Starting The Journey To GM With A Bang

Happy Holidays, everyone! Welcome back to another OTB journey blog post.

As many of you know, I concluded my Road to Master series earlier this year when I became a National Master in March. I needed some time off from the improvement journey since it had been two years of non-stop OTB, but I finally returned this past weekend to an over-the-board tournament. After a nine-month rest, this marks the start of my journey to go as far as I can with chess, and hopefully, GM will be the end destination.

From December 20th to the 22nd, I played in the Masters section of the Hart House Holidays Open (at the University of Toronto campus). To play in this Master section, you basically have to be master-level: 2200 CFC or 2000 FIDE. I came into this tournament as the 3rd lowest-rated player out of everyone signed up, with ratings of 2229 CFC and 2008 FIDE. Tough field! The tournament was a 5-round Swiss with a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Round 1: Returning With A Bang

My first-round opponent was Candidate Master Joshua Terry, and I'm not sure why they aren't displaying his CM title for some reason. Anyway, he is indeed a CM, and I had the White pieces against him.

A solid showing for my first game back! It was a little tactical in the opening, a little positional in the middlegame, had a little Magnus press going, and then ended with some fireworks. It was nice to get a win as the underdog. I was ready to show this section I could compete with them.

Round 2: Defying The Odds

This round, I was up against FIDE Master Sergey Noritsyn, who was the 4th highest-rated player coming into this event. I had the Black pieces; it was going to be a tough game.

A chaotic game that ended with a peaceful draw—nice. We both could have won that game in time pressure; very stressful game. Funny note: did you guys know that when claiming threefold repetition, it has to be the same color to move all three times that position has repeated? I tried to claim a threefold at some point in that rook endgame, but it was White to move twice and Black to move once in that specific position I was trying to claim. Crazy stuff, but good to know for next time.

Round 3: Complete Destruction

This round, I had the Black pieces (a double-black, so unfortunate) against Candidate Master Koosha Jaferian! I'm sure some of you know who he is on Chess.com. It was fun to play him; it was our first encounter in classical chess.

Honestly, just a bad game all around. It really showed my lack of understanding in these Alapin structures. I didn't have a chance in this game from start to finish. I will have to really work on my Alapin from the Black side so this doesn't happen again.

Round 4: No Easy Pairings

This is the Master section, so if you lose a game, it's not like you get an easier pairing. There are no easy pairings! This round, I finally had the White pieces against FIDE Master Michael Dougherty.

This was not an easy game at all; I probably should have even lost it. But this is a good example of when you feel like all hope is lost, you still have to fight on and try to find any resource you can. A win is a win, and we will take it!

Round 5: The Final Boss

This was the fifth and final round of the tournament. I was on 2.5/4 and got paired with International Master Jason Liang. Don't let Jason's 2396 FIDE rating fool you—he's had a bad run recently, but not so long ago he was 2500+ FIDE, and he currently has two GM norms. This was going to be the hardest game yet, especially since I had the Black pieces.

I will take a draw! Of course, I'm playing every game to win, but he didn't really give me any chances to create something. I was always under a tiny bit of pressure, so a draw is a fine result here. He was caught off guard with my opening surprise, but to be fair, most people probably haven't checked this rare Sicilian line.

Final Thoughts & Comments:

A pretty solid performance for the first tournament back in nine months, and hopefully, it only gets better from here.

Coming into this event as the 18th highest-rated player out of 20 and finishing in the upper half is great motivation to work even harder for the next one. This was my first time in the Master section, and I'm glad I was able to prove I belong. I'm currently looking at another tournament in February, but we'll have to see. I still plan on making more instructional blog posts like my last one, but I need some time to think up instructional points to share. The last thing I want to do is write something generic that's already been talked about 50 billion times.

I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday season, and may the New Year bring everyone many blessings. See you in the New Year!