Journey To NM - The Return
Why hello there, welcome to the Lightning Reports! The last time y'all heard from me, I played in Alabama's state championship back in September and attempted to defend my title with scarce preparation. Miraculously, and truly I mean it took a miracle or two, I won enough games to gain 14 rating points, bringing me back up to 2105. Aside from that, I took a good break from chess from August through most of December. I didn't do much. Very little training, very little prep, very little studying, very little playing... I needed to "reset" I suppose. But I've only got so much time to be "all in" on the journey to NM... I couldn't stay away for too long. So on December 28th, I played in a local otb tournament... and then again on January 18th, I played locally. I will recap both events in which I returned to chess, hoping to start my comeback arc on a positive note. So stay tuned, cause I got some... interesting games to show 😅
DECEMBER 28TH
Time control is G70 with a 5-second delay. I should be content with just not losing rating and shaking off rust. The playing field is pretty normal for an Alabama tournament - several underrated players (Sam Baskarraj, Sai Kesireddy), the player I assume will win the event (NM Scott Varagona), the player destined to start off strong and collapse at the end (...hi there, hello), and of course, the unexpected participant... wow, Stuart Rachels is here?!
ROUND ONE
Ah, yes, my first tournament since September. I'm... mostly ready. Yeah, let's go with that. Anywho, we start off with the always dangerous round 1 opponent, and to my surprise, I am playing someone new for once. Timothy Taylor, a seemingly aggressive player who has been winning the U1600 tournaments left and right, recently joined my section and quickly shot up to 1800. Honestly, he kind of reminded me of myself when I was an aggressive 1500... and won several U1600 tournaments... and shot my rating up once I got a chance to play in the top section.... what, no I'm not scared, why would you say that... heh. Ok fine the 1800s in Alabama are scary, they just are. Anywho. I felt sure we were in for an exciting game. Unlimited chaos is a possibility I was mentally prepared for. That's not quite what we got, but he sure made things interesting...
Well, that was fun. I felt pretty good about the game overall... but man, when he played g5 that sure complicated the game. The engine yelled at him for g5... and then yelled at me for how I handled it. Whoops. Regardless, it was a fun game. I'm sure we'll meet again... perhaps then we will unleash unlimited chaos we have yet to see on the chess board.
ROUND TWO
Well dang, not the best start, but a win is a win. Next up, I am paired with Jonathan Rasberry, who recently returned to otb chess himself after two years off. Feel free to check out Jonathan's blog for another perspective on these events. Anywho, I wasn't unhappy to face Jonathan as he beat me soundly back in July. That was the game that dropped me below 2100... so you could say I've got some motivation here.
Heh I'll take it. GG. Honestly, that was a fairly big win for me - based on how poorly I played against Jonathan in July when I was tilting 66 points, compared to this, that seemed to indicate my break had helped. That's what I was going with, at least. Two down, two to go...
ROUND THREE
Up next, I must face... amazingly, Xavier Bruni. It's amazing that I am facing him because that means he just beat Stuart Rachels.... super impressive. I got to watch most of that game, and as far as I could tell, Xavier played brilliantly. I could only hope he'd be tired for our game... and then he blitzed out his first 15 moves lol
...Yeah, not my best game. He was very ready to play that line against me, and it worked well for him. I messed up and never fully recovered. Meanwhile, he gave me no chances to get back into the game. Xavier's on fire, and it looks like he will soon be joining me as a 2100. Good for him, and good for Alabama chess. As for me... I should have been more prepared to play that line. I hadn't looked over it in a while since nobody ever plays it. That's my bad. All credit to Xavier for being prepared.
ROUND FOUR
Well, that loss was unfortunate, but it's fine. I probably play a strong player here with a chance to gain rati- oh nope, nope, I'm... playing a 1660. This is fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine... bleh. Robert Presswood, who was evidently having himself a nice event. He ended up gaining a solid 27 points. Personally, I'd rather not play a 1600... because I can't gain anything from it. I'm playing to keep rating rather than to gain rating. That's what I get for my poor round three game I reckon. The pairings are set, so let's do this.
