The final tournament in my 3-tournament October Series was the Annual Fall Chess Festival in Dearborn, Michigan.  After a sub-par performance in my previous two tournaments , I was hoping to salvage something from the third tournament.  After two days of rest between tournaments, I was back on the road again, this time with my Mom.  We landed in Detroit at 3 pm EST.  We were picked up by the organizers, and had the honor of sharing the car with the top seed of the event – GM Timur Gareev (2676 Fide, 2768 USCF!).  Timur was a very lively and amiable person to converse with.  Known for his exemplary blindfold chess skills, Timur is planning to break the blind chess simul world record of 64 boards.  For all I know, he’s probably done it already 🙂

About 20 minutes later we pulled-up at the venue, Adoba Hotel.   There were 61 players competing in the Norm Section, with 15 GM’s, and 10 IM’s ( including me :).   In the first round, I was paired with an unrated local boy Ricky Reid.  I won pretty smoothly, although Ricky did defend tenaciously when he got into a worse position.  In the next round, I was paired with GM Aleksandr Lenderman (2539 FIDE).  He had got the better of me at the Continental Class tournament a few weeks ago.  So I was determined to make amends.  My only problem was that I was unfit.  When I woke up that morning I felt really enervated and physically battered.  Don’t know why.  Perhaps the below freezing temperatures got to me.  There was really nothing to do other then take medicines and tough it out.  I was playing the White pieces.  Lenderman played a Carokann, and it was more or less equal until I got overoptimistic and fell into an inferior position.  A pretty silly thing to do, considering I wasn’t in peak physical state.  I was now playing for a Draw, and made some waiting moves to get closer to the time control.  When GM Lenderman played a5, I spent 5 of my remaining 6 minutes to play a4!  The move seriously compromises the dark squares for me, but Black still has no clear way to breakthrough.  The GM continued to try and improve his position, while I just waited and played accurately.  Right before the timecontrol, he erred with Kf8 ?  I was able to win the exchange, but I had to be careful of his Queen-Bishop tandem posing threats to my King.  With less than 30 seconds on the clock, I played Qd3?!  I had a better option which would’ve given me decent chances to win.  GM Lenderman then found the correct Drawing maneuver Qb2-Qf2 , after which I couldn’t avoid a Perpetual from him.  In a way, I was both relieved and satisfied to Draw considering I was in a worse position at one point, as well as not in peak condition.

After returning to the hotel, I slept to revive myself and gain back some energy.  Not a bad idea 🙂 When I awoke, I found out I was paired with GM Ben Finegold (2483 FIDE) for the evening round. While scanning through his games, I noticed he has a tendency to play wild and crazy positions.  So I spent most of my prep on some irregular stuff he plays.  When the round started, and the clock was pressed, GM Finegold opened with d4, nf6, c4!?!?!?!.  I was shocked that he was going for main-line theory.  I went for a Nimzo, and GM Finegold played 4.Qc2, followed by 5.Nf3.  I didn’t really know too much about the line, so I just played natural moves, and equalized pretty easily.  That’s where … the boredom set in 🙂  The position was unbelievably dull and monotonous.  I was hopefully expecting a Draw offer after every move he played … which unfortunately didn’t happen :(.  Just my darn luck, GM Finegold decided to open things up with e5 later, and I made possibly the worst positional move of all time with d5 ???.  I was passive and stuck with a terrible Bishop afterwards, and it didn’t take long for Ben to win.  Instead after e5, dxe5 ! would maintain equality.  It sucked losing in such an even position.  Maybe it wasn’t my fault though, since Ben said he snuck a piece of mine off the board 🙂  After the long walk back to the hotel, about 3/4 mile away from venue, I immediately fell asleep since I was physically and mentally exhausted.

Next morning, I woke up feeling much better and ready to play.  I wanted to get back into action.  You know that feeling.  I was finally feeling 100%, and was ready to bring out my lightning bolt :).  I was paired with FM Kostya Kavutskiy (2272 FIDE), to whom I’d lost to in the Spice Cup a few days prior to this tournament.  I was definitely hoping for a better result this time.  He played the Archangelsky variation of the Ruy Lopez, and I chose a rather quiet line, which probably isn’t the best, but people don’t seem to know it and fall into trouble quickly.  But just my darn luck again!  FM Kavutskiy seemed to know it like the back of his hand, and blitzed out his next 4-5 moves.  Now I had to replan.  After a few maneuvers and exchanges, I managed to fix his Pawn on a6. That was really the only hope for me to Win in the position.  And I really wanted to Win!  Draws are second rate results anyhow, but I must admit many a times still better than a stick in the eye :-).  The only thing I had to worry about was the safety of my King.  FM Kavutskiy played Rb2, a good move, taking advantage of my weak second rank.  I offered an exchange of Rooks, which he accepted.  Thereafter, the FM placed his other Rook on b2.  I followed up with Kg1, after which he played Re2, Qc1, Rxe3 ??.  I simply played Kf2, after which FM Kavutskiy was forced to give up the exchange, allowing me to Win smoothly.  Boy, that felt like a warm breeze on a freezing Michigan morning!

