Back in Action

 Hello! Welcome back to another episode of "Fischer procrastinates on blogs that should have been written a few weeks ago". I'm currently debating whether or not to get back into the blogging scene (you may never hear from me again, or you may hear from me in a week), although I do have several ideas for posts, the most exciting of those being a long overdue post about New Year's resolutions, but to provide the appropriate context for that, there are some things that I need to show first.

 And so, we're going back in time. Buckle up your seatbelts, since you're about to enter a world of blunders, emotions, tension, joy, hesitation... a lot of stuff, really. I've provided a table of contents for you, in case you get as lost as I was in round three.

The Aforementioned Table of Contents:

1. The Necessary Context: My Fall of Failures

2. The Night Before The Tournament

3. The Warm Ups

4. Round 1

5. Round 2

6. Round 3

7. Round 4

8. Round 5

9. An Unexpected Surprise

10. Conclusion

The Necessary Context: My Fall of Failures

I won't deny it. The first semester of college was rough for me.

 That's a picture of my US Chess tournament history, starting from when I arrived in Davidson, NC and ending at a point where I frankly considered myself retired from over-the-board play, at least for a couple months. It's important to consider that I peaked at 2115 over the summer, and I was hoping to gain 30 points in the other direction...

 But why did I tilt so badly? During late September, I caught the typical sickness which spreads around college dorms in the first few months. This clouded my brain, and I managed to hang a rook (as in literally move it to a protected square where it was promptly captured) in two consecutive games. What hurt so much about these results was that I can't even name a single game where I was conclusively outplayed. I lost most of these games due to 500-level blunders. 

 I'm not going to recreate the actual game, since it's still a painful memory for me. The main point is still there, anyways, I was making blunders that a 1000, much less a 2000, would never make (note that I had TWENTY MINUTES on the clock when I did this).

 And then, just a few weeks later, word broke out that Charlotte's strongest player, and my former coach at camp, Daniel Naroditsky, passed away. 

 I'd never realized how much of an influence Naroditsky had on my game. I won two critical matches for my school in the online Collegiate Chess League later that week, and realized exactly where I learned the openings from (they were ideas Danya had taught me in the one week I worked with him). I nearly broke down crying on my desk.

 I'd gone to Charlotte every Tuesday to play chess on their ladder. That week was the first one I skipped to study for an economics test, which I ended up doing horribly on. It's such a friendly community filled with so many great people, and to think of how much Naroditsky's death impacted everyone there, many of whom knew him even better than I had...

 I never went back. At least, not yet.

 I'd say it was a combination of a lot of things. I have close friends in college who don't play chess, and prefer to do other things on the weekends. I also had to desperately try and save my GPA, which ironically continued to get worse. And many of my friends began struggling with certain issues as well. Naroditsky's passing served as a reminder to always check up on your friends.

 So with all that weighing on my mind, I found myself on December 19 at a reasonably late hour. I'm on my bed, phone in hand, staring at a tournament registration page, thinking to myself: "Should I really do this?"

The Night Before The Tournament

 In 2023, Daniel Naroditsky told a group of 12 2000-rated juniors ranging from very talented (9 years old) to me (who was 16 at the time) "It's not realistic for some of you to become grandmasters, but I believe that each and every person in this group can make National Master". Many of those kids went on to do so. In fact, the two youngest are now FM.

 My rating in December was 2046, 154 points from the National Master title. You can't get NM if you don't play. I signed up for the tournament.

The Warm Ups

 During college, I developed a bad habit of going to sleep around 3 AM and waking up around 10. I don't think I need to explain why this is bad for you, and I've mainly fixed the issue by now. However, the Arlington Chess Club's Action-Plus tournament, which started at 10 AM and was over half an hour away, required that I wake up at the horrible, disgusting, vile hour of eight thirty in the morning, which resulted in me only getting around five hours of sleep due to... uh...

 Half-awake, I ordered an Uber to Arlington. and what better way to warm up for a day of chess than by playing chess! Let's see how I fare in the dreaded chess.com rapid pool, which will almost certainly be the subject of a future blog...

 Not bad, I guess. I arrived at the tournament a few minutes early (unusual for me) and began talking to some local chess players who I hadn't seen in a few months, since I was away at North Carolina for college. This reaffirmed something for me that I'd honestly somewhat forgotten, which that the main appeal of chess tournaments for me has always been the community aspect. 

 Unfortunately, the nice chats with my friends couldn't last. I had a Round 1 game to play. And the pairing struck fear into my heart.

Round 1... or was it?