Heh, that was fun. He made me fight for that, for sure. Fortunately, I got out with a nice win. And with that, I ended the tournament with a 3/4 score and tied with Xavier Bruni for second place (Scott Varagona, a self-proclaimed Stuart Rachels fanboy who had what I imagine will be among the most memorable games of his life in round 3 when he defeated Stuart Rachels, ended up winning the tournament, so congrats to Scott! You can read his perspective on this and see the game here).
Anywho, after all that, I gained only 3 rating points. I wasn't super pleased, but I can't really complain. I didn't play great overall, but I shook off some rust, and I didn't lose rating. I'll take what I can get and hope for more next time. And that brings us to the second half of this blog...
JANUARY 18TH
Time control is again G70 with a 5-second delay. After my return to chess in December, I started to really get back on the chess grind and work hard at this thing, and I hope to gain a decent amount of rating here. I've got some events lined up for the first half of 2025, and I'm making a strong push for NM before June. My 2025 comeback arc begins locally with the average Alabama tournament. We once again have the usual suspects you may find at an Alabama tournament - the underrated players (Sam Baskarraj, Sai Kesireddy), the player I assume will win the event (Scott isn't here, but an NM came from New York and is apparently moving to Alabama, and I assume he will win this event), the player destined to start off strong and collapse at the end (...hi there, hello), and of course the unexpected participant... the random NM from New York fits this as well lol
ROUND ONE
My 2025 chess journey begins with a game against young, talented Saikarunya Kesireddy. Not ideal. He's rated 1850, but he's fully capable of drawing or even beating me. He hasn't yet, but I know that day will come. And if it comes today... that would really hurt my journey to NM 😅 he certainly gave me a good game as expected...
Good grief. I managed to escape with a win. I can't keep doing this... the time scrambles are so stressful, y'all. Thrilling but stressful. I will say my unnecessarily extensive experience in time scrambles does serve me well for games like this, but still, these scrambles are taking years off my life. Regardless, I do believe my time management has improved a little bit... normally when I'm that low on time, my opponent has a good amount left lol
ROUND TWO
Next up, I get a rematch with Xavier Bruni, whose name has already popped up here as he beat me quite soundly in December. Looks like he's pretty close to me in rating now, which I do appreciate. But I wasn't honestly super pleased to be playing him again already. He is very difficult to prepare for as he seems to prepare for me as well, and he's proven to be pretty darn good at that. I had no idea what to expect, but I figured it would be something I wasn't prepared for. So I went into this game thinking... whatever he's got for me this time, I'm not playing the expected moves. Let's make it interesting.
Oh man. Another hectic game that ended in a time scramble. Typical me. But my goodness, that was something, eh? He really brought out b3 against me in the opening... I couldn't help but smile, as I just knew he'd have something different. And I played... well, inaccurate moves, but moves he wasn't prepared for. I guess it ended up paying off. Barely. It was hectic but fun. Can't help but enjoy games like that... GG
ROUND THREE
Ahhh, yes, another tournament in which I start off strong with a win over a young 1800 and then a nice win over a near-2100. I think you can predict what happens next...
I am paired with newcomer NM Vispy Pardiwalla, who apparently just moved to Alabama from New York (glad to have some more competition!). Fun fact: I actually played him years ago in the last round of the 2019 US Open. He was a 2100, and I was a 1900. I was quite happy to draw that game. And to my delight (and slight displeasure since I... look a good bit older and better now than I did in 2019 haha), he seemingly recognized me and remembered we had played before. Good stuff. Anywho, I had just watched him play brilliantly in round 2 and knew I was likely in for a long game. His style is not ideal for me. I need to make things chaotic to have a good chance... but I didn't get a good chance to do that.