So at this stage, I was 2.5/4, and in the thick of a group of strong titled players.  In Round 5, I was paired with IM Leonid Gerzhoy (2478 FIDE).  I had lost to IM Gerzhoy at the Continental Class tourney about 10 days prior, clearly missing a chance to take the upper hand, and had Drawn with him at the NY International, where I blew a +% advantage.  I had been outplaying IM Gerzhoy, but not getting the result I wanted.  This time I was determined not to give any more gifts to him.  It was a mainline Bc4 Gruenfeld, in which I deviated from the Karpov-Kasparov games where Black would go Bg4 f3,Na5.  He wasn’t familiar with the variation, and misplayed his subsequent moves.  I felt really comfortable my position, after Leonid decided to sac a pawn for Kingside counterplay. Unfortunately … another gift came his way.  After messing up the move order, I simply collapsed.  I went from -0.24 to +8 for him in a span of 8 moves. No win this time too, after gaining a slightly upper hand.  This game was a real blow, considering my position. The walk back to hotel didn’t help either, as the weather was 32F, with a windchill of 25F.  Cabs had a 30-minute wait, and I just wanted to get back to my room.  My hands and mouth numbed fast, and the frosty howling wind was bitter on the face. Toss that in with a Loss from an even position, and you’ve got yourself in a pathetic predicament :).

I was anxious that night, hoping that I would get a good player next morning, preferably higher rated. Well I got what I wanted, as I was paired with  FM Steven Winer (2403 FIDE).  It was a Siclian Najdorf, and we castled opposite.  This basically guaranteed that someone’s gonna get their king blown off the board, and I had to make sure it wasn’t mine:).  Good thing for me that my King was the one left standing at the end, as I turned in a complete game, winning crisply on the Kingside.  This game set the tone for the rest of the tournament, and allowed me to finish strong.  In the sprint to the end, I Drew with IM Keaton Kiewra (2404 Fide), although once again I was winning before going full crazy mode;  beat IM Kannappan Priyadharshan (2425 Fide), and Drew with GM Bartlomiej Macieja (2586 FIDE) in the final round.  So 3/4 points in the final rounds got me to a total score of 6/9, which was good enough for the 2nd spot in the U2400 category, worth $250.  I gained over +28 valuable FIDE rating points.  For me this was a good tournament , and finally the pumpkin smiled late in October, as I finished the 3 almost back-to-back tourneys.

As most of you know, the World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan ‘Vishy’ Anand and Magnus Carlsen came to an end 3 days ago.  Anand, the defending champ, ultimately proved to be no match for  Carlsen, the Norweigian phenom, who won 6.5-3.5, a staggering margin of 3 points. I guess the suprising part is not the fact that Magnus won, but how he won.

The first 2 games were quick Draws, with both players getting a feel for the opponent’s preparation.  The next two game’s were much more exciting, with Vishy coming close to a win in the 3rd one and Magnus coming close to a Win in the 4th. The 5th game was an unsual Semi-Slav, and pretty soon an endgame was reached, which was slightly better for Carlsen.  Magnus pressed hard, trying to squeeze something out,  but Vishy defended accurately and a Draw seemed inevitable.  Suddenly on the 45th move, the World Champion blundered with Rc1+??.  Magnus was then able to simplify into a winning rook endgame, and Vishy resigned 8 moves later.  Blood had been spilled!

All eyes were now on Anand and how he would respond in Game 6 with the White pieces.  Vishy opened with 1.e4, and countered Magnus’s Berlin with 4.d3.  Carlsen’s play wasn’t accurate, but Vishy missed his chance to seize a decent advantage.  Soon, the World Champ began to go astray and Magnus was able to win a pawn, just as they reached the 40th move.  Anand defended well, and once again, things seemed headed towards a Draw.  But on the 60th move, the second time control, Vishy inexplicably played Ra4 ??, which sealed his fate.  Magnus created a passer pawn and won a few moves later.  I was astounded when I replayed the game and saw the move Ra4.  The move had no purpose and basically gives a free move to Black.  Vishy was never able to recover from these two devastating losses, and Magnus went on to secure the match in convincing fashion, winning one more game in the process.

