This weekend I played a tournament in Santa Clara. I don't know how it got "Warfare" in the name of the tournament. There wasn't fighting, although there were some nasty soccer ball incidents. Anyways, I played the 3-day Open for the slower time control. In my first game, I played Julian Lin from UCLA. I played an opening I was supposed to know, but we ended up in a position that neither of us knew. I slowly outplayed him for a quick victory.
In the second round, I played Siddarth Banik. Recently, I haven't had a good streak against him. In the last 9 months, I had 0 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. This was the second draw recently. We played the same opening as the last game, but I made an improvement. I was probably slightly better so I went for the win. Unfortunately, after his next move, he offered a draw. When I calculated the line that I thought was winning, I found an improvement for him. I thought for a while about other possibilities, but I couldn't find them. I was slightly worse so I accepted the draw.
In the third round, I had Udit Iyengar. Last time, I let him escape with a draw. Not this time! I got a great position out of the opening and slowly squeezed his position before trading into a pawn-up endgame. No mercy! :)
My fourth round was against Karim Saeda. I had never heard of him before so I think he is new to the Bay Area. I got a better position, but I blundered and had to give up an exchange. I was still equal, but then he messed up and I was winning. However, Karim kept playing even though he was completely lost so the game went past ten.
The fifth game was against the then tournament leader, Ricardo de Guzman. I messed up the opening really badly and was in a worse opposite colored bishop and rook endgame. I had a lot of drawing chances, but I just wasn't focused in this game. I lost eventually.
I needed to rebound with a strong final game to gain points. I had Michael Wang with the black pieces. He has been amazing in the past couple months. I think he gained 100 points to get up to 2276 before this game. We got an extremely complex position and both of us got into time trouble. Eventually he won a exchange for a pawn, but I had lots of compensation and was able to get it back. We went into an almost dead drawn opposite colored bishop endgame. I got chances, but with best play, it should have been a draw. I got really lucky as he blundered.
I finished the tournament with 4.5/6 and I tied for second. It was a good tournament as I exceeded my preset goal of 4/6. My mom, however, was not too thrilled about driving to the tournament hall eight times a day. She charged me forty dollars for a chauffuer fee, but reduced it by thirty dollars since I beat my goal. ;) I gained twenty points so now I am at 2292, eight points from 2300!
In the second round, I played Siddarth Banik. Recently, I haven't had a good streak against him. In the last 9 months, I had 0 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. This was the second draw recently. We played the same opening as the last game, but I made an improvement. I was probably slightly better so I went for the win. Unfortunately, after his next move, he offered a draw. When I calculated the line that I thought was winning, I found an improvement for him. I thought for a while about other possibilities, but I couldn't find them. I was slightly worse so I accepted the draw.
In the third round, I had Udit Iyengar. Last time, I let him escape with a draw. Not this time! I got a great position out of the opening and slowly squeezed his position before trading into a pawn-up endgame. No mercy! :)
My fourth round was against Karim Saeda. I had never heard of him before so I think he is new to the Bay Area. I got a better position, but I blundered and had to give up an exchange. I was still equal, but then he messed up and I was winning. However, Karim kept playing even though he was completely lost so the game went past ten.
The fifth game was against the then tournament leader, Ricardo de Guzman. I messed up the opening really badly and was in a worse opposite colored bishop and rook endgame. I had a lot of drawing chances, but I just wasn't focused in this game. I lost eventually.
I needed to rebound with a strong final game to gain points. I had Michael Wang with the black pieces. He has been amazing in the past couple months. I think he gained 100 points to get up to 2276 before this game. We got an extremely complex position and both of us got into time trouble. Eventually he won a exchange for a pawn, but I had lots of compensation and was able to get it back. We went into an almost dead drawn opposite colored bishop endgame. I got chances, but with best play, it should have been a draw. I got really lucky as he blundered.
I finished the tournament with 4.5/6 and I tied for second. It was a good tournament as I exceeded my preset goal of 4/6. My mom, however, was not too thrilled about driving to the tournament hall eight times a day. She charged me forty dollars for a chauffuer fee, but reduced it by thirty dollars since I beat my goal. ;) I gained twenty points so now I am at 2292, eight points from 2300!
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