Chess Is Heartbreaking - Pan Ams Day 2

Welcome to my blog! In case you're new, I participated in the 2023 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championship, where my college team (Baylor) gets to play other schools around the nation. The post is designed not only to go through the games, but go through my experience in a team environment thousands of miles away. 

Alright... so where did we leave off? Right. Baylor lost to Arizona State University 3-1 in round one. That was the first and only round of that day. We spent the rest of the evening congregating in one of our hotel rooms, ordering pizza, going over games, making fun of each other, then going to bed. Very eventful.

I woke up sometime in the morning, and my teammate and I who roomed together walked to a nearby McDonald's for breakfast. I think he got burritos or something. I got an iced coffee despite it being like 30 degrees outside 🥶 Nonetheless, we eventually saw the pairings for round 2. Baylor was paired vs University of Toronto's B-team. So I was paired individually with their board 1, Matthew Shih (2105 USCF). 

As the diligent team we are, we all tried to prep for our opponents. I didn't get anything from him except like one game he had where he played Nf3. Very helpful. I also saw according to his USChess profile, this is his first tournament in 7.5 years. So yes... he's probably rusty... but no... we can't underestimate him.

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On to my masterful endgame technique! 🤓

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That was painful. I wanted to cry. 😢 Well, actually not... I'm thankful to have great teammates who don't throw you under the bus. I just felt bad because I had maybe 2-4 teammates watch the very end and saw me clown that winning position. 🤡

But mockery, and self-depreciation aside, I thought there was a lot to take away from the game:

• This was a game where opening preparation helped me A LOT. I was worried about that 7. c5 line going into the tournament, and I studied it beforehand. It was refreshing knowing that after 13... Qc8, I'm doing completely fine.
• I did miss some tactics (21... Rb1, 26... Nxf2, etc). And being relatively inactive from tournaments will contribute to that. However, my opponent was also rusty, so it kinda balanced out? 
• I was proud of how I shredded his Kingside open with 27... f5. Though, I will credit my opponent, he defended very very well, made me panic, and give my piece back.
• The endgame was winning, and I though the technique was fine... but... that one move...  

Well, that is about it. Apparently, the game was the last game going, and the game before was two GMs trying to decide if R+N vs R is winning... so I officially had the honor of "holding up" the tournament We had a nice lunch, and prepared for round three. Round three was that same day, but I decided to save it for the next post, as this game was loaded.

Thank you so much for reading... and stay tuned for my next post! Uhhh... bye!