newbie_learner's Chess Adventures @ SG Amateurs 2018

What can I say? What a great time I had! To be honest, I was quite discouraged in the first half (first 5 games) of the tournament. I agreed to a draw in 2 games with a better position at the point of the draw offer from my opponents ^o^ It's all my own fault misjudging the situation, although my 2 young opponents deservedly split the points with me. Perhaps inspired by my friends in the Singapore Chess Meetup, I felt very good playing the last 4 games in the "2nd half" of the tournament. Special shout-out to Cyrille and Ronald -- I think I was inspired by their words to play the remaining 4 games so well!

There are many people I wish to thank to make my adventure so enjoyable. In no particular order: David for helping me go through my games, especially my first loss (the review paid off as the opening was repeated by another opponent in the next round). Yogesh, my training partner, who gave me some tips and experience on the King's Indian Defence (something I'm particularly weak against, and interesting encountered a bit this tournament). My team mate, dr_chess_dad, for giving me some crash course on how to play against Kingside fianchetto formations in general. Also grateful to other Singapore Chess Meetup chess friends including but not limited to Seng Chin and Roy for their support and well wishes throughout the tournament.

It was also great to see a couple of chess friends in the tournament with myself. Carleton, the founder of pubXchess initiative (check it out if you are keen to for weekly Sunday blitz games!). "Sunday Chess Uncle", Eric, playing his maiden chess tournament. Weng Chew, founder of Cashew Chess Club. Paul, a fellow chess player who plays in the West (Cashew Chess Club and Queenstown CC Chess Club), Parveen, another chess enthusiast whom I got to know through the Singapore Chess Meetup facebook page and many others.

Friendship! newbie_learner with Deng Liang  -- I hope he gets to enjoy playing as much chess in Singapore possible during his stay here!

Winners of various categories as follows:
 

Our very own Ashton Chia, regular at Singapore Chess Meetup, deserves a special additional individual photo shot. I'm so sorry for my poor photography skills!

A special additional individual shot for Mr Warren Lim, a regular at Thomson CC Chess Club. A lot of us were amazed by his spectacular results.

11th to 20th place

1st to 10th place -- with both familiar and new faces!

My shots taken before each round -- I didn't dare to take the picture of my opponents in case they didn't like it. The last thing I would want to do, is to cause any form of unintended distraction.

My 9-round adventures can be replayed from this external link:

http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2018/12/17/Game329749015.html

This time round, I decided to be open about everything - Who I played against, the game moves, rather than keeping anything a secret. These days, are there truly any secrets? Maybe I can be a case-study of sorts, in which I reveal everything -- my self perceived strengths and weaknesses. In case any of my opponents read this and is upset by anything I wrote here, please feel free to contact me and I will amend the necessary. Also, feel free to share your views, which would make the game review more complete!

In Chronological Order:

Round 1

Summary: A great wake-up call. I was in a horrible position in the opening phase as I allowed Black to be faster in the opposite castling pawn storm. Luckily, I was able to identify the key attacking piece (which was the Fianchetto Bishop and not so much the other dangerous looking major pieces). Was lucky to win only because my young opponent misplayed the follow-up to the gambit.

Round 2

Summary: Got into a bad opening position right from the start again. (I learned my lesson!). My Bishop was placed badly (12...Bd6?!) allowing 13.e4 threatening e5 pawn fork, which gained a few tempo for White. I got too scared to play against White's pawn centre d4 e4, and grabbed it when my opponent offered a draw. Based on engine evaluation, the position is still equal, if not slightly better for Black. But during the game, I was really scared -- I thought if anything only White can win because White has potential to make pass pawns.

Round 3

Summary: I happen to play this (the Slav defence) on both sides, and I opted what I deem as the most "annoying" to most Black players -- the exchange Slav right from the 3rd move 3.cxd5 =) Usually, I would play 2.Nf3 first, so as to prevent sidelines such as the Albin Countergambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5). And surprisingly, I can't say for sure why I didn't stick to my norm.

Sorry for the slight digression. The way I see it, exchange Slav is essentially a "free press" for White. Black needs to defend correctly to hold the equality of the position. After slowly outplaying my young opponent to reach a winning position, I botched it with a careless attacking move which would give perpetual check if took the hanging Rook carelessly. I declined the perpetual check with a sub-par response, and slipped to an equal position (no longer winning). However, my young opponent was too eager to draw, I think, as he kept offering to exchange pieces when the position does not call for it -- most exchanges are not as innocent as it seems -- some tend to favour 1 side over the other. In the end, I won the "drawn" game from my opponent's blunder.