Thus, a new era started with Magnus Carlsen becoming the 16th World Champion, at 22 years, 11 months, and 358 days.   Carlsen’s reign as a world champion has now begun …

_______________

Here’s my earlier posted Game 5 recap in a bit more detail.

As most of you chess aficionados know, the World Chess Champion is currently underway in Chennai, India. The current World Champion Vishy Anand, looks to defend his title against Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen. The first two games were quick lifeless draws, finishing  about an hour. The last 3 Games however were a treat for the specatators, and provided some entertainment. In Game 3, Vishy came very close to achieving a winning advantage, however a premature simplification on his side steered the game to a draw. In Game 4, Magnus employed the solid Berlin Wall against Vishy’s Ruy Lopez. This time it was the World Champ who went astray, and Magnus managed to win a pawn shortly after. A magnificent battle followed  with Carlsen arduously pressing for the win, and Vishy valiantly defending for a draw. After a grueling 6 hours, the game ended in a draw. Game 5, which finished 4 hours ago, saw Carlsen with the White pieces. After Vishy’s 3.c6, Carlsen went for 4.e4 !? which channeled the game into calmer, but uncharted waters. Inaccurate play by Anand allowed Carlsen to simplify into a slightly better endgame. These are the types of positions Carlsen thrives in – a small but nagging advantage in which he can torture and press the opponent as long as he wants with no risks for himself whatsoever. But Vishy defended precisely and so things appeared headed for another draw. However 6 moves after reaching the timecontrol, Vishy played 45.Rc1+, a fatal error- 45.Ra1 was the drawing move. Magnus swiftly capitalized on the error, and traded down to a winning Rook Endgame. He cashed in on the full point 7 moves later. A rejuvenating result for Carlsen, but a demoralizing one for Anand. Tomorrow Anand takes on the White pieces and it will be interesting to see how he rebounds.

On a side note, it was refreshing to see Indian chess fans acknowledge the presence of Garry Kasparov, a true chess legend and former World Champion who visited Chennai , while the officials unfortunately failed to do so.

Have you ever met a chess legend?  How about playing in a chess legend’s tournament? Well, that’s exactly what I was able to do, by playing in this year’s Spice Cup in St. Louis, organized and hosted by none other then the fabled Susan Polgar.  As most of you would know, Susan was the first woman to achieve the title of GrandMaster, in the year 1991.  She went on to become the reigning World Champion, from the years 1996-1999.  So it truly was an honor to be able to meet her , and participate in her tournament. The Spice Cup was to be the second tournament  of my October series, after the Continental Chess tournament in Crystal City, Virginia.  

Akshat Chandra with Susan Polgar – receiving the co-winner U2400 prize at
The Spice Cup – Oct 2013

Sorry for the brief writeup, but the lengthy writeup I’d done got deleted. It’s a pain to try and recreate everything 🙂

The North American Youth Chess Championship 2013

After coming home from the the Washington International Chess tournament, I was headed out again a couple of days later.  This time it was to Toronto for the North American Youth Chess Championship from Aug 14 to 18.  Normally I wouldn’t play these type of “Continental Youths,” for there is a significant rating risk as most players are lower-rated.  Consequently there is a higher level of stress round-after-round, all for not that much a significant enough Chess title or prize.  But this time, Canadian organizer Francis Rodriguez and his team were able to convince FIDE to award an International Master (IM) Chess title to the winner of the top age group U18 section – a grand prize.  That’s a highly coveted Chess title, and it got my attention 🙂  There were many other Chess norm prizes and other titles sprinkled too for various categories.  But the IM title was the biggest.  So this North American Youth changed from being just another event to something special.  And I wasn’t the only one who thought so.  You should’ve seen the entry list balloon, within a matter of a few days of this announcement.  Kudos to the organizers to get FIDE to approve the Chess titles and norms, and with over 350 players in various sections, this was I believe the largest North American Youth Chess Championship ever.

My support team and I (Dad and brother this time, since my mother had to leave in the midst of the Washington International for a family emergency to travel to India) took the noon flight from Newark on Porter Airlines, which arrived at around 2 pm in Toronto.  The round was at 7pm, later that Wednesday.  A slight digression here – I’d just like to say, that Porter may as well be the best airlines I’ve ever traveled on!  They have a lounge at each of their terminals with free WiFi, complimentary refreshments, and a  meal onboard 🙂   How great is that!  As the plane approached it’s landing, I marveled at a beautiful island and the azure waters surrounding the Billy Bishop Airport.

