Hello, my new and old chess friends!

As you may know from my slightly boring blog, I play a lot of online chess. Like many digital players, I've always wondered about the difference between online games and over-the-board (OTB) chess. How much of my online skill would actually costs in the real sport? I had already played a few OTB blitz and rapid tournaments (you can see them here and  here), but classical chess remained a terra incognita (an unexplored land) for me.

So you can imagine my excitement when, after a long pandemic break, the chess federation in my city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, announced a tournament featuring blitz, rapid, and classical chess. This was exactly what I needed.

My city Zaporizhzhia

On the scheduled day, I showed up to a rather strange place where people were gathering to play chess with wooden pieces on a real board. I mean, of course, the local chess club.

The arbiter, who was in charge of the tournament, asked me about my classical rating. When he found out I didn't have one, he officially listed me as zero-rated.

He then jokingly advised me to try not to poke my eye out with the king in my first game. And just like that, I became a "zero-rated noob" — just a beginner in the world of classical chess.

Photo by Alexey Druzhinets

Meanwhile two grandmasters, a few international masters and FIDE masters, as well as many candidate masters in real, not online, chess had arrived at the tournament. These were, without a doubt, very dangerous people. "If I'm lucky," I thought, "maybe I'll draw with one of them."

Blitz Champonship

The first day of play confirmed my worst fears. The tournament began with the regional blitz championship, and as a guest from the online world, I faced a titanic challenge.

My biggest problem? The chess clock. I often forgot to hit it after making a move. By the time I remembered, I'd look up at my opponent’s satisfied face and see that four seconds had already vanished from my clock. My score was quickly accumulating zeros.

However, I had several attacks which were pretty much typical for a hardcore blitz over the board!

Some of my opponents, deceived by my zero rating, tried to launch quick attacks, hoping for a blunder. Sometimes this was completely contrary to opening principles, which is when the real fun began for me!

I only started to play normally when the tournament was, well, basically over. I scored a respectable 5 out of 9 points and finished 25th out of 53 players in the Blitz Championship. Not bad for a noob?

Classical Championship

The next day, the Classical Championship began.

• Round 1 - My first classical game

I arrived early, wrote my opponent's name on the scoresheet, and we began my very first classical game. My zero rating had clearly done its job; my first-category opponent decided he could win quickly against a total beginner. He chose an intimidating-looking flanking maneuver to try crush me fast.

• Round 3 - The Best Game of My Life?

In the third round, tournament players and guests could witness an unbelievable pairing: a zero-rated player sitting at the same table as a grandmaster. This zero-rated player paused for a moment, looked up at the ceiling, but the clock announced the inexorable start of the game.

Do you hear that sound? I played 1.e4.

And then, the incredible happened...