I am currently sitting in a cafe opposite the Grand Riverside Hotel, the venue for the recently concluded Phitsanulok Open in - you guessed it - Phitsanulok, Thailand. It was a 7 round swiss, with a standard time control of 90 minutes with a 30 second increment from move 1. Two rounds a day save for the last day. Overall, I'm not thoroughly satisfied with my play, I lost many games which I really shouldn't have. Yesterday I lost both of my games, so I could barely sleep, but luckily the tournament ended on a good note for me as in the final round - out of a clearly worse position my opponent allowed me the luxury of checkmating him in 1 move. I've only analyzed two games from the tournament so far, but am deathly afraid to analyze the games which I lost, the engine already caused me enough suffering by pointing out that my play was far from ideal in a game which I won - so what would it say in a game which I lost!? However, there are some good things that I can say about my performance in this tournament. Following some advice from my coach, I did not observe any other games whilst playing my own. If you didn't know already, it is common in standard chess tournaments to walk around the playing hall and observe other player's games, this is normal considering that a standard chess game is usually 3 hours long. However, before this tournament, my coach had told me and other players on the team not to look at any other boards as this could disrupt our concentration. I managed to do this successfully, but trust me - the temptation was certainly there. I did walk around the playing hall, but instead of observing other games focused on keeping the current position of my game in my head instead, something else that our coach had recommended us to do. My review of this method of not observing other games- it works for sure; I found that I had higher concentration levels - this is only natural as you are really only playing 1 chess game. The thing is that if you see another chess position - even if you are not consciously thinking about it, your brain may be going over it subconsciously and this can have an adverse effect on your own game. However, I believe I was the only one who actually followed his advice as during the tournament I witnessed other players from the national team observing other games. Another pearl of advice that I can offer to other fellow chess players - DO NOT FORGET YOUR JACKET! I made the very unfortunate mistake of forgetting my jacket when I went off to the airport. This seemingly small blunder would turn out to have drastic consequences for me. During multiple games it got so cold that I couldn't think properly and my play was certainly hindered. It is not such a pleasant feeling when you have less than a minute on the clock and your heart is beating at 100 miles per hour and its 18 degrees Celsius in the playing hall. Luckily I had my raincoat so I ended up wearing that, but even that did not work nearly as well as a proper jacket and I looked ridiculous wearing this huge neon blue raincoat in a hotel ballroom. So note to all chess players, proper regulation of your body temperature is very important! You do not want to be shaking from freezing temperatures when your position is critical!
Now, to criticize my play on the chess board:
I can clearly point out two things which need improving; firstly, my endgame technique. Almost all of the games which I lost stemmed from improper knowledge of endings. I'm not surprised as endgames have been the most neglected part of my personal chess study. Secondly - considering opponent's counter-play. In one game I completely overlooked two ideas from my opponent - if I had anticipated these plans I'm pretty sure I would've at least been able to draw the game. On the bright side, I can say that my confidence and composure have definitely improved since earlier this year, I can say that it has certainly helped me here in all my games. This was another tip which I took from our coach, he told us to always look confident, even if we were losing. He really emphasized the importance of psychology in chess, as in any other sport. I really took to this advice - if your opponent looks or even sounds upset - this can really make you confident and improve your play - but if they act like nothing happened, then you can't feed off their misery can you? So another jewel of advice which I can offer to other chess players, always be and appear confident! Make it so that your opponent can only win on the board as they cannot take anything from your steel composure! Most importantly, I can certainly say that my fighting spirit was present, all my games in this tournament were decisive and all the games which I lost lasted over 50 moves with my opponents consuming a significant amount of their time - contrary to in the Bangkok Chess Club Open where multiple games I lost without a fight. To all chess players and sportsmen - it is very important to have a strong fighting spirit. In chess, to not make any premature draws and to fight every game to the death.
Anyways, my next chess tournament is the Amsterdam Science Park open in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Believe it or not, the recently concluded Phitsanulok Open would also be quite important for me as it would affect my experience in this upcoming tournament. The thing is that in the Amsterdam open they have rating categories, such as Group A, Group B etc. So naturally I wanted to play in Group A - with all the grandmasters and such. But the thing is that in order to play in Group A you need a FIDE rating over 2000, and my current FIDE rating before the Phitsanulok Open was 1998. So I needed to get at least 3 rating points to get over 2000. Going into the final round I had gained 3.4 points, enough - but was facing a 1665 rated opponent as black - also it did not help that he was a young talent. The thing is that even if I drew my final game , I would still lose 8 points, so it was kind of a must win situation. So thank Caissa, I won that game, and ended the tournament with a FIDE rating of 2004. So I get to play in Group A now. Due to just that, I can't really say that I'm upset about the outcome of this tournament, after all - it could've gone much much worse. Anyways, see you folks in another blog post - probably analyzing one of my losses or an ending!
Anyways, my next chess tournament is the Amsterdam Science Park open in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Believe it or not, the recently concluded Phitsanulok Open would also be quite important for me as it would affect my experience in this upcoming tournament. The thing is that in the Amsterdam open they have rating categories, such as Group A, Group B etc. So naturally I wanted to play in Group A - with all the grandmasters and such. But the thing is that in order to play in Group A you need a FIDE rating over 2000, and my current FIDE rating before the Phitsanulok Open was 1998. So I needed to get at least 3 rating points to get over 2000. Going into the final round I had gained 3.4 points, enough - but was facing a 1665 rated opponent as black - also it did not help that he was a young talent. The thing is that even if I drew my final game , I would still lose 8 points, so it was kind of a must win situation. So thank Caissa, I won that game, and ended the tournament with a FIDE rating of 2004. So I get to play in Group A now. Due to just that, I can't really say that I'm upset about the outcome of this tournament, after all - it could've gone much much worse. Anyways, see you folks in another blog post - probably analyzing one of my losses or an ending!
