Republic Cup 2025 – A Hard-Fought Battle!

The Republic Cup 2025 was an intense tournament where the top 3 players would qualify for the 2025 Masters Finals (a step towards the Samarkand Olympiad 2026).
I finished 7th out of 64 players, scoring 4.5/6 and gaining 27 Elo (1684+27= 1711).

Tournament Highlights:
Round 3: Won a nice attacking game vs a Candidate Master (CM) in the Dragon. Fun fact: My opponent played GM Wesley So in the 2006 Chess Olympiad!
Round 5: Won a solid game vs the Petroff Defense.
Missed Opportunities:
Round 4: Missed a tactic—Instead of 19...e6, 19...Rxd5! followed by Bb7 would have won a piece.

Round 6 (Heartbreak!): I faced the top seed (2037 Elo) with Black. Despite being out of book since move 5, I outplayed him and reached a winning position. But on move 31, I blundered (31...Kc7?) instead of 31...e3!, which would have led to a winning rook endgame.

I was also tired, having played a long morning game with just 5 minutes before the last round—thankfully, I had a Snickers bar!

Key Lesson: Endgames still need serious work! In Round 5, a stronger endgame technique would have won in 2h instead of 3h.
On the bright side, I regained 1700+ Elo and was top 3 until the last round.
The grind continues! Another qualifier in June—the last chance for Masters 2025. We go again!

Check out my games: https://lichess.org/study/NgY0eKVs/3OF8acuy

"A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again." – Proverbs 24:16