Road To Master - The End?
Hi everyone, welcome to my 8th blog post! Volume 8 of the Road To Master Series and my final blog post of 2022.
From September 12th to November 21st I played in the Toronto Closed hosted by the Annex Chess Club. This tournament had a unique format, there was one round every Monday evening - that's why it took 11 weeks (a couple weeks were taken off for holidays) to finish all the rounds. The timeline is a little confusing since this tournament was going on while I was playing in other OTB events, my ratings were changing pretty regularly. The simple explanation is I was 2074 CFC rated and 1880 FIDE rated heading into this tournament. It was a 9 round closed round-robin so I knew who all my opponents were going to be in advance. 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 rating in the little description beforehand.
Round 1: A Slippery Start
I was excited about returning to OTB chess, this was my first game back since the Canadian Open back in July. My first round opponent was Eric Ning who was 2107 CFC rated and 1957 FIDE rated, I had the Black pieces. Since it was a closed round-robin I had time to prep - I tried something other than my King's Indian for once.
So that didn't work out. It definitely wasn't the openings fault, I was actually pretty happy with the resulting middlegame I got from it - I just didn't see the one-move tactic which cost me the game. Was it due to taking a break from OTB for a couple months? Poor Play? Who knows, all that matters is at the end of the day I made a blunder and lost the game.
Round 2: How To Beat The Grünfeld
My second round opponent was Ruth Vinuya who was 2014 CFC rated and 1807 FIDE rated, I had the White pieces. Since I lost the first game as Black, I wanted to make all my games with White count. I had a feeling she was going to play the Grünfeld Defence, I prepared a little something for her.
An intense game but an unfortunate result. My preparation was great in my opinion, I got a dominating position in the middlegame. Unfortunately I got too low on time and it became a bullet game! It was a real thriller, I remembered how fun chess could be.
Round 3: The Power of Preparation
My third round opponent was Victor Zheng who was 2139 CFC rated and 1806 FIDE rated. Upset with myself for the previous round, I prepped extremely deep to make sure I wouldn't get into time trouble again.
In prep until move 21, continuing to play the position really well once I was out of book - I couldn't ask for a better game. This definitely made up for the first two games, I was feeling more confident.
Round 4: Cracking The London
This round my opponent was Benjamin Fradkin who was 2033 CFC rated and 1861 FIDE rated, I had the White pieces. I was 1.5/3 hungry for another win. I saw in round two Benjamin played the Makogonov variation (5. h3) against the King's Indian, I spent most of my time prepping there. I did see a couple years ago he played some London Systems, I also briefly checked what to do there.
A tough game but I got away with a draw. I find I get into trouble vs the London System a lot, it's definitely something I have to investigate deeper. Objectively I was doing well but my lack of experience in the middlegames always come back to haunt me. Nevertheless I head into round 5 with a score of 2/4!
Round 5: Dominating
Round five I was facing Nicolae Oancea who was 2084 CFC rated and 1878 FIDE rated, I had the White pieces. This game was actually my first OTB game where I unleashed my new White repertoire, 1.e4. In my Previous Blog I played 1.e4 exclusively, but that happened after this game.
A dominant performance, I got a crushing position out of the opening and won the game from there. I did mess it up a little but we get the win anyhow. Heading into round 6 in 3rd place!
Round 6: Surviving A Weird Gambit
This round I was playing Merlin Nazareno who was 2009 CFC rated and 1816 FIDE rated, I had the Black pieces. I played Merlin back in the 2022 Ontario Open, he was my opponent in round six there as well! Funny coincidence. I did end up taking the victory in that one when he played a Budapest Gambit against my 1.d4 repertoire, I was looking to make my record 2 - 0 against him here.
A solid win, I survived his gambit and emerged a pawn up in the middlegame. Nothing too special about this game, I moved on to round 7 with a score of 4/6.
Round 7: Another Rematch
This round I was playing against NM David Southam who was 2110 CFC rated and 1879 FIDE rated. I also played David in the 2022 Ontario Open, we drew back then. I had the Black pieces in that game, this time I had the White side.
Another draw, a pretty solid game overall. I did miss an opportunity to sacrifice the exchange at one point in the game, but I just wasn't feeling ambitious enough to try it. I look forward to our next game, hopefully I can score a full point next time.
Round 8: When In Doubt, Make Chaos
With the end of the tournament approaching it was important I tried to make my last two games count. I was up against Richard Douglas who was 2017 CFC rated and 1458 FIDE rated, I had the Black pieces. Once again, you guessed it! I played Richard in the same Ontario Open I played Merlin and David in. The Ontario Open was also hosted by the Annex Chess Club, and I think all three of them are regular Annex members - it made sense they played both tournaments.
I got a worse position out of the opening, then proceeded to try and make things complicated. It was the right call, it seems I thrived in the complications while my opponent unfortunately did not.
Round 9: The End
The final round I was playing Eddie Xu who was 2035 CFC rated and 1983 FIDE rated. I did play Eddie before at the Fall Mississauga Championship, not the Ontario Open. Unfortunately I didn't have a great tournament when I played Eddie, I was pretty much dead lost in our previous game and deserved to lose. I was ready to redeem myself and try to play some good chess this time around.
Ending off the tournament with a draw, not too bad. Eddie's 1...e5 and Queen's Gambit Declined are extremely hard to crack, I was satisfied with this game. I did have some chances where I could've improved on my moves, unfortunately I just didn't have the experience in these positions to spot those key improvements.
Final Thoughts & Comments:
I finished Toronto Closed with 6/9, clear second place behind Eric my first round opponent. Eric steamrolled the competition going 7.5/9, big congratulations to him! I won $180 for second place which was pretty nice, I also gained some rating which now puts my ratings at 2131 CFC and 1930 FIDE. I did reach all the requirements for "National Candidate Master", a Canadian exclusive title - hence the thumbnail of this blog. This doesn't end my Road To Master series just yet, it won't end until I reach at least National Master.
This final thoughts & comments section isn't just for this blog, it sums up my whole 2022 OTB chess journey. I'm pretty happy with the ratings I've reached in my eight OTB tournaments so far, I look forward to continuing my road to master in 2023 and sharing the journey with all of you. Thanks for reading once again, see you in the next blog!
