Journey To NM - Lightning Strikes Back

Hello there, welcome to the Lightning Reports! Wow y’all, it’s been a minute since you’ve heard from me... heh, sorry. Last you heard from me, I mentioned I’d be playing in the 2024 Alabama State Chess Championship… and taking a break. And that is what happened. Excluding the state championship, I haven’t played otb since July. I was burnt out and very badly tilted after reaching my peak… it was time for a break to try to reset and get started on my comeback arc. Hopefully at least. So I do apologize for the long wait, I just… didn’t ever feel like writing all this out. But hey, better late than never?

Anywho. Yes, at the end of August and the start of September, I competed in the 2024 Alabama State Chess Championship. As some of you may recall, I was fortunate enough to become the 2023 state champion. So despite my horrendous summer tilt which prompted me to take a break from chess, I felt obligated to at least put forth some form of a title defense. Did I expect to win? Nah, coming off a 66-point tilt to win a second consecutive state championship felt unrealistic. But I have a shot, so I’ll work hard and bring my best prep… oh wait, apparently the legendary Stuart Rachels is unretiring from classical chess after 30 years off. He’s gonna play. Sure. Why not. Ok, that’s awesome but… yeah no forget working hard, pretty sure the 2600 is gonna win it. I’ll just play and have some fun with it, no need to stress myself out this time haha. But of course, I still have goals… I want 4/6 points, that feels like a decent score in a title defense. And I’d like to be 2100 again.

RACHELS RETURNS

The return of the legendary Stuart Rachels was the story of the tournament. I won't get into it too much as others have already talked about it and done a great job (and I don't have much to add). Stuart had not played a classical chess game in about 30 years, yet here he is. A 2600 in Alabama is a very rare sight I'll tell ya that. It definitely felt different from any state championship I’ve played in. I wasn't scared, if I got a chance to play him I intended to put up a fight (and lose lol). I knew he was likely gonna win the whole thing. Everyone knew. It was a huge shock to hear that he was going to play and it definitely changed how I approached the event. Anywho, if you want to hear more about his sudden return to otb chess (cause I think maybe he’s here to stay?), there’s a whole article about it on US Chess AND… perhaps even cooler… there is a video in which several strong Alabama players were interviewed and spoke about Stuart. Somehow I’m even in it for like 10 seconds. Feel free to check it out if you want. Twas very well done.

ROUND ONE

Alright. Here we go. My 2024 title defense… which I go into already knowing I’m giving up my title. But dang it I’m not going down without a fight. Rachels is practically a lock to win this thing but if I get to play him (ha, right, as if I’m not gonna lose to an 1800 and mess up any shot of playing him) I’m gonna give him a fight. Hopefully. But first I have to not lose to all the players here who want to steal more rating from me. First up is Cody Smith… not the most ideal matchup as he’s quite capable of giving me a game. I expected a solid Sicilian from him… what we got was far more exciting. 

Good grief. It felt crazier while playing. It’s easy to look at now and say aha of course I was always fine. Why would I have been worried?  Perspective is a funny thing huh...  I mean, that was definitely more of a struggle for me than it may look like… good foreshadowing for my remaining games…

ROUND TWO

Solid start, I’ll take it. Next up I am paired with NM Brent Inman. It's been a good while since I last faced Brent in a regular otb game. These days he’s closer to 2000 than 2100, but this is still a strong NM who I’ve never beaten in classical chess and can still play like an NM. I’d love to get a win here, but hey if I don’t win it’s perfectly understandable. In fact, even a draw should be viewed as an impressive result which you should all be proud of me for if that happens.

*casually makes excuses before the game*  heh just kidding. Anywho let’s see what happened…

Yeah. Yikes. Not my best game huh... I rushed just one move early on and was fighting for equality seemingly forever. Seemed like he simply was outplaying me… truthfully I’m fortunate he offered a draw, I’m not sure what would have happened due to my embarrassingly low time. So ya know what? I’ll happily take that draw. Good game and well played.

ROUND THREE

Alright, well, 1.5/2 wasn’t what I hoped for, but I haven’t lost yet. That’s ideal. What isn’t ideal is my next matchup… Sam Baskarraj, an 1800 who likes playing like an undercover master against anyone above 2000. Look, I like Sam, he’s a nice guy and all. But good grief I hate playing him. It’s scary, man. Anywho, Sam had actually defeated me quite badly in our last game… he has proven he can steal my rating. I absolutely want to avenge that dreadful loss. So... surely I’ll be playing my best chess here. Surely.

