That Undefeated Feeling!

This is my recap of the fifth and final day of the Grand Prix at the Ramada Hotel tournament that I have been participating in. This tournament is hosted by the Boca Raton Chess Club (owned and operated by Jon Haskel) in Florida. 

Since it is a Grand Prix, there are 5 total tournaments played over the course of half a year. On the first day of the tournament, I played very well and finished 3rd place with a score of 4/5 (I got a trophy for that!) A month later, on the second day, I didn't play as well and finished 14th with a score of 2.5/5. Then, on the third day, which I recapped in a blog, I bounced back and placed 4th with a score of 4/5 and got another trophy. And finally, as I recapped in the previous blog, on the fourth day, I placed 5th with a score of 3.5/5 and got yet another trophy. Heading into day 5, the final day of the Grand Prix, I was feeling a lot more nervous than usual. I had ferociously prepared the night before the tournament out of fear, which I don't normally do. It was odd. Thankfully, I soon found out that I needn't have been so worried.

ADDITIONAL TOURNAMENTS DETAILS

- Our time control is 25 minutes with a 5-second delay 

- I play in the K-8 Scholastic Section

- There are 5 rounds, all in one day

Okay, let's be honest: I do this intro in every blog recap that I make. It's probably getting old by now. Let's just hop into the recap.

ROUND 1

My opponent for the first round attends a small school that is literally dedicated solely to chess, so that was slightly intimidating. He was rated 501, but I've learned in these tournaments that rating is just a number. Thankfully, I managed to hold him off and pulled out the W. See here:

My brain typically isn't awake in the first round, so this was a big win for me, although the game went a bit longer than I would have liked. But whatever. Life goes on.

ROUND 2

The second round was here before I knew it and I was paired with a kid who I had played last tournament. He was rated 458 last time and had actually outplayed me in the opening, so I wasn't surprised to see that this time around he was rated over 600. In our game against each other last tournament, he crumbled quickly in the middlegame and I won, but I was still pretty afraid to be playing him as early as round 2 in this tournament. Luckily for me, though, just like last time, in the middlegame he kind of rushed and hung some easy tactics. Here is the full game:

I played at 95% accuracy in that game, which I believe is my highest-ever OTB accuracy. I also finally had some time to chill in between rounds. Since I'm a thinker, I rarely ever have time to rest my brain while others finish their games, but this game was over fairly quickly and I could finally just sit still outside and listen to the wind. It was actually relaxing and helped me prepare mentally for the next round.

ROUND 3

I had never seen my next opponent at these tournaments before, but his rating was around 800, so judging by his rating (although that's never a good idea) he's pretty strong. 

There was a minor conflict before the game began because he was using a phone to notate the game. Although a lot of people do that, I have been really paranoid about cheating recently because of what went down at the Florida State Championships this past year in Orlando. I (sadly) wasn't there, but many of these kids were there, so I no longer trust any of them. Anyway, the conflict was resolved quickly. I just made him place his phone at an angle at which I could see the screen perfectly to make sure that he was not using Stockfish lines or anything. I don't think he was cheating, though, (or at least not against me) because I prevailed in our game. See here:

We both stood up and agreed that that was a great game. I thought so as well, but mostly just because I won. When I checked the leaderboard after the game, I realized that I was in first place for the first time in my history of chess tournaments! Obviously, there were still 2 rounds left, but my name nevertheless looked beautiful at the top of the list.

ROUND 4

Since I was in first place heading into this round, I was paired against second place, whose score was also 3/3 at the time. I had been sitting at the board directly next to hers in the previous round and had watched her absolutely dismantle a kid's position by first taking some pawns, then a knight, and then a queen. Her opponent's face was as red as a tomato when he stood up after the game. So that episode made this pairing seem not too promising for me. However, I managed to save a draw in a tough endgame. Check it out:

One round left and since I drew with second, I was still in first place!

ROUND 5

Cue the dramatic sound effects. They say that round 3 is the most important in a tournament like this, but I disagree. Round 5 is when you really have to channel your inner clutch time, especially when you are in first place heading in.

I raged inside when I saw my awful pairing. I was playing one of the strongest players in the event as black. I couldn't believe my misfortune! Black two rounds in a row and this round against a 1200. But then, in a seemingly drawn endgame, my opponent made a fatal mistake and I was able to break through! Here is the full game:

I played at 92% accuracy over the span of 72 moves. I was about ready to jump out of my skin in happiness and celebration after playing that critical b4 move, but I managed to hold my breath, praying for no stalemate, and it all worked out! 

AFTERWARDS

I found out that the girl in second place who I had faced in round 4 had also lost her game in the final round, which meant that I was likely going to finish first in the tournament and not even on tiebreaks! Unreal!

My overall success in this Grand Prix continued and I did end up finishing first place for the day and even captured second place overall (out of the 5 days) in the Grand Prix. Hooray!

The only minor bummer was that I had prepared some lines for white in the Sicilian and the Caro-Kann that I never got to use, but that's OK. We got the win!

Well, this brings us to the end of my recap blogs for this Grand Prix, but don't worry. There will be many more recap blogs of OTB tournaments -- and you can quote me on that!

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Cya next time!