Road To Master - 2022 Ontario Open
Hi everyone, welcome back to another blog post! Volume 3 of the Road To Master Series. By the way you might know me by my previous username Silvermoonlight71, I changed my username to Naoki.
Last weekend on May 21 - 23, I competed in the 2022 Ontario Open! This tournament was my third OTB tournament ever. It was way bigger than the previous tournaments I've competed in, so I was expecting a lot more strong players. Going into this tournament I was 1884 CFC rated and 1612 FIDE rated, my main goal was to cross the 2000 barrier (for CFC). It was a 6 round swiss, time control was 90+30, I was in the U2200 section, and it was CFC (Canadian National Rating) and FIDE rated.
Round 1: Toughest Opponent Yet!
Unlike the last tournament, the pairings were posted at 1 a.m.! Not ideal since I didn't have any time to prep when I woke up (round time was at 10 a.m.), but it's better than posting them 10 minutes before the round start time. My opponent was Richard Douglas, 2054 CFC rated. I had the White pieces.
Pretty good start. I was nervous coming into this game, worried that my chess wouldn't be at peak performance since I always tend to burn myself out the week before tournaments. I seemed to be playing fine chess though, that was a relief.
Round 2: First titled opponent!
I was excited coming into this round because I found out I would be playing a titled player in only my third OTB tournament, so I wanted to give him a good game. My opponent was National Master David Southam, 2087 CFC rated. I had the Black pieces.
Technically not a bad result, but it was still one I wasn't satisfied with. The position I got out of the opening wasn't an ideal one for what I was hoping for. It was an instructive game though, it'll help me learn what to do next time against this set up. I finished day 1 with a score of 1.5/2.
Round 3: Day 2! Continuing Strong?
Knowing I had the White pieces this round, I really wanted to boost my score up to 2.5/3. That would definitely make me one of the tournament leaders, which would be a shocker since I was originally rank #26 out of 37 players coming into this event. My opponent was Sheldon Pimentel, 2026 CFC rated.
A stressful game, this was my first OTB game where I experienced the anxiety of time trouble. I finished the third round 2/3, which definitely wasn't a result I was upset about, considering my opponent's ratings so far.
Round 4: Another titled player?
This round I was playing Women's FIDE Master Emma He, I actually have a blurry picture of the game.
She was rated 1981 CFC and as you can see in the picture, I had the Black pieces. And yes, for all of you who've been wanting a face reveal I guess this is kind of it?
I take the victory in round 4, finishing day 2 with 3/4! This was definitely my best score yet, in my two previous tournaments I was 2.5/4 after the 4th round. Coming into the tournament I was aiming for 4/6 at the least, so I was on pace for my target goal.
Round 5: Another win?
This round I'm playing against Matthew Shih, who seemed to be unrated in CFC rating prior to this tournament. It seemed like this was his first CFC event ever, although I could be mistaken. His FIDE was 1985 so I knew he was gonna be a strong player. I had the Black pieces. Note that I used our FIDE ratings instead of CFC on the board since he didn't have a CFC.
My first loss of the tournament. Even though I lost, it didn't hurt as much as my loss last tournament. Probably because I felt like it was a very instructive game and I could learn a lot from it. I'm grateful I got to play such a good player, it'll definitely help me improve my game to the next level for the future.
Round 6: The final dance
I was back on board 24, where I started round 1. Knowing I was 3/5, I really wanted to reach my goal of 4/6 to conclude the tournament. My opponent for this round was Merlin Nazareno, 2083 CFC rated. I had the White pieces.
A win! I was happy overall with my performance this game, although there were some sloppy moments (ex: when I played e5). It was the final round of the tournament so I won't kick myself for it though.
Final Thoughts & Comments:
So just to summarize everything, I finished the Ontario Open (U2200 Section) with a score of 4/6, which tied me for 3rd place with 4 other people (out of 37 people). I had a performance rating of 2194 CFC and 2081 FIDE. My new CFC rating is 2k on the dot (can I call myself a chess expert now?) which is decent so far, and my FIDE should go up about 54 points (not confirmed yet). Overall it was a really cool experience, I got to meet a lot of cool people IRL that I've known online for the past couple years. As for my play, I feel like I'm getting better and better with every tournament I go to. I still have a problem with being too passive at times, and managing my time in the middle game. These things separate the good players from the intermediate players, so I just have to keep improving at these parts of the game. Also shoutout to @Rollsafe88 for offering me a slice of pizza there and finishing with 3/6 in the open section (2292 performance rating!). My next blog will most likely be in July? That's when my next OTB tournament is planned to be, but the schedule might change. Signing off for now, see you all in the next Blog!
