I'm Old And Washed

Welcome back to my blog! As I indicated last post, my tournament hiatus is over, and I intend to keep it that way... (for now). Last post, I had played two local tournaments, scoring a total of 5 wins, 0 losses, and 3 draws, and increasing my rating from 1732 to 1744. 

I was excited to play in the 2023 Texas State and Amateur Championship the following week. I was mainly excited to be playing with friends, the Baylor Chess Team. Some of us graduated, transferred schools, and are still at Baylor, however, it felt good to "bring the band back together." 

The tournament ran on a 4-day or 3-day schedule. If you opted for the 4-day schedule, you played one game on Friday night, then two games Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (which is Memorial Day). If you did three-day, the schedule was three games Saturday, then two Sunday and Monday. I couldn't really do 4-day schedule, because my friend who was driving me there did three day (yes, I can drive myself, but I chose not to ). However, I didn't want to play three games in a day, so I took a r1 bye. Lame? You be the judge of that.

So with my bye in round 1, I got to sleep in Saturday morning (I came to Dallas Friday night). Actually, not entirely true as once everyone in the house I was staying at woke up, my friend and I decided to get breakfast. Yummy. Then a few hours passed by, and in round 2, I was paired with Ishak Hossain (1214 USCF). The assumption is that I should win, but, it's dangerous to assume:

Ouch. Well... I lost to a 1200 to start the tournament I can make the "oh he was underrated" excuse all day, but ultimately, I outplayed him until 27. c6?? No guarantee that I win if I don't blunder, but it's much more likely.

So naturally, as I start at 0.5/2, I'm paired down again in round 3 vs. Harish Sivakumar (1402 USCF). Umm, let's try to win?

There we go... we get on the scoreboard! We're still a long way to go from "recovering" our tournament, but a win is a win! 

In round 4, I was paired vs Charles Davis (1600 USCF). The thoughts creeped in before the game. Oohh, an older guy at his floor! Easy dub. However, I was also scared, because a 1600 floor means he's been over 1800 in the past. Either way, very solid player.

Very meh game, but honestly, my opponent played very solidly. I was better about move 17, never nurtured it, and the game petered out to a draw.

Still can recover my tournament, but running out of opportunities. In round 6, I was paired vs Alexis Gaona (1524 USCF). The only info I had is that his rating was provisional. So... you never know what's going to happen? Boy was I in for a surprise.

Yeahhh. That was just ugly. I was defeated. Any hopes of completely recovering my tournament were over. I wanted to go home. I wanted to cry. I wanted to quit chess. I wanted to burn all of my chess books and set and even close my Chess.com account. Okay okay, not exactly that. But it was frustrating. It did start to dawn on me that I have not been under 1700 OTB since high school. Yes, that tournament was from when I was a junior in high school. I'm a college graduate now. I guess I'm old and washed. But we have two games to go, and if I go 2-0, maybe we stay above 1700 for another day? 

In round 6, I was paired vs Hiram Bodon (1396 USCF). He was having a rough tournament, just like myself. But that's a common pitfall... to think that your opponent is having a rough tournament, and not focusing on your own game. It's now or never I guess...

Well, what a game. Good thing I didn't put my foot off the gas and lose. With one more game to go, I was paired vs Tommy Li (1679 USCF). He had gained like over 100 points in the past month, so he's improving fast. Scary.

Well, that's a wrap. Even though we're losing rating, we still end on a winning record. 3 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw. I think the main lessons I learned from my two losses are to not play for glamour (aka, playing a move instantly which blunders), and to just be objective no matter what (cough colle game cough). I think the draw showed that I traded too much, and needed to maintain the tension in a better position. Even the wins showed me that they take work, and are not easy to come by.

Well, my rating is now lower than it has been for awhile. It just reflects my lack of practice. I haven't properly studied chess in months. But I want to play more. It's fun!

I did end up playing a local quad just a day ago as I'm writing. I could write a blog about it, but I'm not sure it's worthy. I'll think about it. I scored 2.5/3 vs 1936, 1565, and 1075. 

Also, I played a 22-round blitz tournament. The last time I played, I won with a dominating 21/22 score. This time, I scored 19.5/22. 18 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss. Not quite as dominating, but still good for clear 1st. And my USCF blitz rating is now over 1700! It feels good to play well... even if it's not slow chess! 

As for future tournament plans, I plan to play in a tournament the weekend of June 24th. I am leaning the Dallas Summer Open hosted by the Texas Chess Center. I also considered the Dallas FIDE Open, and Houston City Championship... so comment below to help me decide!

And before I go... I do apologize for the (somewhat) lack of effort into the analysis on some of the games. I hope I did a decent job portraying my thoughts and feelings throughout the tournament. That is my ultimate goal. Thank you all for reading, and see you for the next post!