For me, scholastic tournaments have more or less seemed like a thing of the past for quite awhile. Why play against an inferior field with upsets the rule and not the exception when there is sure to be a strong open tournament elsewhere? I, for one, have never played for trophies, plaques, or recognition, but instead to gain vital experience against strong opponents.
That, of course, was my mindset before COVID-19 took open tournaments and sucked them dry. You will be hard pressed to find an open tournament nowadays with more than a few masters and the odd IM or GM, and on top of that many are restricted to five rounds or less; in short, not worth traveling a long distance for. I still prefer to play in the strongest tournaments that I can find, but they are getting to be few and far between. Here’s hoping this trend will be reversing very soon!
The U.S. Junior Open, held from July 22-24, 2022, was not much different, and I entered the tournament as the third seed with great hopes of victory. However, I wasn’t there for the prestige of winning a National Championship. I was there in the hopes of qualifying for the incredibly strong U.S. Junior Closed, in which the winner of the Junior Open gets a spot. Playing against a field of solely IMs and GMs would be a great experience, and I thought my chances were as good as anyone else’s.
It was certainly a tournament below the caliber of any that I have played in quite some time, but I came prepared and with a fresh ace up my sleeve.
ROUND 1
The opening round went brilliantly well on the chessboard, even better than I could have expected, but only after a truly inauspicious start to the event. First of all, the round started 45 minutes late. As far as I am aware none of the other participants understood the holdup, but it could have been connected to the already commenced U.S. Senior Open.
In any case, the round did eventually succeed in getting underway. I for one was glad to hear it announced that parents would not be allowed in the playing hall. As the usual ruckus and mob-scene around the pairing sheet quieted down, it became glaringly clear that there had been more than one oversight on the part of the organizers. Music was blasting directly into the playing hall from speakers unseen. I’m yours may work for Jason Mraz, but not so for chess players. Their version would go something along the lines of “you’re mine!”
This went on for some minutes, but eventually the problem was solved. Before moving on, it needs to be noted that the tournament was held at the Elmhurst University, starting on a Friday, and finishing on a Sunday. The campus was charming and idyllic, but also proved to host an unexpected distraction for us chess players. One would expect that during the summertime students would have finished for the year and gone elsewhere, but it was not so. Hardly 15 minutes into the round there erupted a great noise from outside, directly adjacent to my board at the end of the hall. It seemed to me that they were contesting some sort of field day competition, with a great deal of chanting and general celebration from the victors.
As can be expected this made for an interesting first round, but I am happy to report that it only got better from there. In the second round there were still general partygoers to be heard, but it seemed they were in a separate building which at least helped to quiet the din a bit. Fortunately for me, I have years and years of experience playing chess at the U.T. Austin Chess Club, a much noisier environment, so I wasn’t too fazed. By the time the weekend rolled around the students seemed to have other places to be, luckily.
It is certainly understandable that the general noise and confusion could lead to some… let’s say unusual ideas on the chessboard. Faced with my opponent’s Jobava London System I fianchettoed my kingside bishop for the first time in my tournament career, part of a switch in my repertoire that will soon be explained in more detail. It worked out well as my opponent opened the center too early, subjecting himself to attack. Soon thereafter he recklessly grabbed a center pawn, placed his king on e2, and was mated by move 16.
A smooth first effort. While I’m sure he was affected by the environment, I think it would also be fair to say that my opponent in this game is a very talented but unsteady player even in the best of conditions. Since the start of 2022 he has gone from 1000 to mid-1800’s USCF, but it was also clear to me that, despite clearly having been underrated for a long time, he retained many novice defects.
The rest of the tournament clarified my view: he drew against a master and defeated a 2000, but I noticed he had already given up a bishop for nothing in the last round after five minutes of play. Impulse control is an aspect of the game that is crucial for success, and I am sure it will come for him with experience and time.
It was apparent throughout the event that the many parents and chess players in attendance had no qualms about creating a throng of bodies around the pairings sheet, which surprised and disappointed me. COVID-19, anyone? Furthermore, the pairings weren’t made available online. I wasn’t interested in elbowing my way through the throng, and due to this fact, I had absolutely no idea about my opponent’s identity or what his rating was. I saw a picture of the pairings with my board number, and that was it, so I certainly had no reason to be intimidated by his recent rapid improvement!