Toronto – a short ferry ride from city airport to mainland

Once we landed at the Toronto city airport on a clear, bright day, we took the ferry to reach the mainland and then made our way to downtown Toronto to finally reach our destination – the playing venue and hotel, “Chestnut Residence.”  When I arrived at the Hotel, I figured I can rest for a couple of hours for the evening round.  But that was not to be.  After standing in line for about 30 minutes at the busy front-desk, we got a room which was not even cleaned after the last occupants.  We trooped back downstairs, and were given another room 15 minutes later.  We gingerly entered the room, and it all looked fine.  A few minutes later, the bathroom started overflowing .  We also realized that one of the main lights in the bedroom wasn’t working, and so in the evening the room will be half-dark.  This was upsetting.  We called up front-desk, and they offered to send a maintenance person right away instead of exchanging rooms.  Well, 30 minutes later the person showed up.  He fixed the bathroom, but fixing the light fixture was a different story.  It required all kinds of wire changes and nearly an hour to fix.  It was almost 6:30 pm now.  Dismissing thoughts of a rest, I headed downstairs for the tournament.

The Tournament Hall with various age group sections

The place reminded me of the SuperNational’s playing hall, which brought back pleasant memories.  In the first round, I was Black, playing David Itkin (2021 FIDE) from Canada.  Emerging from the opening with a time advantage, I aimed to build on that with some board advantage as well :).  David decided to sacrifice a pawn, but it wasn’t very effective.  All I had to do was consolidate and be careful of any Kingside tricks.  I played Qxa2 and as I wrote down my move it hit me that I had blundered.  I tried to put on a poker face, but the winning move was too obvious.  Surely enough he played Bc5, the decisive blow.  Panic overtook me.  I had set out with high hopes to win something special, and here I was struggling with someone rated 300 points below me.  I played on, but the final result was inevitable from that point on.  1-0 for him.  I had started off with  0/1.  It was shocking.

There was no room for error now.  I figured a winning score for the Title would be 7.5/9.  Well, I’d just made my job a lot harder.  I’d now have to score at least 7.5 out of the last 8 rounds if I wanted to have a shot at the title.

As we got back to our room after dinner, we began to notice a tremor in the room and a whooshing sound.  It was perplexing.  Then we figured it out.  Our room was right behind the entire bank of elevators.  There were three elevators whooshing up and down the shaft right behind our room wall.   This was so annoying and distracting.  But we had no choice.  We spent the night in discomfort, and I can tell you that Chestnut Residence is a busy place; for those elevators were going about their business all night.  Whoosh!

Next morning on Thursday, Day 2,  I won my second round with Aquino Inigo (2030 FIDE).   Whew!  It felt reassuring to know that I can win.  I headed back to the room.  My family had already switched rooms and this one was to the side of the elevator bank.  So still some noise, but not the ruckus from the night before.

In the afternoon round I was paired with Olivier Kenta (2127 FIDE).  There was a point in the game where I avoided trades as I felt it would decrease my winning chances.  I opted for something inferior instead, but was unable to come up with a constructive plan afterwards.  Olivier’s h-pawn attack was powerful, and after some nonsensical moves from my side, I was forced to resign.  I was shocked and devastated.  I’d been completely swept off the board.  The hope of winning the U-18 title and becoming an IM was dashed and I was now struggling to stay above 2300 FIDE rating, having lost a sizable 24 points after three rounds.   The online broadcast by Monroi got the board and result wrong, and showed me winning.  It was quite a shock to my family when they learnt that the outcome was painfully different than what was being shown on Monroi.

Time stood still.  I was completely torn apart, and in mental anguish.  The constant thought of my failure swirled through my head and was an agonizing dose of reality.  I couldn’t turn away from it.  I was living the misery.  I couldn’t believe I was bowing out so tamely from the quest for the Title.  Without a whimper!  The typical instinctive thoughts of Fight or Flee flooded through my mind.  Since there was not much to play for now, my father started making backup plans in case we choose to withdraw.  The airlines, the hotel, the tournament organizers, all had to be coordinated and approved.  It was possible to withdraw without breaking the bank.

