Rasberry's NM Grind - Ep. 3

I know, I know, you thought I had given up on my chess blog after just two issues. NOPE! Can't get rid of me this easily. I'm still humming along in the background writing, studying, scheming...

It's just that I had one incomplete tournament between my last blog and just recently, so there was no rush on this one. I'm also busy with building a Chessable course, which is in the review stage now, so I now have more time for blogging.  

Enough, on to my most recent tournament (an incomplete one). ROLL EP. 3!!

2 Tournament Games | Tournament Takeaway | Adjusting the Grind

Game 1:

Right after my last tournament, I had the opportunity to participate in Alabama's second-largest tournament of the year, the Queen of Hearts (no idea why it's called that, there are no cards or queens there. I guess lots of hearts are in the room...). Anyway, in round one, I got paired up with a rising young talent, Kevin. It is weird to call high schoolers young talent, but I am that old...

Game 2:

For that hard-fought game, I received the reward of playing Alabama's highest ever-rated player, Stu Rachels (he gets the nickname Stu rather than Stuart because he is a very cool, chill and genuine man, not a stuck-up, prick, snobby, elitest like many "way too good for you" players are...). While he is a down-to-earth guy, his chess is nearer the gods, and he showed me why here!

Yeah, ouch...an ugly game compounded by my opponent hardly missing anything. I was not expecting to win or even draw the game, but I was disappointed with my showing.

Unfortunately, after that, during day one of my tournament, my family fell ill, and I withdrew from the tournament to be with them. While the loss was disappointing, it hardly affected my rating, and with that, I scored 1.0/2.0, did not finish, and my rating bounded up from 2077 → 2079 while winning $0.00. 

Tournament Takeaway:

Okay, the first takeaway is do not let your family get sick. Wash your toddler's hands 3x more often so you can play chess more. But like from the actual tournament, I only have one and it is a familiar one (admittedly, this tournament was held only a couple of weeks after the last, so I did not have time to adjust much...)

1. See More Candidate Moves:

Okay, this one might look familiar if you have read my previous blog (if you have not, go do that next!!). Yeah, same problem, but I feel like I exacerbated it somehow. It's like I focused on finding more moves, and then I somehow missed more. I missed the free pawn Kevin got against me, and Stu just played every move I did not consider somehow. So it is clear. The main TT has to be stop missing moves. HOW???!???!?!?!?!? 

Adjusting the Grind:

Okay, here's how. I know all the answers now! This is what I did between the tournament I just completed a week ago and the event shown in this blog:

1. Do More Tactics

At the end of the day, I feel like I'm seeing the most in any given position when I am at my height tactically. Tactics force creativity, and I need an infusion of that in my game. When I miss moves, it is quite often tactical, so sharp tactics will help there. I did not consider this much after the last tournament since I felt my misses were just a discipline issue. It might have been, but my creativity has gone down the drain. Tactics will help there!

Hey, where were all those comments on my previous blogs asking where in the world have you been? Hold my feet to the fire, Chess.com peeps!! With your help, I'll make NM in no time! My next tournament has already been played (and I did decently!), so I'll get that posted before too long.

If you liked this blog, leave a comment saying how awesome this is (maybe plzzz & thxxxx!!!)