ROUND 2
In Round 2 the strength of my opposition had moved up a serious notch, but the game itself was nearly as smooth as the first. Caught by surprise in the opening, my opponent chose an inferior line. Already in a tough position he blundered a key central pawn, after which the rest was smooth sailing. Such tranquil victories where the opponent seems to roll over and accept their fate are extremely rare in the computer age with such a high standard of opening preparation, and surely not representative of his true strength, but always welcome!
ROUND 3
Along with Round 3 came my first real test of the tournament. My opponent was a strong expert, verging on master, who has been on a real upswing lately. This game was a special occasion, as it proved to be my first time playing the Grünfeld in an over the board, classical tournament. Neither of us handled the opening properly, missing a key move order subtlety, but as the game developed it became clear without a doubt that my opponent was playing for a draw, and no more. Needless to say, he never saw any winning chances after our mutual oversight on move eight.
This is an important issue to address for all chess players: how to deal with lower rated opposition aiming from the very first moves to steer the game to the safe waters of a draw? And with white no less. You can call it blasphemous and against the very nature of the game, and I would hasten to agree, but it happens more often than it should. My strategy was simply to keep making natural, good moves and not go crazy.
After all, with such a passive mindset the opponent will constantly be aiming to force the issue, whereas I can calmly await the inevitable mistakes. And if he defends perfectly, well, what can be done? In his best years, Vasily Smyslov successfully carried out the principle “I make 40 good moves, and if my partner also makes 40 good moves, then there’s a draw.”
Putting on my Smyslov cap paid off in a big way. After twenty moves we had already reached an endgame that seemed quite one-sided. I was aware that, with best play, my opponent could in all likelihood achieve a draw, but it wouldn’t be easy. White had a backward pawn on a half open file, whereas my structure was impervious. I was happy to gnaw on that bone for a while.
As it happened, immediately after queens left the board my opponent went badly wrong, giving me a mobile queenside majority while still not absolving the problem of his weak pawn. The trend of the game seemed to be swinging my way, but sadly I pressed forward too eagerly when I should have slowed down and prepared my planned queenside expansion. My opponent spotted the miraculous defense at the last second and saved the half point by the skin of his teeth.
ROUND 4
Round 4 looked to be another tough challenge, as I was facing another talented young player vying for the title. Facing an annoyingly solid French line that has been very popular lately, I decided to shake the usual order of events up a bit, castling on the queenside and starting an opposite-sides-castling brawl where my opponent was most certainly not expecting one. The decision was not anything special objectively, but it did create the type of position that I was looking for and he was trying to avoid. Besides, it was important to pay homage to the organizers with a bit of caveman chess of my own.
Indeed, my opening idea soon bore fruit, as he stuck his queen on the side of the board for no reason at all, giving me a decisive attack. At this point, with the win so close I could taste it, I got a bit too excited and failed to properly calculate a very basic line, with the result that the game started anew. I subsequently missed the only idea to gain rough equality. It was admittedly depressing to go from winning to losing in three moves, but there was nothing to do but soldier on and try not to let it show.
I saw some swindling chances in the ensuing position, however, and was prepared to play on as long as necessary to get the desired result. I think that I handled the change of scenery more calmly than my opponent: over the next few moves he started burning clock time as if there was no tomorrow, and soon thereafter I was able to forcibly open up his king position, to the point where he seemed ready to wave the white flag and call it a draw. Indeed, we had already repeated the same position twice.
I realized all too well the extent to which I had blown my previously overwhelming attack, and also knew that a draw was realistically a favorable outcome, as I had come dangerously close to the brink. At this point, in deciding whether or not to force the draw or gamble and play on, I thought back to the Texas State Championship, my last tournament prior to the Junior Open.
In that tournament I got bogged down with too many draws, as fate had it in the same rounds three and four. In the critical game that would decide whether or not I would get a fair shot at the title I over-pressed and lost miserably. This was, in fact, the game that pushed me to add a more dynamic defense against 1. d4 to my repertoire, but I digress.
With this in mind I made the choice to continue the game and play for the win. It helped that, despite three extra pawns in the bank, my opponent also had a dangerously exposed king and only seconds left on the clock. My idea was imaginative but very seriously flawed, and it was only through sheer trickery and time pressure that I managed to finally reach an equal position.