The decision was now mine.  This was a hard one.  My uninspired performance so far only suggested that I will end up losing more FIDE rating points.  At the same time, I had come to play for the Title and it was hard to pull away even if the hopes of winning it had experienced an untimely end.  If I left, the door would be closed.  If I continued, I could try to earn back some of the FIDE points.  But most important, I had to learn to play through a tournament even in psychologically the most adverse circumstances.  An inner voice told me I should finish the tournament.   Hope continued to linger in the darkest moments.  For me, I had to salvage some pride, and if possible  rating points.  But most important I’d to try till the end.  I had to learn to hold my ground and make the best of the worst situation.

Once I decided to see this through, there wasn’t much to do in the room.  Although our room had troubles with the elevators, it had a great view of downtown Toronto.  From our room, we would watch the fountain square with its own concert stage and pretty buildings all around.  We decided to go for a walk to the lively centro.  The experience was enjoyable and at least I forgot about my troubles for some time.  My brother was out to have some fun, and he kept me entertained.

Day 2 evening – My brother was enjoying the time out, and I was beginning to relax.  Akshat and Aditya Chandra.

Day 2 – As the evening wore on, the smile begin to appear.  Aditya ‘Addy’ and Akshat ‘Aksh’

Upon returning back to the room, doubts crept back into my mind if I’d made the right decision.  But it was too late for that.  It had all become fairly straight forward for me.  I now had to go into each round knowing that I had to Win.  There was no Draw option for me anymore.  The tournament outcome was no longer in my control.  I’d dug myself into a nice hole.

After a restless night, it was on to Friday, Day 3 of the tournament.  I managed to notch up 2 wins against Canadians, Guangyu Song (unrated) and Mike Ivanov (2080 FIDE) on Day 3.  This was my first day without a loss.  The wins put me at 3/5, a full 1.5 points behind the leaders.  After rounds in the afternoon and evening, we went out for a long walk to the fountain square.  It became a ritual and we looked forward to the exercise.  It was easier today walking around and not thinking about Chess.

Day 3 – The world felt a little better!

On to the penultimate day, Saturday, Day 4.  The Round 6 was at 10am in the morning.  I was playing White and paired with Nikita Kraiouchkine (2234 FIDE).  It was more or less equal until he made a tactical blunder, allowing me to win two minor pieces for a rook.  The win however was far from easy.  After a  few imprecise moves from my side, all the winning chances evaporated.  I was forced to trade into a drawn endgame.  There’s no way I can win now I thought.  But luck was on my side and Nikita erred.  I managed to capitalize on his small mistake and finished the game with a Win!

With three more rounds to go, Justus Williams was leading at this stage with 5.5/6, followed by Jarod Pamatmat (5), and Awonder Liang (5).  Following them was a cluster of players on 4 points, including me.  In the afternoon 7th round at 3pm, I got a double-white and was playing Joshua Colas (2206 FIDE) who had just come off a tough loss to Justus from a superior and most likely winning position.  I found myself forced to go for simplifications and a Draw was inevitable.  We reached the following Rook endgame: White: b5,Rf4,Kd3. Black: b7,d4,Kg7.  Joshua’s King was cut off, so I had some hope.  If Joshua had played the simple Rf7!, it would be impossible to win.  But he played Rc7 ?!, Kxd4, Kg6 ??.  I was able then to win his b7 pawn and create the neccessary “Lucena.”  This was unbelievable!  Two dead drawn games, and I’d managed to win to keep myself in the mix!  Howsoever feeble the hopes were for a Title, I couldn’t have done anything more.  Hope was being faintly rekindled.  The tournament outcome was still not in my control.  I just had to focus on my game, and find Wins.

Day 4 – The evening walk before the last day.  The lights were green, but could I go all the way on the Final Day!  

The final day had approached.  It was Day 5.  The Sunday morning round was starting earlier at 8:30am.  Justus Williams was storming ahead with 6.5/7, a full 1.5 points ahead of  Jarod Pamatmat, Razvan Preotu, Awonder Liang and me.  I’d moved into the second ranked group, but still 1 1/2 points separated this group from the leader.  There were 2 rounds on the final day, and so 2 full points on the table to work for.  All Justus needed was 1 more point on the last day, to seal the victory.

I was playing Black against Jarod Pamatmat in R8.  Our previous encounter was at the US Junior Open qualifier, where I bungled a completely winning positon (+10) and ended up losing.  It was time to not repeat careless mistakes and to even things up!   Jarod sacrificed a pawn, which sharpened up the game.  Good, I thought. The more complications, the better for me. The last thing I wanted was simplifications. I managed to fend off the attack and transition to a winning endgame.  Despite having only a minute on my clock while Jarod had 3 minutes, I converted the position to a Win without any problems.  No late mess up against Jarod this time.  In the U18 section, ours was the last game of Round 8, and it carried on long till close to 1pm, when the final round was to start.  Meanwhile on Board 1, Justus had earlier Drawn with Canadian Razvan.  So Jusus had collected 1/2 point and still needed another 1/2 point for the Title.   I was now in sole second, a point behind Justus, and the only one in a position to play the leader in the final round.

