AN UNBEATEN RUN! (PART 1)
Hello, Hola and Namaste to all!
Its been months since my last blog, unfortunately, was occupied in some other things so I couldn't blog more often. Here I'll take you through one of my best tournaments of all time that is the SILVER LAKE OPEN in SERBIA. As the name itself will suggest to you that the tournament was an unbeaten run for me however, it wasn't a walk in the park.
I was seeded 73 out of the 116 participants. The tournament was filled with a number of Grandmasters from different countries. It was my first outing outside India, so I was really looking forward to the tournaments.
The journey for this tournament itself was a topsy turvy one. As per the plans we were supposed to reach Silver lake (Serbia) a day before the start of the tournament. But unfortunately, we missed our connecting flight from Dubai to Belgrade. And that meant we had to spend an entire day in Dubai and catch the flight the next morning. As per the new plans, we boarded the flight the next morning and reached Belgarde on the same day as of the tournament. From where we had to head for the Silver lake (Veliko Gradiste)
The round was supposed to commence at around 5 PM and we reached there around 440! I got to know my opponent after reaching the venue, as prior to that I had no clue and obviously was not in a situation to prepare.
ROUND 1
In the first round, I was paired against a young Fide Master from Russia, Avalyan Artur. He was rated 2385. I felt this was a great opportunity to play natural chess, where you don't know anything about your opponent or about the lines he plays!
After a win in the first round, it meant that I was bound to face a stronger opponent in the 2nd round. I was facing a local guy, Rajkovic Mladen. He was rated 2360. As the round was on the next day I got enough time for some rest and to prepare against him.
A draw with black pieces against an opponent who is around 300 points higher than you is a good result. And with that draw, I was on 1.5/2.
ROUND 3
After a win in the 1st round and a draw in the 2nd round I faced an International Master from Serbia, Radlovacki Jovan, He was rated 2326 and was my first IM opponent in this tournament.
I felt this was one of my best games. I felt that I was never in trouble and executed the plans in a good way. At the end of 3 rounds, I was on 2.5 with 2 wins and 1 draw which is said to be a great start in such a strong tournament where I was the 73rd seed.
For all the Indian chess players, in the above-mentioned link, the round 3 game has been explained by a well-known chess player and a coach FM PAWAN DODEJA on his youtube channel.
Along with playing the game, I'm an avid traveler so I had to explore different parts of the small town. The place was no less than a heaven. A beautiful lake that was surrounded by the greeny mountains and a cold breeze. A perfect place indeed to play a tournament.
THE BEAUTIFUL SILVER LAKE!
I hope you enjoyed watching games and were awestruck with the beauty of the place. (Still, I am) This was the PART-1, I'll be covering the rest of the games in PART 2 and PART 3 respectively.
