MUFY Games

Nowadays I just do the free puzzle stuff in chess.com daily and call it a day, so don't be surprised by the "quality games" I played in this tournament.
The last tournament I joined is the 1st Charity Chess Championship 2024 which I don't have any games recorded, and there is a final exam in the next day......
The format for this tournament is quite special.
- 5 + 0 time control for all rounds
- there is only 30 participants (supposedly) but the actual attendance is slightly lower
- plenty of volunteers (arbiter but they are MUFY students), in fact it is possible that the number of volunteers are more than participants ;-;
- Round 1: play using your own phone/tablet/laptop, half round robin (where you face each person once only), colour decided using coin toss by volunteer, all participants divided into 2 groups, top two with most score advance to Round 2
- Round 2: Semi final, OTB this time, each
- Round 3: Final, 2 winner from Round 2 and the other two fight for bronze
Fun fact: they played some youtube musics like Bruno Mars and other pop music for the whole match in Round 1 lol. I am not sure is this happening for the other room too but anyway no one complain so I guess no one cares.

Round 1: Game 1

Round 1: Game 2
This is my opponent in semi final too, and the person who proceed to win bronze.

Round 1: Game 3

Round 1: Game 4

Round 1: Game 5

Round 1: Game 6

Round 1: Game 7

Round 1: Game 8

Yes, I crush him in chess, but in academics its another way round......

Round 1: Game 9
I thought this game will end up being drawn on 17. c4. He really did well until 33. Nd3?? where we both agree is the most obvious mistake he made. One of the potential semi finalist in my opinion.

Fun fact: I feel like he is an all-rounder as he is muscular, black belt in taekwondo and gonna pursue the stressful MBBS next time.

Round 1: Game 10

Fun fact: He is a brilliant and hard working person in academics, unlike me who love to procrastinate XD

Round 1: Game 11
He is another potential semi finalist in my opinion. No offense but I didn't even know Lim will end up scoring (10/11) and to become the semi finalist. I guess I have an advantage against Lim's opening knowledge while Soo (in game 9) and Leong (this game) manage to neutralize this advantage, with Leong almost drawing this game if not for timeout.

This position is drawn but I don't like my position honestly as it seems hard to hold it. I am not good at such endgame nowadays.

For Round 2 and Round 3, almost all helpers and some players are spectating this as we are playing in the middle of a classroom.

Round 2: Game 1
Unfortunately as it is OTB I didn't have any record but only some vague memory. In Game 1, it is a smooth sail where the c3 anti sicilian is played but I can't remember much besides this.

Round 2: Game 2
I am playing a worse position after 11. Rxh5 which I thought to be mate in 2 (and almost extend my handshake lol, I can't imagine how foolish that will look like but luckily it didn't happen) as I am simply bulleting without thinking for the whole tournament (move 14 is another solid prove), so I just try to keep the pieces on board to muddle the water.
*I think I remember every move correctly for this game.

Round 3: Game 1
My opponent is Daniel who I happen to know from my sem 1 ICT class. He loves to play 2048 or something else during lecture session although he is sitting in the first row lol. He played the c3 anti sicilian which I am surprised to see it twice in this tournament used against me. 11... bxc6 is one of the longest thinking by me in the whole tournament, stockfish say its +0.1 only but OTB I feel like I am losing slightly, and until writing this blog I notice I am up a knight with -3.6 eval in that position bruh ;-;. Maybe my brain getting super foggy at that time due to me having a runny nose and slept for < 5 hours (again due to the runny nose......).
This is the first game someone have such a similar time on the clock for the whole game, where I narrowly win by 4 seconds in a drawish-losing game
Its either me getting rusty and overrated or him being underrated for his rating (1656 blitz, 1884 rapid, 1662 bullet).

*Ignore the moves from move 20, only move 20 and move 28 is the main position I wanna focus on.
From move 20 I can't remember it, but the main idea is him trying to do Bb4 and pin my queen and king by trying to sac his rook for my bishop and have the queen waiting in Qa6 before sacrificing his rook(Rc6 to Rxd6) for my d6 bishop which almost happens. 22... Rb7 is not played in the game but I just want to show a similar position in the game, and later on we reach a position like in move 28 where his queen later manage to clean up my kingside pawn. After that, I missed his check and made an illegal move (for not moving the king away and instead trying to take his "hanging" rook), so you can know how rusty I am in OTB after playing online for so long. In the end we agree to add 3 sec for him as a compensation (no, its his idea, I won't dare to suggest that, I suggested 2 penalty = immediate lost). At last, he is leaving me with the e6 pawn, queen, rook, bishop, king while he retain his king and pawn structures exactly like that in move 28 that with some dangerous rook and queen check, which ultimately cause e6 pawn and all pieces and king stuck in the centre and I feel like I am gonna be checkmated unless I have more time to think. You can imagine how relieved I am when the arbiter says I win on time in such a position.

Round 3: Game 2
I forgot to mention that I prep him using openingtree (not an endorsement unless they wanna pay me :) ), where I found out he love to play Stafford Gambit. I don't have time to relearn the best move 5. Nc3 line (I learned it in 2023 but forgot everything obviously so I don't use it normally too as I never train seriously since 2023) so yea I guess its not wrong to say I didn't prep him as I didn't refer any resource after knowing he plays that opening lol. I understand and have more experience with the rare 5. f3 which works so well in this game and he blunder in the next move with 5... Nxe4?? which many people not familiar with this rare move played instantly and confidently if they didn't stop to think. The rest of the game went smoothly for me.
*After move 35 I can't remember exactly, but it is mostly something like that.

Overall I won't say I play well but I am sure that my time management strategy works (bulleting mostly without thinking). You may have noticed that my blitz rating remain unchanged for the whole tournament due to the huge rating difference. Anyway, it is fun and memorable chess tournament and I guess one of the last few tournament? seeing that I am playing way and way worse nowadays due to lack of training. Time will tell :(