The final game acquired new meaning for me.  For the first time since the tournament began, things were in my hands too.  Lucky for me, the first tiebreak was a Direct or “head-to-head ” encounter.  This meant if I beat Justus, I would win the tournament due to having a better direct encounter score!  For all other outcomes, Justus would win.  A Win would get me the Title.  If Justus Won or Drew, he would win the title.  It reminded me of the SuperNationals final game, although there I was in Justus’ position, and needed just a Draw to win the title.

Going into that final afternoon game I was facing a lot of emotions, I was anxious, but hopeful and excited at the same time!  But there was a sense of calmness in all this too.  For I reminded myself that this is what I had yearned for – a chance to play the leader.  And after an absolutely disheartening start to the tournament,  I’d won 5 straight games to earn the right to play for Title in the final round.   Can I make it 6 games in a row?

There was a lot of interest in our game, since it was one of us who would win the Title.  For all the buildup, it was a fairly undramatic game.  The game was more or less equal until Justus played Nb4 ?.  I saw the winning series of moves and felt a rush of adrenaline.  Justus had missed that after he plays Nd3, I have Bc1! which wins on the spot.  Shortly, he was forced to resign.  It was a quick game.  I felt sorry for Justus for he had played well and steady in the tournament.  I was happy he still got his IM norm and an FM title.  Well, as for me,  I was in a trance!  I’d just stormed back from 1 out of 3, to win the tournament with 7 out of 9!  I had walked in a Fide Master (FM).  And I was going to walk out an International Master (IM).  The chief organizer, Francis Rodriguez, immediately congratulated me and let me know that I was an IM now 🙂  That was sheer joy!  I couldn’t wait to share the news with my father and brother.  Francis walked me out and told my father that I’m an IM now and the North American Youth Champion in U18 section.  Thanks Francis, for your compliments and a wonderfully conducted tournament!  For me, this tournament was a miracle.  I didn’t throw in the towel after R3.  I persisted even though hope had flickered away, and fought for whatever little there was left to fight for.  So my fellow players, “It ain’t over, till the fat lady sings. ” 🙂

I don’t know what worked for me from Day 3 onwards.  I don’t even know if I can replicate it.  All I know was that I didn’t wish to Abort and Return.  I wanted to Play on.  You can call it grit or determination or even fool’s luck.  At that time, it was just doing what I love to do – play chess and get through the day without hurting myself.  Maybe that’s how champions are made.  But whatever the decision in such hard situations, it has to be yours.  Often times you’ve to just follow your heart, even when the mind calculates it’s a risky proposition with no rewards.  It’s just the love of the game that keeps us coming back to the board, for there doesn’t appear to be much else there.  If I was logical on Day 2, I would have been heading home.

After the round, we went to the top of the hotel building to the viewing gallery.  With a beautiful backdrop of Toronto, for the first time in many days I smiled without a care and took a swig of Coca Cola.  Boy, did it taste real sweet 🙂

Finally, I could breathe easy!  Mission Accomplished!

Enjoy the pictures of the tournament, and the beautiful city of Toronto!  There are no pictures of the actual chess rounds, but pictures of the numbing Day 2 and subsequent days.  My face on different days, tells the entire story.  On Wednesday, October 02, 2013, FIDE changed my title on their official site to International Master.  It’s now IM Akshat Chandra.  But you can still call me Akshat 🙂

Being handed the trophy by the Canadian Chess Federation executive.

With organizer Francis Rodriguez, kudos to him for a great event !

On the subway ride back to the airport

The view of the centro from the hotel room

The centro at night time.

The refs in a huddle 🙂  (from official site)

Goodbye Toronto!

Quebec Chess Championship 2013 – A Beautiful Setting

I feel compelled to write about my experience at the Quebec Chess Championship, as I wish to share with other Chess Players that things aren’t always “up and up” in our chess journey.  There are inevitable “Downs” too that accompany the “Ups,” and this chess tournament was certainly one of those.  It happens to everyone, and one has to just keep going.

