Lightning Reports - 2021 Alabama State Championship

Two weeks ago, September 18th-19th, I competed in the 2021 Alabama State Championship hoping to become the state champion for the first time ever. Could this be my year? I had already won the Alabama Quick Chess Championship twice before, the Alabama Dual-Rated Chess Championship once, and the Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championship multiple times as well. But, I've never won the big one before, I've never won the main event. I was oh so close to winning in 2019, where I earned 4th place after playing 5 masters to close out the event. I did that as a 1900 and now I’m 2100, surely I’m capable of winning it all. Again, could this be my year?

DAY ONE, ROUNDS 1-3

This year the state championship was held at a hotel in Montgomery, the first round starting at 9 AM. As usual, I got little to no sleep the night before, because who actually sleeps before a big chess tournament? I woke up at 7, obviously skipped breakfast, and arrived at the tournament around 8:30. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I’m wondering if I’ll get to watch any college football games. Soon enough round 1 is here, and I’m paired with Jeffrey Byrd, a strong 1900 who I had never played before and had no prep for. I was also quick to notice I was the 3rd highest-rated player there, meaning I was one of the favorites to win it all. Great, right? What could possibly go wrong? The TD said some stuff that I do not remember since I wasn’t really listening, and finally, round 1 began. And it was not pretty.

Yikes! Not my best game. At all. If he hadn’t blundered Ng7, giving me a nice tactic to take control of the game, I would have been in a sticky situation. Luckily I prevailed with a win in what was the last game of round 1.

After that stunning 4 hour game I was fully awake but still hungry. I had an hour to get lunch and get back for round 2. Unfortunately the Chick-Fil-A I went to was remarkably slow, and I didn’t have enough time to eat my chicken sandwich. Very, very sad. I barely made it back in time for round 2. I walked in as the TD said more stuff which I did not hear as I made my way to board 3, where I found my opponent awaiting me. Faruk Ergin is only 1993, but I knew he was at least as strong as me, I had no doubt. I was excited to finally play him, as I had somehow never faced him before. I expected a fun, close game, and I was not disappointed.

Big oof. The worst part was I thought I was fine in the opening but he was always better. I fought back to get to equality but he was better, and he outplayed me. Props to him. I can't even complain much. Normally I'd be pretty annoyed after losing that, but it was a loss I didn't feel bad about. It was an enjoyable game, even though I didn't play very well and lost. I'll have to beat him next time...

I knew now I would likely have to win out if I wanted to win the championship, but it wouldn't be easy. Unfortunately for me my game in round 2 also took 4 hours and was the last to finish, meaning I didn’t have much time to recover for round 3. I gotta be honest, my mindset for round 3 was, screw it, I’m going fast. I knew I didn’t have the energy to play another long game that day, and I didn’t want to play for another 4 hours, otherwise, I wouldn’t get home until after midnight. As it turned out, I only used about 6 minutes during round 3, and it was by far my best game of the tournament.

It doesn’t make sense... I didn’t think much at all. He used an hour. I used maybe 6 minutes. And yet, if I’m being honest, I dominated him. I hate to just say that, but really, that was crazy, everything just fell apart for black so quickly and it was over. That's probably one of the best games I've played recently, and definitely one of my favorites. We looked at the game for a bit after, trying to see where he went wrong. I think we concluded Re8 was wrong, which the computer says is true. I don't remember what we concluded was the right move, however. Maybe f5? In any case, it was a pretty critical game, one wrong move and it all fell apart. After that my dad and I drove home and got back around 10:15, with round 4 the next morning at 8:30.

DAY 2, ROUNDS 4-5

After a quick round 3, most people would have tried to get as much sleep as possible, in this case, 9 hours. But, as you probably know, I am not normal. I tried going to sleep around midnight and found I could not rest without looking over my games with the computer first. I had to know what was happening in that chaotic round 1 game, where I went wrong in round 2, and if I played perfectly in round 3. I eventually fell asleep around 3 AM, got up at 7 AM to leave for round 4, and I wondered vaguely what was wrong with me. Why, oh why, would I not fall asleep earlier? Is it just me or is it ridiculously difficult to sleep the night before otb chess is to be played?