In fact, it was one where I probably even had the slightly better chances, as his king remained a cause for concern. With fifteen minutes on the clock, I abruptly cut the game short with a ridiculous oversight. There wasn’t anything to do but resign in shock and pain. In seconds the game went from promising to finished, all because I saw a phantom mating net.
It is important to take such excruciating losses in stride. If I had ended my ambitions and instead agreed to a draw, as was objectively the correct choice, I would have been in a tough position for the next day, knowing that I had played badly in the previous game and was lucky to escape, and also needing to win out. As the game went, however, I proved to myself that I can outplay my opponent even from a very dire situation. As we will see, this confidence helped me out in a big way on the last day.
The finish of the game was brutal, but there is no doubt that experience will help fix these brain shortages. Many masters in my situation would withdraw at once, having lost any remote chance of emerging victorious, but I decided to play on, in an attempt to salvage both rating points and pride. My overall impression remained steadfast: I was in good form, and my only obstacle was the massive, inexplicable mistakes caused by a lack of experience.
At this point the top players had separated themselves from the field a bit, but there was still a day of tense action left before the ultimate victor would be crowned, and anything could happen.
ROUND 5
Round 5 saw me paired against another expert as black. I was, and am, confident that my black repertoire does a good job of unbalancing the position and allowing myself to play for the win, so this was a good way to bounce back and regain momentum. The opening phase proved me right on one count, at least: the position became a messy Najdorf very swiftly. My knowledge of the opening could not have served me better. I trotted out one of the main lines of defense against the English Attack, but one that is not popular at a scholastic level, as the positions are so challenging to handle. Indeed, as I was exiting my theoretical knowledge, I was still blitzing in a position I knew well, whereas my opponent had already cogitated for forty minutes!
True to form the position became irrationally complex, to the point that neither of us had much of an idea what was going on. I needed first to defend against his attack before enjoying my strategic gains, but I played a bit too loosely, giving him a golden chance to develop his initiative further. The idea was subtle and far from obvious, however, and my opponent bypassed the opportunity without much hesitation.
Once that was settled, I quickly consolidated and forced him to defend accurately so as to equalize. An important moment of the game came when he spent twenty of his thirty remaining minutes on the clock attempting to refute a risky but nevertheless sound retreat of my knight. In the end there was no mate to be found, which left my opponent’s clock running on fumes. He failed to spot an unexpected sacrificial opportunity, instead tepidly falling back, which gave me the fuel I needed to go on the offensive.
An important result at the top was Joseph Truelson’s victory over FM Ryan Amburgy, which saw him take the sole lead with 4½/5. And that includes a half point bye!
ROUND 6
In the sixth and final round, I came up against yet another expert. So much for my original thought that there wouldn’t be much competition! The tournament was drawing to a close, and this was my last chance to give a tribute to a friend who was visiting Austria. So, naturally, I chose the Vienna. Sadly, my opponent had no desire to face my pet weapon and transposed into the solid but passive Philidor instead.
I could have improved my play in the opening phase, but to no matter, as I quickly gained a large, stable advantage. I handled the position a bit uncertainly, though, and miscalculated a key variation that allowed him to minimize the damage. Even when my opponent deviated from the correct move order, I missed a chance to stray from the path he had planned. After this unsettling turn of events, I also overlooked the only chance to retain a small edge, preferring instead to enter a dead drawn endgame where I felt I had some chances to press with an extra pawn.
He handled the ensuing position quite skillfully, and it soon became clear to both of us that the game ought to be concluded. Still, with my opponent playing on the increment alone, I saw no harm in pressing my extra pawn for a while longer. My persistence eventually paid off, leaving me relieved and exultant to win a game I had no business winning.
The key result that decided the final distribution of prizes was top seed FM Yesuntumur Tugstumur’s victory over Joseph Truelson. This led to a four-way tie for first place between Tugstumur, Mitch Fishbein, Arthur Xu, and Rohit Guha. As I write this, there is some uncertainty as to who will receive the U.S. Junior Closed seat, as the winner on tiebreaks resides in the U.S. but is listed under FIDE as Mongolian. I ended up in fifth place on tiebreaks, just half a point off of the lead.
My destiny of second fiddle was more or less decided in the fourth round, but even so it was a great experience and I hope to vie for the title in next year’s edition. I still have a few years of eligibility left, and I plan on using them to the fullest!
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