The Quebec Championship was held July 21 to July 28, 2013 in the city of Montreal.   The round schedule was very easy paced with 7 of 9 rounds over single days.  This definitely increases the quality of the game, and is easier on the mind.  However, the tournament can take much longer to finish, particularly if things are not going your way.  The venue was the beautiful old Brebeuf’s Chapel at the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montréal.  The tournament pace, setting, and the organization were excellent, and my compliments to the organizers for creating a great environment to compete for Title Norms and Rating Points.  I would definitely recommend this tournament to players from US.

Arriving at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montréal after a 8 hour train ride – Akshat Chandra. Some of you may have noticed I had gotten a haircut 🙂

A Classic Playing Hall –  Brebeuf’s Chapel on campus

This was the first time I played in Canada.  We were staying at the College itself.  It was a good idea due to the proximity of the playing hall.  But unfortunately, there was this atypical heat wave and the dorm rooms weren’t air-conditioned.  Worst still, there were no fans since Montreal is fairly temperate.  After two restless nights of bearing these hot conditions, we requested organizers Felix and Richard to help.  The next day Felix got us two fans from his home.  That helped tremendously.  I wish we would have asked earlier 🙂

The round information was all listed on Chess-results.com, which was very helpful.  This is standard practice in Europe and Asia as well, and I wish more US tournaments are listed on Chess-results.  I started off with a victory over Canadian player Kevin Wan (2006 FIDE).  But things were just a struggle after that.   My next game with GM Thomas Roussel Roozman was a bad one from my side.  I failed to play energetically and got into a hopeless, passive endgame.

Round 1 – Akshat Chandra Vs Kevin Wan

The next round with FM Masse Hughes (2193 FIDE) was unspectacular from my standpoint, as I Drew.  But it was the longest game of my 4-year Chess career and it lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes.  The last half hour was just me pushing in a Rook + Knight vs Rook endgame, refusing to Draw.  At times frustration makes you stubborn.

My Longest Chess Game – 6 hours and 40 minutes from 6 pm to 12:40am – Akshat Chandra, Masse Hughes and our patient Arbiter Danny Goldenberg (pictures were not allowed from any closer in order to avoid disturbing us)

In round 4 against Mackenzie Molner (2493Fide) , I hallucinated in an equal position and lost.  Yes, I hallucinated! I thought there wasn’t a pawn on this square , but turns out there was.  It totally disrupted my whole plan 😀

Mackenzie Molner Vs Akshat Chandra – Start of the Game.

Things weren’t so great from there onwards.  I started nursing a throat infection from Round 5.   The zinc lozenges and typical medicines were not helping.  I’d feel enervated after about 2 hours of play.  There was nothing to go on after 2 hours.

In Round 5, I played Villavieja Butch (2211 FIDE) from Phillipines.  I was lucky to do the damage in about 2 hours and won the game fairly quickly 🙂  In Round 6, I played a young Canadian talent, FM Preotu Razvan (2277 FIDE).  My play was weak from the beginning and at one point I thought I found an equalizing idea.  But I realized he had a refutation, and I sunk into deep thought.  I figured there was no other choice but to hope he didn’t see it.  Luckily he decided to go for material, after which I found a series of aesthetically pleasing defense moves :D.  Razvan didn’t want the Draw however, and embarked on a speculative exchange sac.  I now had some winning chances, but my 40th move was not the best. The position simplified and we Drew in the end.  Next two games were miserable and I lost to IM Arthur Calugar and Michael Song, missing a Draw in the former game and blowing a completely equal position in the latter one.  I had managed to score only 1 1/2 points from the last 4 rounds, and my energy level was ebbing.  Fortunately, the organizers had seen me taking medication and approved a medical exemption from playing the final round.  We left for New York on Saturday night itself, instead of Monday morning.

Akshat Chandra Vs Butch Villavieja in Round 5 of Quebec Chess tournament

The tournament was won by Cuban GM Bruzon Lazaro Batista (2698 FIDE).  Good for him!  I wish I could have done a lot better in a beautiful chess setting.  Well, I’ll have to wait for next time.

Since I wasn’t enjoying the tournament , I tried to enjoy the city.  Montreal has some nice architecture.  I found the people very polite and friendly.  So if you do have the time to attend this tournament next year, do give it a serious thought.  Well done, organizers!

Akshat at the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montreal, which was the Chess venue

R2 GM Roussel-Roozmon Thomas vs FM Akshat Chandra in Chess Round 2

 R6 Razvan Preotu Vs Akshat Chandra in Chess. I came armed with a banana, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough 🙂 A draw.