At 2/3 I'm not far behind the tournament leaders, and if I managed to finish 4/5 I would at least tie for first. That's the goal, win out, and at least tie for first. On the drive there I was told my opponent was Joel Friedman, an 1800 I had played only once before. He had beaten me the last time we played when I was 1960 and he was 1760, a loss I was not very happy about. At all. Look at what he played last time.

I was absolutely determined not to get that position again and mess it up. I spent 30 minutes studying up on it before the game, just to make sure I knew I was prepared for everything in that awful line. It couldn't hurt me again, I thought 30 minutes later, as I made my way to the board as the round was starting. But I soon found that, no later than move 1, I had wasted 30 minutes studying for nothing. That's half an hour of my life that I'll never get back. The 4-hour game wasn't much better.

I feel like I definitely should have won that. And yet I feel like I definitely should have lost that. I guess a draw feels appropriate then? Man, I don't even know. That was a mess. Regardless. gg to Joel, I'm now 0-1-1 against him, despite being 200+points higher in both of our games. Maybe eventually I'll figure out how to beat him. Shoutout to Joel by the way, he ended up tying for 2nd place and jumped to 1900, so that's a fantastic result for him.

Finally. Round 5. It's almost over. With the draw to Joel, I had pretty much taken myself out of the running for first place. Now I was just playing to not lose too many rating points and maybe make some money. I was determined to not lose this last game. I wasn't confident, however. I was paired with the one person I was hoping I would not have to play. I've played Aaron Decord many times before, and when there is something on the line it doesn't go well. There have been multiple tournaments where we played in the last round with first place on the line... and I lost. Badly. This time a tie for 2nd place, and cash, was on the line. Even though I had recently been getting good results against Aaron, which is surprising as well, I was still willing to bet I would likely lose this game. But hey, I guess I didn't give myself enough credit.

And once again, I draw a game I feel like I should have won. But at least that time I didn't feel like I should have lost. I messed up my advantage in a strange way and then needed a pretty tactic to not lose. All in all, I always consider it a win to simply not lose to Aaron, so I was content with the game. Gg, as usual, Mr. Decord. Also, shoutout to the 2021 Alabama State Champion, Chibuzo Ilonze, a 2100 who finished with a perfect 5/5 score, beating 2 NMs in the process. Not bad, man. Not bad at all.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I'm not so happy with my performance. Yes, I finished 3/5 and tied for 4th, but honestly, when I started as the 3rd highest rated in the event, tying for 4th place is a letdown. And I was lucky to even get to 3/5. I very easily could have lost rounds 1, 3, and 4, in addition to losing round 2. On the other hand. I definitely had chances to win rounds 4 and 5, and if I had, this would be a different story. I have very mixed feelings about it, but at the end of the day, I'm just glad I didn't lose a bunch of rating points. I only lost 7, so I dropped from 2111 to 2104. Not bad, I'm still a 2100, and the road to NM continues. As for my quest to someday win the state championship, who knows when that will happen. But, as someone told me after losing round 4, taking myself out of the running for first place, "you're still young." Wise words. I'm still young. I've got years of chess ahead. Surely I'll win this thing one day... right?? Hey, I wouldn't put it past me to never win this event 🤣

Well, that's all I've got for y'all today. I hope y'all enjoyed reading, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. Any thoughts, feedback, criticism, or whatever you feel the inexplicable urge to share here, do feel free to share it below! My next post probably won't be for another month, and I might not be playing otb again until December, meaning I need to figure out what to write about next time. I've got a few ideas, but honestly, I have no clue what's next. In any case, I will post something next month at least, so stay tuned! Thanks again for reading, cyall in the comments!