Hello fellow readers. I have realized that I have not posted in a long time. I think my last Chess News update still thinks Vishy Anand is the World Champion! So its been almost a year. About a month ago, I made National Master. This is a title USCF (United States Chess Federation) has. The only higher ones are Life Master and Senior Master. Then, there are the FIDE titles, Fide Master, International Master, and Grandmaster. The last time I posted, it was January and now it is September. I had reached 2100 at that time, but I was not able to keep that status and I kept slipping below 2100. The reason was simple! I wasn't putting much time into chess because of school. I was much more focused on getting A's (and maybe A+'s) in Algebra 1 and 2. Anyway, I felt like I was getting better, but it was not significantly better. I meanwhile was watching many people in Minnesota gain up to 400 rating points! However, as my math finished, I had played one bad tournament. I dropped from 2091-2057 in one tournament! I had gotten 2.5/5 against 2 1900's, 1 1800, and 2 1700's. My last game against a 1700 was terrible. I had the draw clinched after struggling for the whole game, but then I blundered!
Now, I was in the dumps, but as my hard schoolwork started to come to an end, I felt hope. I got all my rating back in the next tournament (plus another 2 rating points!). It was a strong tournament with 1 Grandmaster, 1 FIDE Master, several National Masters, and many experts, like I was. Also, both the FIDE Master and one of the National Masters are both International Masters now. My start of the tournament was once again, an instant where I was close to playing the Grandmaster. On Round 1, a 1600 played the Grandmaster, while I beat an 1100. On round 2, I was about 1 person away from playing the Grandmaster, Mauricio Flores, who played board 2 for Chile at the Olympiad in Tromso, and instead played an unrated who got a provisional rating of 1800. I beat him when he blundered out of the opening. Next, I beat WIM Aura Salazar, rated 2190. It was an interesting game where I blundered a pawn in the opening, but used a small initiative to push towards a winning endgame. And then suddenly, I was tied for first with FM Sean Nagle, who wasn't just any FIDE Master, he was a really strong FM, and an expert, Zach Tverstol, who I had played many times before. I ended up losing my only loss of the event. These four games rounded up day 1 of the tournament. Day 2 I went undefeated beating a 2050 and a 1950. The 1950, Akshay Padmanabhan, recently moved to California. It was the last time I got a chance to play him before he left. These 5 wins put me in a tie for first place as GM Flores drew and lost a game.
Also, I played in a tournament for one game every Thursday night for a whole month. It was a strong tournament with half of the people being 2000's and the other half being 1800's. On round 1, I beat an 1800 with a nice tactic. Otherwise, the game was about equal. Due to half point byes, I was playing the top seed on round 2 itself. I was down a pawn the whole game, but got lucky at the end, when he dropped 2 pawns in time pressure, and then for dessert, his queen. On the following Thursday, I beat another expert in a very nice game that lasted 25 moves, mostly of my opening preparation. And next, I had to play Dan Voje. You have seen one of my games against him. I won that but we have an about equal record. I finally was able to pass him and get a better score against him by 1 game in August. Some of my losses against Dan are sad, such as me sacrificing material for no reason, blundering in a winning position, getting outplayed in a 5 hour game on a Wednesday night, and even a handful of draws. This game I was black. The game included many sacrifices.
Before this tournament was finished, I had played in a weekend event in Rochester, MN. There are a few different schedules. 2-Day Rochester is G/60 d5 for all 5 games, game 1 played on Friday night, the other 4 on the next day is the one I played in. 1-Day Rochester is G/30 d5 for the first 2 games and the next 3 at G/60 d5, and 2-Day Minneapolis, where you play round 1 in Minneapolis on Thursday night and the other 4 at Rochester all at G/60 d5. I was one of the 4 people who chose 2-Day Rochester (all four were experts, one was a master) and I was paired with Kushan Tyagi, who has jumped a 100 rating points in the last few months with his amazing performance at the Denker in Orlando. He had a slight advantage, but after pushing him into time pressure, I was in a better endgame, that I won happily. Next, I played a lower rated person who played at Minneapolis in round 1, but has gained 200 rating points since (wow, that is 500 in the last year!) where he messed up the move order in the opening and then lost quickly. On round 3, I played his brother. Sadly, I saw a tactic that was winning, looked at it for 20 minutes, decided it didn't work, and chose a drawish move and we drew the game. Next I drew to the guy who won the tournament, NM Jason Drake. I was probably worse the whole game, but in the final position, I agreed a draw in a winning game. Usually, I think about a draw offer, but psychologically, I have been struggling, and I can finally feel the light, I accept the offer. Oh well. I played badly, without a plan, on the last game and lost to the other NM. This gained me 8 rating points to gain me above 2100 at 2101. Little did I know I wouldn't drop below it in the tournament after it. The Thursday tournament pushed me to 2148.
Now, I started to go out of state. Last time I posted something, my FIDE was about 1700. I have increased it to 1800 after some of these events. Since I am under 18, I get to use the K value 40 to gain rating. I can gain 100 rating points in an okay tournament, and drop 150 in a terrible tournament. Yes! However, what we didn't know is that the whole tournament is not FIDE rated. Only the ones with the long time control were, so the part of the tournament I got 2/3 was not FIDE rated. Even though I gained rating with my 0.5/3 performance from my last 3 games in Los Angeles, it wasn't as much as it could have been. We made the same mistake in Chicago Class Championships. My 2/3 start was a lucky draw against IM Ricardo de Guzman, a draw to NM Nicky Korba, and a win against NM Takashi Kurusaki. Now, I was playing Michael Brown who is about 2400. I tried a Ruy Lopez, played passively, and the 2 bishops killed me. I was able to draw NM Venkat Iyer (who I am almost certain I have seen in Minnesota!) in a crazy game, where I decided to sacrifice the craziness with sacrificing the exchange and drew the game. My last lost to Allan Beilin. Sigh. This was a game where I was down a pawn with a Rook and Bishop vs Rook and Bishop opposite colored endgame. I probably had a draw, but did not see it and lost. Oh well, I still gained some rating to top it all of at 2162. When I came back to Minnesota for a few weeks, not much tournaments happened, so I didn't play any tournaments.
Now it is early July, and Part 1 will wrap up here. Part two will see me have more of a struggle as I get closer to 2200 and cant boost it up there. Part 1 of the Journey: 2057-2162