Heh, what an escape that was 😅

But… I shouldn’t have needed to escape. Yeah no I played horribly. Good grief what is wrong with me? My opening play was horrendous, and my blunder…. geez that was profoundly putrid. Fortunately, I tend to play like a grandmaster if I am down material and have less than a minute left while my opponent has around 50 minutes, so I lucked out this time. And yes, yes I did feel bad for swindling that game. I always feel bad winning like that… but I’ll take it. And I must admit, it was extremely exhilarating to blitz all of that out… I have less than a minute, he has 50 minutes… I’d say I hate getting into these time scrambles, but it really is quite the thrill. But also I hate this haha. After the game I legit had to go walk it off cause I was all shaky and in disbelief. That seemed to help. But my goodness I can’t keep doin this…

Also thanks a ton to Sam for sending me the rest of our game after the tournament! I had to stop notating around move 30 because... my time management is atrocious. 

ROUND FOUR

Alright, alright. Halfway through the event, I feel like I’ve played weak chess and am undeserving of my spot near the top of the standings…. And yet here I am with my 2.5/3 score. I figured my luck would run out eventually but hey I’ll enjoy it while I can. Anywho. My next opponent was oh so predictably Aaron Decord. There’s nobody I play more than him otb. The past few times I was paired against Aaron I felt very prepared. This time… I dunno, man. I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve for this one. I’m just gonna take it one move at a time, play good chess (ha that’s funny), and hope for the best. 

So here we have a state championship contender playing his best chess at the right time. Oh, and I was also participating in this game. Sheesh. Yeah, his Kf1 prep kinda threw me off and I couldn’t figure out all the right moves. He completely outplayed me and it was brutal. Great preparation by him, very well played. Guess my luck ran out, but at least I’ll get an easier game in the morning. A win here would have meant playing a master. Good thing losing means playing somebody lower rated than me!

ROUND FIVE

Alright, I’m 2.5/4 and coming off a loss. I should be playing someone around 2000… but ummm the pairings are messed up or something. It… it says I’m playing NM Scott Varagona. Nooo… this cannot be! Are you serious? How… did this happen… why am I being punished? Haha, I get demolished and my punishment is playing the 11-time Alabama State Champion. Sure, why not. However. Despite my discontent with the pairings… I do not lack confidence. This is the one game I can say I really am prepared for. I’ve been waiting seemingly forever for another chance to beat his Caro-kann line. I felt like I could get a good position out of the opening and push for the win. Yet at the same time… I know he’s better than me. I know I haven’t beaten him since April 2022, meanwhile, he’s beaten me 4 times since then. I know I have never managed to beat his Caro-Kann despite hours and hours of prep. But I’m ready to give it my best try. This is a big game… maybe this could be the breakthrough I need. Or maybe I’ll just lose again and I’ll be 2.5/5 going into the last round of my title defense. Anywho… let’s see what happened.

Heh, I'm sorry... I dunno how either... but let these swindles show all y'all why I often fight until the end. You never know what may happen...

Ok but really... how do I keep getting away with this? My time management is abysmal in every game. I make some stupid move in seemingly every game. And yet… for the second time this tournament, I took a lost position, with less than a minute on the clock compared to my opponent’s 50 minutes on the clock… and somehow, miraculously, stole the game in the end. I can’t explain this one, y’all. I thought hope was lost after my blunder. For the longest time, I couldn’t imagine a scenario where he let me back into the game. And yet, over the course of an hour, my practical chances kept goin up… eventually he blundered… and somehow I won? It was exhilarating in the end, I had no idea. This one may just be my greatest swindle yet. And of course, I felt bad, really I always do to some degree. At least in this one, at the time, I felt like I had mostly outplayed him until that mind-bogglingly atrocious blunder of mine. Even still… I got lucky, and I know it. I hope someday I can beat Scott in a well-played game, but I’ll absolutely take this. Now I only need 3 more wins and we’ll be even... also thanks a ton to Scott for allowing me to take a picture of his scoresheet so I could have the whole game, that was very much appreciated.

