Breaking 2100: Revenge Match

The Pennsylvania G/29 Championships (yesterday) didn't go very well (I lost handily to the only two players rated near me), but fortunately it was only for the quick rating/fun. Also, the last 2015-16 Pittsburgh Chess League matches for the lower division were held today, giving me a chance for an alternate game.

As the date of my previous post and a simple search would reveal, I did not actually break master. After the last set of league matches I was at 2095, but I knew my loss to Isaac in our extra PCC game would be rated soon, pushing me back down. Thus today's game, as the last chance to break 2100 before that, was a must-win.

Fittingly, I got paired against Isaac, the only other expert - this time with White. A messy game arose from a(nother?) Closed Sicilian, but eventually, in mutual time trouble, my kingside pressure gave me a won endgame.

Reaching 2100 from the low 2000s at the beginning year is a good place to be with [edited] 9 months remaining in the year. Undoubtedly the difficulty curve steepens as one ventures further into the 2100s, but reaching master is looking more reasonable than it did a few months ago.