Chess Galore in Philly! Part 2: The Comeback Begins
This is part 2 of Chess Galore in Philly, a series where I will be covering all 18 games from two consecutive 9-round tournaments, the Philly International and the World Open.
Where we left off...
Who could have seen this coming? First an IM, then a FM, then an even stronger FM!? What's going on? My hopes of playing a brilliant tournament were dwindling, and I was losing confidence. All I could do was rest and hope for some better luck.
This tournament was not going well. It had not started the way I intended, and overall, I felt very dejected after this rough start. However, I knew that sooner or later, I was going to turn this tournament around. After all, I'm still a strong player, and I believe in myself!
Who will I face in the next round? You'll just have to wait and see...
Part 2 Begins
June 27th, 4:30 pm
Beep! Beep! Beep!
After a devastating third-round loss, I had taken a nap. At the moment, I was not happy to hear my phone's alarm clock go off. An hour and a half had gone by so quickly, and the next game was about to start! I checked my phone to see if the pairings were up yet since this tournament offers text-message pairings. Sounds cool, but most of the time the text messages come out like 5 minutes before the round, which really isn't that helpful. Better than nothing, right? This time around, I was very happy to see that the pairings were indeed out. Great! Now I could spend some time preparing for my opponent, who was CM Arthur Xu. After doing some research, I found out that he is actually a fellow National Master, so hopefully, this game would turn out to be more even than the first three! I also figured out that based on what we both play, I would most likely be playing an Italian Game as white.
After those 20 minutes of prep, I started the 6-7 minute walk from my apartment to the tournament hotel.
Game #4: EnergeticHay vs CM Arthur Xu
Going into this game, I had one thing, and one thing only, running through my head: Let's get on the scoreboard. Let's get a result. As long as I don't lose this one, I'll be fine. This mindset would ultimately affect the way I played in different ways.
I was also relatively confident in myself at this moment, because unlike the earlier rounds, I actually got a pretty good idea of what my opponent plays during my short prep session, so I was able to review some pretty specific opening variations in my repertoire just for this game.
Without further ado, let's jump into the game!
Key Takeaways From Game #4:
1. 11.h3 was actually a very important move - having g4 and f5 to kick black's pieces and take his space is probably the only real way white can claim a decent advantage in this specific variation.
2. I was doing fine, but a couple of moves wasted some time and put me in a less advantageous spot: 21. Rf3 and 22.Rf2 as well as 29.Rc1 and back with 30.Rf1 were not exactly the best. Make sure to know your opponent's ideas and try not to walk into them!
3. Stay calm and composed! When you think too much about results, you tend not to get good ones. In this game, I was so focused on not losing that I missed a chance to push for the win at the end with 39.h3!, solving all of my problems and asking black how he plans to deal with the good knight vs bad bishop endgame that would follow.
June 27th, 8:00 pm
While we now know that I didn't exactly play my best game, that's not what was going through my mind at this time. "Hip hip hooray! I drew!" I shouted as I burst into the apartment room. After a tough start, I was glad to finally have scored a good result, even if it was only a half-point. Things were starting to look better for me. I slept well that night, with my confidence renewed. 
June 28th, 9:00 am
Alright, time for another great day of chess! I woke up, ate a nice breakfast, and started preparing for the next round. Even though the pairings weren't out yet, the standings were. I used the standings to take a look at some potential opponents. I guessed that I would play one of 3 potential opponents. With 10 minutes to go before the round, I happily skipped over to the tournament hotel to avenge my losses for a second time! 
Game #5: WFM Sanjana Vittal vs EnergeticHay
Turns out, I guessed wrong. By a lot. I was not playing any of the 3 players I thought I might face off against, but instead, I was paired with a familiar opponent. We've played 4 times in the past, and I have a pretty good record of 2 wins and 2 draws against her. Things were looking good!
Let's jump right into the game!
Key Takeaways From Game #5:
1. In the opening, 9...Bxc3 would have been better to ensure that white's pawn structure would be damaged. In the game, I allowed her to re-capture with the queen.
2. 13...b5 was a bit dubious, and after a few moves white is nearly winning, but ultimately it gave me chances to fight back in an unknown position. I would play that move again if I had to.
3. 21.Qd2? was the crucial mistake of the game - it let me trade off the a7 pawn for the b5 pawn, which helped me switch my focus towards attacking her king, instead of worrying about those queenside pawns.
4. Overall, this was a really back-and-forth game. One thing both sides did badly was that we both didn't realize how important the threat of a passed a-pawn would be - my opponent did not make a great effort to push it, and I did not really worry about it at all.
5. Sometimes, when you are under time pressure, don't make moves that will drastically alter the game. I played 40...Kg7 just to hold the position together and make sure that the big decisions would be made after I gained those precious 30 minutes of additional time.
June 28th, 3:00 pm
After an extremely satisfying win, I started to feel much better about my tournament. After starting with 3 tough losses, I now bounced back with a draw and a win in my last two rounds, both against very strong players. Now, as I was sitting at 1.5/5 points, I gained hope that I would be able to finish the tournament with a 50% score, or 4.5/9.
Little did I know, one player would stop me right in my tracks. Who will I play next? You'll just have to wait and see...
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed Part 2 of Chess Galore in Philly! Stay tuned for upcoming editions, which will cover the rest of my experience playing 18 consecutive OTB classical games
Chess Galore in Philly
Part 3: ?????
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