Round 4

Summary: Nothing much else to say; the better player won =) Was really grateful for my opponent's insights after the game. My mistake in the opening phase of the game was too critical and it led to the point of no return.

Round 5

 Summary: A Kingside fianchetto position that went really weird. Black was attacking on the Kingside before castling Kingside, while White was somehow unable to open up the Kingside (even though knowing it is thematic for White to open up the Kingside as White has castled Queenside. With the Kingside closed up, Black went on an attacking spree on the Queenside, sacrificing a pawn in a bid to further expose White's King. White seemed to have repelled the attack, but due to the lack of sense of security, counter-offered the pawn back to keep the Queenside closed.

In the end, Black, with 62 minutes remaining on her clock, offered me a draw. Me playing with the White pieces, had only 2 minutes remaining the clock, pondered over the position until there was a minute left on the clock before accepting the offer. Interestingly, the engine revealed that White could have won the game. More interestingly, if Black did not offer a draw, White would have made the first correct move. The big question is whether White can gain enough incremental time to work out the next critical winning move. 

Round 6

Another Caro-Kann line. My opponent played it almost the same way as my opponent in Round 4 did. After the earlier loss, I did some review (and thanks to David from Singapore Chess Meetup for his additional views too!), so I managed to improve on my previous game. With that kind of good luck, there's little wonder I managed to win in the end, when the opponent made a tactical blunder while being slightly pressurised.

Round 7

Summary: A nice defensive-game which turned into a big counter-attack when the opportunity arises. My opponent likes to attack and all his games in the tournament had decisive results (only 1 draw in the final round). I guess I was lucky to exploit this to take the full point =)

Round 8

 Summary: A blessed pairing for me as I have always wanted to play this stronger opponent who used to frequent Siglap South CC Chess Club. I'm lucky I got into the type of position I'm more familiar with and won.

Round 9

Summary: Arguably the most dramatic game for me, in that this game was decisive for the final placement of various players. Admittedly, White was outplayed, and had to struggle to hold the position. Unfortunately for White, despite playing into a drawn position, White forfeited on time. But I am very glad for my opponent to win the game and get a prize -- he revealed after the game that he has been unwell (which explained him skipping pairings for 1 round. So technically, he scored 7/8).

Some of the younger chess friends were lamenting that they hoped I held a draw so that their placement would have been better -- I'm sure they were just trying to be nice to console my painful loss. Such nice chess friends ^o^ Interestingly, I had received "intel" from my friends on what to expect my opponent to play. Notwithstanding this information before the game, I decided to go into it head on without trying to avoid it altogether. I was glad I played the game this way so that I could maximise my learning. Was also glad for my opponent sharing his insights after the game.

Some personal views overall: 

• Don't be too fixated on getting into a specific setup -- must go with the demands of the position instead. Same thing when choosing to attack/defend a position: Play what we need rather than sticking to attack or defend for the sake of it.
• If one truly overcomes the fear of losing, one plays better / in a more enjoyable fashion. For me, this is especially the case in the last 4 games.
• Overall, it was probably my personal best tournament! I don't think there were major tactical mistakes (although there are many inaccuracies).
• I actually feel the opening phase of my game is still the weakest. On the bright side, I am feeling more confident playing against the KID. I guess the Benoni type of position is still something I lack in understanding at the moment.
• Play to win / Play to learn / Play for fun -- it can focused on one or evenly distributed across all 3 of them. Do whatever you want! 

There were probably a couple of minor points I'd like to bring up regarding rules and etiquette. First, I think each and every one of my opponent was very pleasant -- thank you for being part of this enjoyable tournament! Repeating draw offers seems common amongst young kids, and it probably isn't that big of a sin as I used to think -- while it is against the rules to repeat draw offers as a means to irritate your opponent, I suppose adult players can be more understanding for kids who were just trying to save their game. If it happened too much to the point of causing undue distraction, one always has the option to inform the arbiter. But nothing of that sort / scale happened to me.

Second, I think everyone was being polite, informing the opponent that they are going to the washroom. But this is really not supposed to be -- because the act of informing the opponent during the opponent's thinking time could genuinely distract him/her. If one would like to visit the washroom, just do so during your opponent's move. I was distracted a couple of times, but I don't feel that any of the instances were deliberate attempts to distract me. And so I just let it go. The same goes with adjusting of pieces -- rightfully, one should only adjust pieces during his/her own turn. But again, it's a small matter to me. I'm not so easily distracted, and I think chess players should also train themselves to cope with minor distractions.

Good things come to an end fast. Am facing the music in office... ^o^

Yours sincerely

Ong Yujing (newbie_learner)

Siglap South CC chess quartet