2nd Skyline Open: Semi-Decent Performance
Hello, welcome to my blog! As usual, I will be recapping a recent over-the-board tournament, this time being the Skyline Open.
The Skyline Open was held in Sterling, Virginia, from the 5th to the 9th of October. I played in the Open section, which was nine rounds. It's FIDE and USCF-rated, but I'll be displaying USCF ratings in the games. The time control was 90;+30.
Round 1:
Before the game, I was worried I would get a bye since I was the lowest-rated USCF player in the open section. I ended up not getting a bye because they did pairings based on FIDE ratings, where I was only the 4th lowest rated.
I was paired against 2000-rated Will Moorhouse. It was equal almost the entire game until the end, when my opponent tried to push for the win too much and ended up blundering the draw.
Overall a pretty lucky win for me; that was another time where I just played a very drawish game and hoped my opponent made a mistake. I was happy about this, though, and it did give my rating a decent boost.
Round 2:
I was paired against the highest-rated player there by USCF, Ryan Amburgy. Well, at least it won't cost me much rating.
Yeah, that was expected. I was better at a point, but as @SwordofSouls2023 said, "Ryan Amburgy is Ryan Amburgy, so there's nothing you can really do about that."
Round 3:
I'm paired against almost 2100-rated Chloe Gaw. I had no clue what her account was, so no preparation for this round.
I think I'm better with preparation. Here's by far my worst game of the tournament:
Yeah, good thing I didn't have another game as atrocious in this tournament.
Round 4:
I played as black against nearly 2000-rated Elvin Baim. Here's the game:
I thought I didn't have any winning chances in that game, so that's cool. The winning move (31...g5) was a nice move I nearly missed.
Round 5:
I was white against 1900-rated Jacob Jones. I wasn't expecting to play someone with a lower USCF than my last opponent's, but this round's opponent had a higher FIDE rating than the previous one, which is why I ended up playing him.
Tough game to convert. My opponent did a good job at making it harder for me to win after losing material.
Round 6:
I was paired against 2100-rated Max England, and this was a pretty smooth victory for him. Here's the game:
Yeah, so I didn't make it too hard for him to win that. I was not overly disappointed by this, though, since there was still three more rounds, and I should be getting a decent jump anyway.
Round 7:
I played 2100-rated Vedant Talwalkar. I was able to gain an advantage but didn't have enough confidence in myself to try to go for the win at the end.
I probably should've played on... I was nervous about playing on because it seemed to me like I was having a hard time speeding up at the end of games during that tournament for some reason, and I was getting low on time, but I probably should've tried to go for the win.
Round 8:
I was paired against yet another 2100, Kyle Zhuang, who I had played three times before (I won the first game, and he won the next two). I got a good position out of the Petroff, but missed something very simple nearing the end.
While a draw is good for my rating, I'm still mad at myself for missing 26...Rxb2 after which I'd likely be able to win. Oh well.
The rating estimator has me at 1899 after this game. I need at least a draw in the final round to get 1900.
Round 9:
I was paired against National Master Aditeya Das. I must get a draw to get 1900 now, which I was not able to achieve. After being much better out of the opening, I naturally blundered it, and was not able to recover. Here's the game:
Well, that was sad, but I got a big jump anyway. I still don't understand how I lost 20 points from losing to a 2150, though (the rating estimator had me at 1878 after I lost that game).
I ended up going from 1807 to 1880. Later, that was changed to 1879, which I am infuriated about, and will be contacting US Chess so I can get my point back (no, not really).
My next tournament is the National Chess Congress in late November, which I may blog about if I have time.
Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!
