My Last Tournament of the Year, Fantastic Wishes!

my trip to Maryland was an exciting experience as i got to feel the special atmosphere being outside of Florida for the first time in the cold. i did state i would be posting this last blog as my New years special so here we go. first off i would like to say i got the idea of going to this tournament from my friend who drove me there. we did get a bit lost and caused the event to be a bit paused but not to worry luckily we arrived and the tournament began in style.

FIRST ROUND - Battling Akeras Overlingas

when we arrived we were greeted by familiar friends who have all been invited to the tournament and it was interesting seeing the place. for many reading this you would be shocked to hear i have never been at an IHOP at all with the only similar experience being at a Denny's i visited nearly 4 years ago during my first experience at Nationals. the boards were all brought by the players along clocks and notation which made the place feel very special from my view. 

During the first round i had to face a familiar rival and Iconic prodigy in the Florida community, Akeras Overlingas who was rated 2079 at the event. Before this he also attended the K-12 Nationals at Maryland where he scored 2nd place in the main event alongside 3rd at Blitz. he always plays the Dreaded London opening which has developed popularity throughout the years by Masters like IM eric rosen for its simple yet tactical play. For many people however they view the London as a dry opening which can be equalized thus leading to draws than wins.

it felt like a pretty clean game with some small inaccurate moves but fully solid and nicely converted in the end. i did blunder a pawn but luckily it didn't matter cause i had a tactical sequence which would win a piece with Nf3 at the end. Alright well that was a close game onto my 2nd round opponent named Jonathan and he is someone who is returning to chess so cool

ROUND 2 - Tricks in the QGD SLAV???

it was a somewhat close call in the first round but luckily kept my cool and chatted with someone named Jonathan who was dazzled by the field. we then played our game which involved a closed Slav which i kind of dislike from the white side. its a opening which gives white a lot of potential for winning but its really solid so i would have to really strike first for anything advantageous. he luckily blundered right away with a pawn and the rest was again converted with ease although it was quite interesting considering its the first time i played QGD well.

afterwards we just chatted about the new chess dramas and i introduced him to the ideas behind openings and what they have to offer. i shared with him my love for the Caro as black and Trompowsky with white trying to show him the principles of positional chess. Another friend known as had a bye and we played skittle games while the others were playing with me winning the match but having this very funny stalemate that he sent me later on, yes its bad lol

DRAWING IM YUNIER LEYVA???

the 3rd round i had to play none other than the #1 seed aka International Master Yunier Leyva who i have a terrible record against. i have never won or drawn against him in the past mostly having losses in all blitz games alongside one rapid game we played. this was a very special moment for me as its the first time i have drawn a International Master in OTB competition thus me jokingly stating to my friends afterwards that "this is the only game which matters"

we both played at around 96 accuracy with him having 97 as black throughout the whole game with my goal being able to liquidate. i was trying so hard to stay solid and hold the game which luckily i managed to achieve very barely. a fun fact is that we had this similar position in a blitz game a couple of weeks ago so i expected him to play the Nimzo-Defense once more and due to me having white i did have some luck on my side. the game was a bit hard fought and very difficult to hold at least for me but luckily i kept playing fast and conceded with the repetition.

during the 1st round where yunier beat my friend in very brutal fashion he decided to take a bye and had to go but luckily i had someone to take me home and it was really cool getting the chance to play Diego as black.

ROUND 4 - WINNING SOMEHOW THROUGH LUCK!

i always knew Diego was a very good attacking player being rated 1946 as he tried to hit me with a gambit against the Caro right away. it was very interesting to hold the position against him and luckily i decided to give it up later to maintain a equal position with Bh6 but under time pressure he simply threw the game leading to my victory. he was definitely tricky throughout the game cause of the activity but the rook blunder really was just the nail in the coffin so yeah

he was very annoyed with himself for letting it happen and he had to go unfortunately so i didn't bother to get a ride cause i wanted to see how yuniers game would end. i knew that if he won based on tiebreaks he would manage to get the prize money and tournament win. however to my surprise he lost against Akeras as shown in the video down below which guaranteed my win of the cash by just half a point in the standings (it was really incredible how it happened).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And..... that was the end of 2022!

practically speaking i am 3 hours late but me and my mom were cherishing the final moments by watching a Christmas carol which was very nice fitting the christmas spirit. as i stated in my last blog i can't wait for this new year and i really am grateful for all the support i have been receiving along with some other great news. i am now rated 1965 in USCF which is really awesome and i have posted finally a video in commemoration to my experience at maryland

thanks once more and who knows i might probably be going to these IHOP tournaments again this thursday so it might be pretty cool. i did forget to mention this but the time control was 25/5D and i really had a blast controlling my emotions while using proper time management. overall hope everyone had a good time cherishing special moments with there friends and families this is Brayan Amaya aka BlitzWizard94 here signing off, stay safe and catch you later