 Before we begin, I'd like to go over the structure of the tournament. The time control is 45 D5, which means that both players have 45 minutes for the whole game, with a 5 second delay after each move before your time starts ticking down. I played in the Open section, which requires a minimum rating of 1600 to enter. The average rating is usually around 1900-2000, give or take a few points.

 I'd also like to note that I'm not very good at quick time controls like Game in 45.

 Anyways, my first round opponent was rated around 1750 (note that I'm estimating opponent's ratings to preserve their anonymity) which is a bit of a lose-lose situation for me (2046), since I only gain a couple points if I win, whereas I would lose more like a couple dozen if I don't. And if you think a 300 point rating gap means a guaranteed win, this guy had recently drawn my friend, who's rated over 2100, (and my friend is almost 2800 on blitz somehow). Not to mention my friend was worse for the whole game. My friend specifically warned me this guy was underrated, and I promised to try and get revenge for him.

 Yeah, there's no denying it. I was scared, and perhaps for good reason. It'd been two months since I had even played a casual game on a physical board. I also had a very strong urge to put my head down on the table and take a good nap, getting five hours of sleep the night before was already kicking in...

 I went into the playing hall and started setting up my pieces (the tournament doesn't provide sets). Much to my surprise, my opponent wasn't there yet (the TD had just started the round). As I sat in my chair watching the boards next to me rattle off their opening moves, I began to contemplate whether I would be able to defeat this underrated 1750, or if signing up for this tournament had just been a horrible idea, as I'd feared.

 However, it turned out I didn't have to worry. My opponent's clock ticked down and down, first below 30 minutes, then below 20, then 10, then 5, 4, 3, until finally...

 As I marked the result (specifically marked as 1F-0F to show that he didn't show up and therefore I don't gain rating) I couldn't help but feel a little cheated. I hadn't played a classical game in two months, and my opponent didn't even show up. However, I was also relieved that I wouldn't have to face an underrated 1750 (so I concluded that I was mostly relieved), and I could look forward to being paired up in round two.

 I later found out that my opponent had been extremely sick, and couldn't make it. Hopefully he had a quick recovery.

Round 2: Quite The Boring Game

 I was relieved to (technically) avoid an upset in round 1, which meant I would be able to play a slightly higher-rated opponent. I ended up being paired with a local player rated around 2125, who I'd strangely never played, although I'd seen his name pop up a bunch at tournaments. He's evidently a strong player, having maintained an expert rating for over 10 years and peaking in the high 2100's. Since this was my first game back in a few months, I decided to adopt a more solid, risk-free strategy, which to some extent I maintained throughout the tournament. And (spoiler alert) this led to quite the boring game indeed.

I suppose trading those bishops so early isn't the best idea if one wants to play for a win. However, I was content with drawing a slightly stronger player and picking up a few rating points, especially considering it was my first game back. My opponent and I discussed the game and concluded that taking on d4 essentially leads to a draw, as the queenside pawn storm is the only thing that Black can try, but it isn't particularly hard to stop.

 Anyways, I had thought I had made plans with my friend to go out to lunch (there were 30 extra minutes between rounds 2 and 3 for that very purpose) but apparently, chess players aren't the best at communicating with each other, unless it's using the chat feature on chess.com, or using some cryptic messaging system disguised as algebraic notation. After waiting for about an hour to see if he would hold a draw I his game (which he did), I ended up not having a lot of time to get lunch, and he had packed his own.

 Luckily, there was a Domino's Pizza only a block away. I quickly ordered a pepperoni and a Fanta, forgetting that drinking soda is absolutely terrible for focusing during a game. I sat down at my board with a mild stomachache from the pizza (I had to wolf it down since I didn't have a lot of time) as well as feeling extremely hyperactive from the soda. Not a good omen for the game...

Round 3: A Boring Game Suddenly Gets Intense

 As it turns out, I was paired against my friend's opponent from the previous game (we actually swapped opponents!) I'd played this guy many times before, and he has a tendency to intentionally go for equal endgames and play them out forever until he can grind out a win. Frankly, this strategy usually works against me, since I'm a poor endgame player, and get nervous when I think the draw is in sight. This game followed our usual trend (being a draw until I throw), but then things got a bit weird...

 (Note: for those who spared themselves the pain of reading my pitiful annotations, I proceeded to, from this position, hang my knight, then hang my queen on the next move, and then resign. Frankly, if you've seen me play blitz, it wasn't that unpredictable.)

