Your 2018 Philadelphia Open Chess U2000 Champion

Hello chess world, this is your 2018 Philadelphia open U2000 chess champion Matt Martello. We have just put Philadelphia, PA, USA on the chess map!!! It has been about three weeks ago that I went on my championship run and I still have that amazing, powerful feeling. The last three weeks have been very busy for me: analyzing and writing up my games, doing my jobs, and interviewing for other jobs as well. What the game of chess have done to my life. It made me enjoy different perspectives of life. It has made me think outside the box. It has helped me grow intellectually. It helped me form bonds with amazing people from around the country and even the world. Before this tournament, my last big money tournament try was the 2017 World Open U2000 section in Philadelphia. I didn’t have a good performance there. I was still in the transition of learning all of these Sicilian defense variations as white. And I was also partially unemployed/unemployed (depending on number of hours per week I got from chess coaching). I was getting coaching from my coach NM Peter Minear. The job searching world was hard (and still is hard) for me. I was getting job rejection after job rejection and I was not getting any jobs and been partially unemployed/unemployed from January 2017 to November 2017. I was even thinking about giving up on trying to get back into Corporate America just like how Nick Foles thought about retiring from the NFL. Then I finally got an job (an underemployment job by my status) in December 2017 with Commonwealth of PA in Norristown, PA. That’s when it started to change mentally. I have been improving and I continued to improve on my chess game. From April 2017 (when I competed in the 2017 Philadelphia Open U2200 Section) to approaching the 2018 Philadelphia Open, I was making huge leaps and bounds in my chess game while I was fighting being partially unemployed/unemployed. I had and I been having a “Nick Foles” -like story during this time and during my whole life. During the time that I was partially unemployed/unemployed, these were the lowest points of my Corporate America life just like how Nick Foles was during his lowest points during his NFL career with the St. Louis Rams. But I also had some very high points like Nick Foles did as well. I started to get a few more students, I started to get more jobs, people were showing more interest in me, and I went on an amazing performance to win the 2018 Philadelphia Open Chess U2000 Section just like the same way Nick Foles was re-gaining more interest in the NFL and he had an amazing playoff performance and he eventually won the 2018 Super Bowl Championship. With my autism and my other weaknesses compared to Nick Foles non-mobility and other weaknesses, we both defined all odds to win our respective championships. We are both “Cinderella Men” in our own right. From all of those lessons from my coach NM Peter Minear to learning from my losses in both the 2017 Philadelphia Open and 2017 World Open to studying chess with 5-minute and 3-minute blitz on chess.com to competing in this very unique Philly Underground tournament called “Street Kings Tournament”, these are the biggest factors that prepared me to go on my amazing 2018 Philly Open Championship run. When I was training with Peter Minear, his teachings were getting easier and easier to understand. When I was playing 5-minute and 3-minute blitz, things started to click for me. When I entered the Street Kings Tournament, which is sponsored by the Philadelphia International Chess Syndicate, I was introduced to a lot of different situations and I learned how to react to them, whether it’s people being late, changing locations in an instance, or even trying to set up board/pieces/clock in a uncomfortable setting. These were the main things that prepared me for the amazing 2018 Philly Open Championship run!!! And when I was in the 2018 Philly Open, it was like a “cake-walk” for me. After playing in the Street Kings Tournament with unique circumstances, having a set time, schedule, and location made the 2018 Philly Open a “cake-walk” for me. During that tournament, I had a lot of highs, some stressful moments, and only one low. My only low came from the third round, where I lost a very tough battle to another strong high 1900 player. But that wasn’t a bad loss. I played him tough and I battled him to the wire. And then my biggest high came from the seventh round, the championship round of the tournament, where I beat the current leader (5.5 points at the time) and captured the 2018 Philadelphia Open U2000 championship crown!!! And this put Philadelphia, PA on the chess map!!! The beginning of this championship game had a few lows, but I didn’t get down on myself and I kept fighting. Then by not giving up, I was able to create some amazing magic where I turned the momentum of the game around and I started to get a lot of high moments during the game. Then the finishing blows was when I took his rook for free and I successful stopped all of his counterplay. At that point, he had no chance of winning!!! And therefore I became the co-champion of the 2018 Philadelphia Open U2000 Section!!! The other championship was Nicole Zlotchevsky from New York City, New York (FYI, I was suppose to play her last round, but because the directors messed up the pairings, they re-paired us against different opponents). And after our respective championships, Nicole and I formed an alliance where we would become Mixed Doubles partners in future tournament. And that was such an honorable moment where she offered me to become her Mixed Doubles partner!!! The next tournament that we are going to compete in is the 2018 World Open in Philadelphia, PA. All of you Mixed Double teams better watch out for us because we are going to make some noise in the World Open!!! And I will post and blog all of my games of the 2018 Philadelphia Open soon.

P.S. For any of you strong Philly players or so-called strong Philly players out there, I encourage you to join the 8th Street Kings Tournament, which will start after the 2018 World Open. If you want more info, I will can get you in contact with director of Philadelphia International Chess Syndicate Keithrollin Thompson.

Best, Matt the Champion