Road To Master - No Struggle, No Success
Hi everyone, welcome to my 6th blog post! Volume 6 of the Road To Master Series.
Last month during October 7th to the 9th I competed in the 2022 Mississauga Fall Championship! Once again I was in the top section instead of the U2100 section, this will probably be a regular thing going forward. Going into this tournament I was 2077 CFC rated and 1858 FIDE rated - my goal was to try and score a second norm for National Master. I was one of the lower rated players in the section so I was ready to try and take some rating points as well. It was a 5 round swiss, time control was 90+30, and it was CFC (Canadian National Rating) and FIDE rated. All ratings displayed in the games will be CFC rated, but I'll always include my opponent's FIDE ratings in the little description beforehand.
Round 1: No Easy Pairings
My first round opponent was Fide Master Allan Munro who was 2156 CFC rated and 1974 FIDE rated. I had the White pieces. I was debating whether or not to play my new repertoire (mentioned a couple times in previous blogs) I've been working on for a few months now, but I decided it wasn't the right time.
Not a bad start! I struggled a bit in the transition between the opening and middlegame but I'm not kicking myself too hard since this was just a temporary opening. Onto the next round!
Round 2: The New Repertoire
This round I was paired against International Master Mark Plotkin who was 2517 CFC rated and 2358 FIDE rated. I had the Black pieces and was fully expecting a Jobava London heading into the game - little did I know I was in for a surprise.
A disappointing result but definitely a great learning experience. I held my own, played good chess, had good winning chances, I can't be too upset with the game. I also released an opening in my new repertoire - I would say it was a success.
Round 3: Dynamic Chess
Since I lost the previous round to Mark, I decided to go back to my roots and play dynamic chess to fight for a win. My opponent was Henry Liu who was 2182 CFC rated and 1916 FIDE rated, I had the Black pieces.
Unfortunately another loss, now I was 1/3. I got outplayed in the middlegame and threw a drawn endgame with just a couple moves. There is no excuse for bad play, I just have to go back to the drawing board and improve for next time.
Round 4: New Day, New Beginning
I hoped I would sleep off the bad play from round 3 and turn it around this round. I had the White pieces against Eddie Xu who was 2035 CFC rated and 1983 FIDE rated. Once again I thought long and hard about whether or not it was the right time to release my new White repertoire, but I concluded it wasn't.
I managed to save myself from a dead lost position but couldn't win up an exchange. It just simply wasn't meant to be, it's in these moments where I have to learn how to manage my emotions better and play the board for what it is.
Round 5: The End
Final round of the tournament I was paired up against Vishruth Sharma. He was 2155 CFC rated and 1957 FIDE rated. I had the Black pieces.
Another loss which concludes the tournament - I finish 1.5/5. Even though I lost this one I found the endgame to be extremely fascinating, it wasn't a position you see every day. Definitely something to study in the near future.
Final Thoughts & Comments:
Obviously not my best tournament, in fact it's my worst one yet if we're just looking at score. I finished with a performance rating of 2049 and my CFC rating dropped from 2077 to 2069. Somehow I gained 0.4 points in FIDE rating, which keeps my rating at 1858. Lots to take away from this tournament, possibly the most important point being to manage my emotions over a loss better. A large part of chess is truly psychological, it's important to accept a loss and immediately focus on the next game. These are the lessons you learn on your journey to mastery I guess, there's no other way I would ask to learn them.
In terms of when my next blog will be, it'll be pretty soon. This tournament took place on the 7th to 9th of October, meanwhile I've also been playing in a 9-round round robin tournament that runs one round every Monday night. It's been going on since early September and will conclude at the end of November. I'll be making a blog on that shortly, along with another tournament I'm playing in a couple weeks that's located in Alberta. Thanks for reading, see you next time!
