BOTEZ GAMBIT IN THE FAR EAST

Every chess player has played the Botez Gambit at one time or another - the act of losing one's Queen for seemingly no compensation; this phenomenon also occurs in one of the backwoods of international chess, the Island nation of Japan. 

The Kyoto Gion Tournament II took place in Kyoto, Japan on the weekend of October 9th - 11th; 43 players from across Japan came to take part in one of the only FIDE rated tournaments of the year...the others being cancelled due to the "UNSPECIFIED VIRUS OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN"...

The tournament was held at the Chion-in Wajun Hotel, located on the grounds of the temple of the same name.

The tournament was 7 rounds with a time control of 60 minutes, 30 second increment. Although, I have been playing chess for many years, this was actually my first REAL chess tournament. I prepared by buying three Chessable Lifetime Repertoires, getting an Aimchess subscription and watching Agadmator's youtube channel on repeat. Thus prepped, I went forth to take on the best Western Japan had to offer.

In the forth round of the tournament I took on a player rated 1694, although my rating was officially Zero I was still confident...up until move 25.

And that was it, that was the Botez Gambit in the Far East. My opponent was beside himself, as you can imagine, he just put his head on the table and sat there...I went out for the break, and when I came back 45 minutes later he still had his head on the table; chess is Cruel and has no Mercy. I know his pain, I would feel it in the next round as I hung a bishop during a winning endgame against a WCM...but that is a story for another Blog. Feel free to tell your friends at the Bar or Library about this game.

Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka.