Mis-sing Up In Improvers' Sunday Rapid Late
Hey there chessers!
Today I'm starting a new series where each week I go over my performance in the Improvers' club Sunday Rapid Late tournament. For those of you who don't know, the tournament is exclusive to people in the Improvers club and is decided into 2 rating sections: u1200 and 1200+. There are 4 rounds with the 10 | 2 time control. It usually lasts around an hour and a half.
Table of Contents
Ok, so picture this. Here I am with 7 minutes until the tournament begins, and I realize one thing: I don't know my Ruy Lopez theory!
Thankfully, I just pull up chessable and review all of the Ruy Lopez lines I've learned, which is like 4. By then, there's about 3 minutes left. So I calmly check into the chat and say that there's nothing like studying Ruy Lopez theory right before a tournament. Some people overreacted and said I shouldn't be telling people that, but I don't think prep is going to affect this tournament. Anyhow, I had a smile on my face and was ready for the match-ups, until I realized something with 5 seconds before the tournament starts: I don't know any of my other theory. I literally switched two openings yesterday. Ehh, who cares? Not like that's going to hurt me in Round 4... (PS this is called forshadowing).
Round 1: Mistaken
Game one of the tournament, I found myself paired with @NUCLEAR-STAR, with a rapid rating of 2065 at the time. With a rating so high, I didn't really expect to win, but I knew I had to give it my best shot! Also fun fact: they told me in the chat, "So you play the ruy lopez, hmm?". Looks like my opponent was paying attention after all! But nonetheless, I was playing as black. The perfect way to fight back!
Sadly, I was devastated to see my opponent started with d4! I have recently done an overhaul of most of my openings, and sadly d4 hadn't been a priority to take care of. So now I'm sitting here wondering what I should play. I've switched to a Queen's Indian and either a possible Nimzo or something else, but I don't know any theory! I decided to go with the Benko Gambit, which is a solid opening that I know better than any other option.
Not the best of my games, but I've had worse. I played a gambit where I had to fight, and I didn't fight back hard enough. I think trading the bishop on g7 really did it for me, I should have instead kept my pieces and kept my chances at fighting back. I had a few opportunities to equalize again but missed them. If I want to hit my goal of 2.5/4 I'll need to clean up my sloppy middlegame play.
Anybody reading the title should know what happens in this one. I get off to a good start against @HixGames2006, rated 1225. I'm always scared of these kinds of people because I know they're likely to play tough chess and probably draw or possibly beat me, causing my rating to drop and me to start tilting on more occasions than one.
Wow. Just wow. I definitely didn't deserve to win here. I should be 0/2 and down 12 elo, but no, I escape a rabbit hole against a 1200! Really just unbelievable. Maybe this can give me momentum to get a good game next round. We shall see.
Ah yes, the aforementioned misclick. My opponent opened up with the French, where I responded with my favorite: the Tarrasch. As a former French player, I always hated playing the Tarrasch, and it suits my style of play. While things started good against @Hudd3rs, they turned around with one click...
And now I'm devastated. 2.5/4 is now impossible, and it was so, so utterly close. I win that game and I'm just a draw away. But no, the game of chess is cruel. I should really start clicking instead of dragging. There's not much to be said here, I played a decent game of chess. Man, I really wish I had just seen that the knight was hanging and ended things right there. It's definitely going to take a toll on me this final round.
Before you begin- misremembered is a word. It means, "remember imperfectly or incorrectly". That describes this game perfectly.
In this final round, I was facing @cispasporca, rated 1279, a bit higher than my second opponent. At this point I'm 1/3 and even for elo on the day. I'm really anxious to get a win, and I'm playing as black. As they start with e4, I know things are about to get messy. I've just switched to playing the Sicilian, more specifically the O'Kelly. Like round 1, I probably should have gone with my better-prepared French. But I wouldn't learn any patterns from it that I would if I just went with it. Sadly, I didn't exactly remember my theory...
Well, that turned around fast. I'm glad I was able to spot Nb4 so easily, and not overreact and overthink everything. Need to brush up on theory, but other than that I played a pretty good game! Wasn't exactly deserving of this win either, but hey I'll take it I guess.
Well, 2/4 isn't terrible, but it's not great either. I finished 33rd after tiebreaks, and sure I didn't reach my goal, but I beat those I was supposed to and lost to those I should have, so not that bad of a showing for my first full Sunday Rapid.
Hopefully I'll do better next time. As long as each week I don't get worse I'll be fine. For next time, 2.5/4 will be the goal again.
Congrats to @TLK79 for winning, and @nijc2 and @Lois8008 for their podium finishes! Also shout out to @ThisisNotArnav for also going 4/4, but coming in 4th after tiebreaks.
Congrats to everybody who participated! To be honest, no matter how much I complain, it's pretty decent looking at how tough the Late field is compared to the Early. I was 2nd highest u1500, so I guess that's something to be proud of. No big wins though.
Thanks for reading everybody, I hope to see you one day in the tournament! It's a bunch of fun, you should really give it a shot!
Stay Witty!