Found these Chess Boards used in Canadian Chess tournaments really neat. These are high quality paper-printed disposable chess boards. Great for large tournaments in non-Open sections.  Don’t want to be slighting the GMs with these 🙂

The World Open is the richest prize money tournament in the US.  My focus has to be to climb the rating and norm charts and play the Open section, particularly since I had momentum coming off a strong performance at the New York International days earlier where I earned an IM Norm.  Playing a U2400 FIDE tournament held only rating risk for me since I would most likely be the highest FIDE rated player – which was eventually true.  But I got tempted at the opportunity of a guaranteed grand prize money of $9,000 or potentially higher for first place.  That would contribute a long way to funding my trip to perhaps Europe and/or World Youth in UAE or additional coaching. Finding sponsorship is very hard, as per my experience thus far.  So here was a chance now to do something on my own.  Norms will have to wait.  I had to raise some money, and I decided to play the U2400 section.

To make a long story short, I failed 🙁 .

I still wanted to write about this tournament because often it’s easy to write about Successes, but not about our Failures or times when we come up empty-handed.  So I decided to write about two such recent tournaments – World Open and Quebec Open.  The road to success is paved with many failures.  I’m learning that failures are unavoidable.  They are very painful when they happen.  But they are making me stronger for the next time. Each failure brings me closer to success. When I look back, I find this quite true from my limited Chess experience over 4 1/2 years.  It’s okay to fail, but what’s important is to Learn and Move On!

As the great Michael Jordan once said , “Failure always made me try harder next time.  I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games.  26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. ”

Now to make a short story long, here’s how it went 🙂 .

We headed out to DC on July 7, the day of the tournament.  The tournament was being held at the Hyatt Regency, over a span of 5 days. Time Control for U2400 section was 115 min (5 sec delay) and an addition of 1 hour after 40 moves.  The first round was at 6pm, so there was plenty of time to relax.  I decided to use the time to sleep, since the round was late and I would need the energy to keep me going :).  I was playing Black, and paired with Denis Strenzwilk (1951 FIDE), an experienced veteran player.  I slowly but surely outplayed him, but then erred with a nonsensical Rook transfer.  Denis was able to exchange Rooks, after which winning seemed virtually impossible. I managed to get my King and Knight into their ideal positions, whereafter White blundered, allowing me to penetrate with my King.  Denis resigned shortly after.  The 2nd round had me paired with Chris Mabe (2250 FIDE) from North Carolina. He played a line which I was unfamiliar with, so I just played some common moves.  I misplayed the middlegame however, and his position became slightly better.  I was getting ready to offer a Draw, when suddenly Chris blundered !  I won a couple moves later.  I was 2/2 , but my play wasn’t convincing.  I played with IM Angelo Young (2315 FIDE) in the third round.  We were both out of theory from move 2 (!) and were spending a lot of time.  By move 25, I was down to 6 minutes, while he had 3.  It was more or less even, until he blundered with Ra1??, which I refuted with the tactical c4 !  I reached the time control an exchange up.  However Angelo still had a pretty obvious Draw.  He sunk into thought for 40 minutes, before playing b3 ??  From there on my technique was excellent and I managed to win the game.

3/3, so far so good I told myself.  Unfortunately , things were about to become far from good 🙁

R1 Denis Strenzwilk and Akshat Chandra

R2 Akshat Chandra playing Chris Mabe

R4 Akshat Chandra playing Iryna Zenyuk

I lost the next round to Iryna Zenyuk (2250 FIDE), won the next game with Osmekhian Innocent Omoifo (2180 FIDE), but then again suffered a setback by losing to Grant Xu (2125 FIDE).  Grant had even offered a Draw, but I thought I could tinker around with no real risks for a while,even though I had no real winning chances. I feel that as I mature as a chess player, I’ll be able to make better decisions in the future, such as  knowing when to Draw. I finished the tournament at 6.5/9, with an extremely lucky win in the last round against Andrew Tang (2150 FIDE).

I just wasn’t able to find my rhythm in this tournament. Perhaps it was the subconscious pressure of trying to win the first prize for my Quest.  Or it could be that I just couldn’t accept strategic Draws, for winning it all was important to me.   A mind is a funny thing.  The tapestry of the mind changes with each tournament.   I was really disappointed with the fact that I’d squandered a great opportunity to fund my dream.  But i’m not giving up on my Quest.  I will continue to look out for opportunities for chess funds and sponsorship.  After winning the K-9 US SuperNational Championship, I sent out sponsorship requests to a few places.  But there was no response. It’s not easy.  No wonder becoming a Champion is super hard and requires patience, focus, adaptability, grit and unrelenting hard work.  It’s true in Chess and in Life.