Well. That sucked. Our rematch 5 years later didn't quite go my way. Very well played by Vispy, he absolutely out-played me. It wasn't my best game, but I also didn't feel like I made any clearly bad moves. My opponent played really fast and more accurately than me... very well played, indeed. As for what I should have done better... honestly, I need to man up and learn to play a sharper line against that opening. What I'm playing now is too dull and drawish, and that ain't gonna cut it. I've been procrastinating learning the sharper lines for a minute because I don't face this line often enough to prioritize studying sharper responses. In addition, I need to not make useless moves like 17. Bb3. I still have no idea what I was doin there haha.
ROUND FOUR
Despite losing in the third round again to throw my chances of winning the tournament away (at least I'm not throwing the last round anymore?), I was still feeling good about the event. It's all gonna come down to the last round... and I'll be facing Stephen Graveling, who I had been surprised to see on the player list. Stephen is a strong 2100-level player who hasn't played otb much over the past few years but still seems about as strong as always. Very difficult to beat. He is one of the few Alabamians I have faced numerous times and have yet to defeat in a slow chess game, and I am happy to have another chance to change that...
Well... I still haven't managed to beat Stephen in otb slow chess. But that's ok cause that was honestly a really great game. I brought chaos onto the board, and he handled it perfectly. It just fizzled out into nothingness. Chess.com says I played with 98.6 accuracy... and it just wasn't enough. He played with 97.5. My only way to really push for a win was to play gxf6 instead of Qxf6, and I just couldn't make myself do it. The one thing I did wrong basically prevented me from being able to win. Chess is funny huh? Very good game, Stephen. I shall indeed remain winless against ya...
In the end, NM Vispy drew his last game and won the tournament. Meanwhile, I finished in a *checks notes* 5-way tie for second place with my 2.5/4 score. Good grief. But hey, I'm not saying no to back-to-back ties for second place. Coulda been worse. In the end, I managed to gain 5 rating points, which brings me up to 2113.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Well. Those two tournaments didn't exactly go according to plan. 5.5/8 and gaining 8 total rating points... yeah, I had higher hopes, for sure. But after the 66 rating points I lost last summer... this is fine. Progress seems slow, but at least it is progress. I managed to play in two tournaments and didn't have any "bad" results while picking up some nice wins over strong players like Xavier and Jonathan. My losses exposed some weak opening prep that I need to strengthen, I can use those losses to help future me. Overall, I don't feel like I played poorly. If anything, I felt like I was back to normal, these felt like normal tournaments for me. Regarding my play, I've seemingly recovered from my tilt. Mentally, I'm back! As for the rating... well, I've still got work to do. But for now, I've shaken off all the rust, and I'm working hard to make a push for NM by June. I have made my return... this is my comeback arc. Better days are ahead, this is only the beginning of my comeback. Stay tuned, y'all.
THE "GOOD JOB, YOU MADE IT TO THE END" PART OF THE BLOG
Good job, you made it to the end. I don't know how you did it; maybe you read it all, or you skipped ahead, or maybe you aren't even seeing this... regardless, good job, I'm proud of you. Thank you so much for reading. I truly hope you've enjoyed your time here.
I know lately I've taken forever to post my blogs, but I do intend to get it together over the next few months. I've got another one coming out within the next two weeks, I hope. That is one I'm excited to write...
I'm playing in an event in April that will be crucial to my journey to NM, you can be assured of a blog about that. If I pull off a few miracles there, 4/4 in April could get me to NM...
And then finally, in May... at long last, I am reviving my Questioning Non-Chess Players series! Sure, those thumbnails are probably among the cringiest I've made (was I even trying...? geez lol), but the actual blogs are really funny, according to... everyone who keeps telling me to revive this blog series already 😅 Some of the answers from NCPs on there are just ridiculous. Here is part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4, by the way. Feel free to suggest new questions for part 5, I'm open to changing it up.
Anywho, I reckon that's about all. Thanks again for reading! Truly, I hope you enjoyed this blog. I've got another one coming out within the next couple of weeks and that should be a good one, keep an eye out for it. Until then, I'll cyall in the comments 🙃