 The worst part of this game wasn't that I lost, so much as that it went long enough that I barely had any time to rest before the next round. I once again briefly discussed the game with my opponent, who correctIy identified (I somehow hadn't even realized this) that I lost equality when I put my knight offsides by capturing on a3. I felt somewhat like a zombie at this point in the tournament, but the show must go on...

Round 4: Absolutely Brilliant Endgame Play

 I was paired against one of the Arlington Chess Club's regulars on their Friday night Ladder. I'd previously played him once before (several years ago, but I was still an expert because I'm not a prodigy and didn't improve quickly) on that ladder, where I quickly gained a huge advantage as Black in a Closed Sicilian but couldn't manage more than a half point. I was itching for a chance to take revenge, but like it had in the last game, would history repeat itself once again?

 Wow. Just wow.

 Credit to my opponent of course for showing his resilience yet again, and thank god I ended up winning or else you likely wouldn't be reading a blog about this tournament. The funniest thing about that game was the fact that I consciously thought to myself "maybe I'm not rusty" when he blundered that pawn in the opening, and then I proceeded to mess the position up so badly that it was actually complete draw at one point. I don't know if my opponent and I spoke after the game. I wouldn't have known what to say. It almost felt as if I owed him an apology for dragging the game out so long. Or should I have congratulate him on making the game ten times harder than it needed to be (to be fair, I'm the one who should be getting credit for that, not him)? I didn't know.

 Anyways, when all was said and done, I emerged with 2.5 points out of 4 rounds, and a chance to qualify for money in the final game (there was an Under 2100 class prize). Unfortunately, I've played the fifth round of these action tournaments several times and...

 I believe I've played in six (I may be forgetting one) action tournaments with Arlington Chess Club. And out of those tournaments, I've lost every single final round game I've played, except for a game against someone 300 points lower than me, in which I somehow swindled a draw out of a dead losing position.

 You may ask me why I don't just take a half point bye for the final round of these tournaments, considering I've already played four games in one day (well not today because of the forfeit, but I typically would have). And to that I say...

Round 5: "I'm Tired, Can I Go Home Now?"

 Strangely, I found myself paired with an opponent around my rating range (maybe 15 points lower?) Interestingly enough, he's the only player who I've played e4 against post-COVID, and well, let's just say there's a reason I haven't played e4 over the board since. Since that unfortunate match in 2023, I'd been itching to get my revenge, which I did quite cinematically with a crucial win over him to secure a playoff spot for my team in our local chess league last year. If those two games represent my growth as a chess player, this game represents the fact that I'm now a washed college student who frankly didn't have it in him to care at that point in time.

 Yeah, it was another one of those boring "neither side ever got much" type of games. At least this one was the last round, so it's slightly more excusable.

 Our postmortem consisted of my opponent trying to convince me that he never had an advantage (of course, he had two minutes left and taking the draw was the practical choice, but  simply based on the board position, he was definitely pressing) and me trying to convince him that I never had any g5-g4 ideas that worked. As it turned out, we were both wrong. He, I, and a FIDE master who came in second in the tournament, analyzed the game over the board without an engine, and while we didn't come to any real conclusions, that just added to the fun and perhaps even the learning experience.

 But as it turned out, there was one more surprise in store for me...

An Unexpected Surprise

At first, when Tournament Director Adam Chrisney called me over to his desk, I assumed I was in trouble. I got flashbacks to being sent to the principal's office in first grade... however, as it turned out, I'd actually won money!

 Okay, it wasn't the largest amount of cash. (I think it was around 19 dollars, if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember exactly, since I was given it in cash as opposed to by a check). But that didn't matter to me. To me, it simply represented that against all odds, coming off a terrible Fall (pun intended, of course) and a two month break, I'd managed to do what had previously seemed impossible: have a mediocre tournament.

Conclusion

Ah, so here we are at the end. I suppose I could use this section to complain about the fact that had I found a single move in my last major tournament over Winter Break I could've been 2100, but missed it and ended up at 2059, or that if I had done a bit better during my college tournaments I could've gone to the U.S. Masters in Charlotte over Thanksgiving (which requires a 2100 rating), but I won't. What I will say is that during this tournament, I spent time talking to chess players, about life, college, and just being nerds together about the beautiful Game of 64 Squares. And that made me realize... I missed this community. And maybe, it's time to make one last push for that National Master title. For Danya, of course, but also for everyone in chess who ever believed in me.

 Oh yeah, and one more thing, the reason drinking soda is bad before a game is because the body breaks it down into glucose, which is then distributed to cells by insulin, and then cells can use that to generate power, which causes hyperactivity, and stupid decisions like how I blundered my queen in round three.

 Bye.