In the Arena! 2022 Premier and Amateur, St. Louis, Missouri

Note: First, I apologize for the first few tournament reports. The reports will be from tournaments over the summer. After I include my first set of events, the rest of the posts should be chronologically accurate. 

As I entered the month of June, I was eager to kickstart my run towards NM. Reaching 2200 had always been a dream of mine, even before the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, school, COVID-19, and other stuff delayed my push, and it has only been now that I've been able to play more consistently. The bad news? As my mother and I looked for affordable, intense events, they seemed like needles in haystacks. Luckily, my mother's research found the 2022 Premier and Amateur in St. Louis, Missouri. Looking back on it, we were incredibly fortunate to find this tournament because there weren’t any event advertisements on any major chess sites. Here's hoping that I will have a bit easier of a time finding events on my push towards 2200 FIDE!

The tournament was very competitive, with four masters, a FIDE Master, and seven experts in the 21-player field. I went in as the #6 seed and hoped to use this tournament as a springboard.

Round 1

My first round went as well as I could have hoped for. Before moving on, I should note that the tournament was held at the St. Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center, providing a professional atmosphere for the event. Walking through those doors made you feel like, "yeah, this is for real." My first-round opponent was Jacob Sanders (1721), a class B player with a very inconsistent rating history. It was fair to say that you could expect anything from him. Fortunately, his inconsistency showed in our game as he went wrong in the opening, giving me a positionally won game at move 11. Such opening mistakes result from poor impulse control, a defect often found in novices. I'm sure it will come with time as you continue to progress as a player.

So as you can see, it was quite a smooth ride. But, as you can imagine, things would only get more challenging.

Round 2

After winning my first-round game, I expected to play the top-seeded FM Aaron Jacobson (2413), as I was right on the cutoff for the second round. However, I played Jorge Flores-Rodriguez, a dangerous player rated 1918 (provisional) USCF who upset NM Julian Proleiko in round 1. Logically, as the higher rated player, I came out swinging, playing my aggressive modern opening vs. his d4, and went for imbalances straight away. Unfortunately, my gaps in knowledge were obvious from the beginning, and I nearly paid the price for my overconfidence. I overlooked a strong exchange sacrifice from my opponent and was fortunate to save a draw from the skin of my teeth. 

This was an incredibly sloppy game. Yet, despite all the mistakes, I think there is much to learn from it. The obvious first thing is my lack of knowledge of the Modern. My mistake on the tenth move is a great example. Often, a sign of uncertainty is playing ideas that don’t fit in a particular position. The move c5 is often a move you see in moderns. It occurs in Flexible Dragon variations, and many of the mainlines of the Austrian, to name a couple. However, all it did was exacerbate my lack of coordination. The second thing I take away from this game is that my lack of knowledge also affected my play in the middle game and endgame. Because I wasn’t well prepared to encounter the positions, I made errors in critical moments and had a lot of trouble evaluating lines correctly. I should note that my opponent went on to have an outstanding tournament, finishing with a 2.5/4 score and eclipsing the 2100 mark. 

Round 3

In round 3, I was set to face a strong expert who had been on the real upswing. Aditya Ponukumati (2165) was coming off of a strong 2022 Mid-America Open performance in which he gained 25 points and scored upsets over NM Gabriel Eidelman (2267) and FM Ryan Amburgy (2314). Coming off of a sloppy game in round 2, I opted for my solid 1. d4 openings hoping to calm things down. Unfortunately, my opponent had other ideas, as the position quickly became quite imbalanced as his decision to exchange his dark-squared bishop on the move 7 created a static vs. dynamic trade-off between my bishop pair vs. his better pawn structure. After mutual mistakes from the opening, my kingside attack decided the game as I won a clean match with the white pieces. 

Quite a convincing victory indeed. With 2.5/3, I readied myself for a firm test in my final round. It turns out, I was right! NM Caleb Denby beat fellow NM Roman Kozelov, taking sole possession of first place with a perfect 3/3 with myself, FM Aaron Jacobson, and Jorge Flores Rodriguez, all trailing with 2.5. 

Round 4

As luck would have it, I met the top-seeded FM Aaron Jacobson (2405) to close the tournament with the black pieces. I knew the game would be challenging, as my opponent boasted over 20 wins vs. players over 2500. My goal was to play solid and take the chances when they arose. I relied on my trusty QGD with my a6 refinement on the move 4. Unfortunately, my opponent was well prepared for this and laid a trap that I fell into. After slipping into a lost position out of the opening, all seemed lost for me, but I knew that accurate play was required from my opponent to pull out to win. My persistence paid off as my opponent went wrong, missing a powerful yet unclear tactic that would have trapped my queen in the middle of the board. Invigorated by the positive turn of events, I started to regroup my pieces and was able to reach a drawn opposite-colored bishop endgame that I held without too much discomfort. 

After the game, I was ecstatic. I finished the tournament with 3 out of 4 and tied for second place with FM Aaron Jacobson. It was the perfect way to end a great tournament and kickstart my run towards NM. I gained 20 points and $500 for my efforts. Overall, I had a very positive experience in St. Louis, as I was able to explore the city during my breaks and ended the weekend with positive vibes. I hope to be back in the future!