Also of note… if y’all thought that was a stunner, another game ended at nearly the same time as mine which was even more stunning… as it turned out, Aaron Decord managed to upset Stuart Rachels! And he did it whilst playing black. That puts Aaron in clear first heading into the last round… good for him, man. Glad to see he’s really broken through this year, well on his way to 2200. Click here to find their game (and some other games played on board 1 in this tournament).

ROUND SIX

Ok… last round. This tournament has been absolutely wild so far. I’m happy for it to end. As things stand, I will reach 2100 again as long as I don’t lose my last game. And I could reach my goal of 4/6. My final opponent turned out to be Sarash Santosh, who was rated 2143. Remarkable. He was only 1940 when I played him back in February. And… looking at his ratings now… he crossed 2200. So congrats to NM Saharsh Santosh (teach me your ways…), that’s awesome. But back to the past… I played him when he was 2140, and my mindset was… just play it safe. I’m ok just getting a draw and relaxing. I’m not playing good enough chess to beat a 2140 while playing black. So… I played it safe.

Yeah. Honestly, not a whole lot to say about that one. Very safe and solid game, neither of us gave the other any chances to play for the win. I was very pleased with this result as it means I will be above 2100 again. Woohoo. GGs. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well. I finished 4/6 and jumped my rating up to 2105. I can’t really complain much when I met my goals. Sure, I played poorly and I needed some ridiculous swindles to be 4/6 instead of 2/6… but it worked out alright for me in the end. Somehow. It’s kinda funny, I told some people that I felt like I had played better chess at the World Open in July (where I lost 22 points) than I did in this tournament… yet I gained rating points in this one. Sometimes chess doesn’t make sense. Best to just go with it. Keep moving forward.

I would like to congratulate Stuart Rachels who was crowned the 2024 Alabama State Champion with his 5/6 score. That’s right, somehow, the 2600 won. Also, I would like to congratulate Vishnusankar Jonnalagadda, who lost his first game but then quietly won his next 4… putting him on board 1 vs Aaron Decord in the last round. He played a great game against Aaron and got the win, meaning he actually tied for first place with Stuart (but he’s from Georgia so he can’t be crowned Alabama state champion). And of course… although he came up short in the last round (heh, been there, done that, a thousand times, I get it), Aaron Decord had a remarkable tournament, completely destroying me and then upsetting Stuart with black. He'll probably be the state champion soon enough.

Oh and, if I'm allowed to congratulate myself, I wanna say I did a good job not having multiple heart attacks in this tournament. Good grief 😅 But I will say, on a more serious note, I was very happy to finally stop the bleeding from my previous few tournaments. Had I withdrawn from the World Open after 2 games and then taken a break, I'd be 2169. But I played the games. And I kept playing. And I went from my peak... to 2091. I could have kept tilting... but I finally stopped the tilt. I got back over 2100. I have hope heading into 2025 that I can keep that momentum going. Lightning struck back... and I'm on my comeback arc now. Stay tuned.

THE "GOOD JOB, YOU MADE IT TO THE END" PART OF THE BLOG

Good job, you made it to the end. Regardless of how exactly you made it here, I'm proud of you. You did a good job. Thank you so much for reading, I truly hope you enjoyed your time here.

So… what’s next for me? Again, I’ve been on a bit of a chess break recently… but I can’t stay away forever. I intend to play... tomorrow, actually, as of this writing. And I intend to play early in February, so we'll see. I'll of course recap both events.

In all honesty though… I gotta tell y'all, I don’t know if I’m ever gonna reach NM. I like to be super positive about that with y’all, but I gotta be real here. My days of training and studying chess are numbered, I have to move forward with life soon. Heck, I dunno if I'll even play in any tournaments from May to November. So of course I hope to play as much as I can before then… but I can’t lie, my chances of NM are starting to look bleak. 2024 was supposed to be my year. And I was well on my way there. But then I tilted really badly. We’ll see how I do in my next few tournaments though, for all I know I could win a couple of them and be within 20 points of NM. Or I could just dip below 2100 again, Truly, I don’t know. Rest assured, I’m not giving up… the journey to NM is not ever yet. I struck back at state and am back over 2100. The comeback has begun... stay tuned. 

Thanks again for reading. I'll see y'all in the comments 🙃