The Most Embarassing Loss Of My Life

Let me paint the picture. Recently I was playing a 3-day 7-round classical tournament. On Day 1 I played 2 rounds, in the first one I got matched against a 2166 with Black. He opened with the English, and I went for a gambit I havent reviewed (or frankly played) in quite some time. Basically I was defending a queenless middlegame down a pawn, and doing so pretty well until I miscalculated on the critical 26th move. Even though I felt like I played really well I still lost, so I was annoyed at a bad start to the event. I won the second game with White as the favourite, so I finished the day on 1/2. Not what I imagined or wanted.

But the day wasn't over, There were more chess to be played. There was a side 9-round blitz tournament, which went more my way. And that's what I want to show you today.

Round 0

The goal for this event was to win a prize. Make back some money for the accomodation costs and the entry fees, but that changed, when just before the start a grandmaster decided to participate aswell. I don't get many chances to play with GM's, so I had to perform well to get matched. There were 50 players and I was seeded 10th. The pairings system was accelerated baku, meaning I'll get paired against stronger players faster.

In the first game I blundered a pawn on the 13th move. but my opponent gave me the present back 2 moves later.

Round 2 — Blunderfest

In the second round I'm already playing a higher-rated opponent. The game was... filled with opportunities to improve upon.

I'm not sure why, but during this game I was so stressed it felt like standing on top of a skyscraper with a fear of height. Like it literally hurt. And it was only during this one game, kinda weird. A draw on the high board was a nice score (if we don't talk about the fact I was up a knight), but since I'm lower-rated I fell down in the pairings.

Round 3 was a fun miniature with White, but that means I will play a strong player with Black again.

Round 4 — Color swap

Turns out I won't be playing with Black! I got lucky with a double white, which is great since I was playing up.

I want to say the win was undeserved, but considering my opponent fell for a trap i deliberatery set up I have to give myself some credit. That win landed me at 3.5/4, so I can finally play the Grandmaster!

Round 5

This round doesn't even deserve a title.

Such an embarassing loss. Honestly I'm not a fan of the lines after 5.e3, I have to either play a weird reverse QGE, or let White take on c5 and play against a Janowski--Larsen QGA, which I used to play with colors reversed.

A much more interesting alternative might be 3...g6, but there 4.e3 looks dry aswell. But it's much less common. Another thing might me combining both with 4...g6, but I think I'll settle on 3...g6 provoking white to go for f3–e4, Qd2–Bh6 or Qd2–O-O-O.

Overall this is one of my best events ever, I finished 2nd (behind the GM obviously) with 7/9 with performance over 2200 and +73 FIDE gain. Last game I offered a draw up a pawn knowing it will guarantee me 2nd place, I played 7 games against higher-rated opposition (scoring 5 in those). Despite this I lost a game in 6 moves, it still doesn't feel real, like how is that even possible.

If you are interested in seeing all the games, here's the transmission link and here are the standings. I didn't include more games, because I don't find them that interesting. So that's all I have for you today, thanks for reading and I'm going back to studying!