Eyes on the Prize at the Nagoya Open

When the chess game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box.

– One of Danya's favorite chess quotes

Welcome, everybody to another exhilarating edition of the Osaka Papers. My latest foray in to the world of Over-the-board chess saw me journey to Japan's third city, the great metropolis that is Nagoya, Japan. I was there to take part in the Nagoya Open 2025, a six round, nationally rated tournament, with a time control of 50 minutes | 30 seconds, that took place over the long weekend of October 12th and 13th. 

The tournament had a prize of 200,000 yen (about $2,000), with prizes for a number of rating categories. My national rating has been hovering just under 1700, so I had my eye on the B-class prize. If I could manage to win it, I'd net myself 15,000 yen and a trophy, what could be better. 

The question is, was that a good idea??

Is it a good idea to go into a tournament with the singular goal of winning a prize? Will it lead to disappointment? Demotivation? And a general malaise if the goal is out of reach before the end of the tournament?

Before we answer these questions and more, how about a few pics to prove that any of this actually happened. 

 the Inextricable Advancing Inevitably

inextricable: forming a maze or tangle from which it is impossible to get free

In the first round I had the unenviable task of facing FM Mirai Aoshima. Aside from being a former Japan Chess Champion and member of the Olympiad team, FM Aoshima is a master shogi player. He is among the top 100 shogi players in Japan, which means he is among the top 100 shogi players in the world.  Shogi is the Japanese version of chess, which has many similarities to our noble game, with the key difference being that when a piece is captured it can subsequently be reentered into the game on the side of the opposition. 

Consequently, I was under no illusion about my chances in this game and entered into it under a shadow of foreboding. Certainly my doom was inevitable and I simply had to patiently wait for the Crush. But how we face certain defeat says something of our character, and although I knew my ruin was at hand, I vowed to go down swinging. 

What followed was not so much a Crush, but a maze, an insoluble conundrum, a riddle without an answer...Inextricable.  Whatever I attempted he had an answer for. 

Braveheart King

The winner is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake.”
– Savielly Tartakower

In the second round I was paired with a slightly lower rated player. The game went south quickly as I played an unsound gambit and found myself heading into a worse endgame, but as luck and fate would have it my opponent blundered leading to an even position. 

It appeared that a draw was on the table when one final mistake from my opponent led to the following position. 

Black's last move has allowed my king too much activity, how should White proceed?

That win in the 2nd round was followed by a loss in the 3rd round, a win in the 4th round and a draw in the 5th. All were interesting games in their own right but in the interest of brevity lets flash forward to the 6th and final round. 

Online vs OTB

The Pin is mightier than the sword”
– Fred Reinfeld

My fifth round game ended in a long fought draw meaning that I only had a few minutes to prepare for my sixth round clash. Based on our mutual results and ratings, I had a feeling that I might be paired with Sean Underwood. 

A few months ago Sean contacted me online and we proceeded to play a series of online correspondence games, Sean got the better of these with a 8-2 record, but I had won and drawn our last engagements, so I wasn't too worried about a potential match-up. 

Just before the pairings were announced I even took a few moments to glance at the last game, since I had already played 3 times as Black, I of course only looked at the White game. Well, you'll never guess what happened...

I got paired with Sean, but as Black...O_o...the fourth time playing Black in a six round tournament. The Chess Gods were definitely against me. 

I attempted to play the same opening I had essayed in our online games, but of course in those games I had access to book lines...book lines that I had tragically forgotten. 

What followed was a disaster of an opening, leading to a quick win for White. 

Black's queen is horribly placed, what is the best way to take advantage of this?

The Brilliancy Prize

Before the first round, it was announced that I would be playing on board one, against IM Thanh Tu Tran, this turned out to be a mistake, but the error was not cleared up before the above picture was taken.

In any case, IM Tran, knowing that I was likely to write a blog post about the tourney, contacted me after its conclusion and informed me that he had played quite an interesting game, and perhaps I would like to add it to my article.

An interesting game is an understatement, in fact, I declare this game the winner of the Brilliancy Prize. True, I have not looked at any other games in order to make this judgement, and I have no authority to award such a prize...if such a prize existed...

These facts notwithstanding, this is still a remarkable game and I submit it for your enjoyment.

  The Champions

C-Class (Under 1500)

B-Class (Under 1700)

A-Class (Under 1900)

Open

Postmortem

And that was it, that was the Nagoya Open 2025.

So what did we learn?

For me the tournament was a little disappointing, not for the losses or only scoring 2 and a half points out of six, or even for having to play as Black 4 times. It was disappointing because I was not able to look back on my games and say that I had played well. The prize isn't an envelope full of money or a trophy, although those things are nice. It is the pride in the games that we play. That is the only prize I have my eyes on for next time. I want the prize of a game brilliantly played. 

Because of recent events I'd liked to end this blog post with a quote from one of my favourite books.

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum - Don't let the bastards grind you down.

The Handmaid's Tale

As always thanks for reading, and feel free to share these games with your friend's down at the bar or community center. 

Cheers, SheldonOfOsaka