my future plans. Any feedback is welcomed, positive or negative. Share whatever you want, it is welcomed here. Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading. Cyall in the comments!