The crucial rd.12

Yesterday was a nice day for me! I beat a GM after long time. Yes on 20th oct 2013 I beat M R Lalith Babu 2583 with the white pieces. It was a tense game in which I managed to hold my nerve. Now I face the young and talented Murali Karthikeyan 2444 in rd.12. Its a tricky position that I am in. I am 8/11 and I think 9.5/13 is required to qualify. So I need a win in the last 2 rds. I have decided to play the Bg5 line in open catalan. Its a safe line and draw is a very likely result. However if he goes wrong I can have my chances. Considering that he likes tactical positions, I think this is an interesting choice! Lets hope for the best!
21st oct 04.20 am.

Wil to win

To win is to believe. Sometimes its not enough that we play the best moves. We need to believe that we can win. Once we have this belief other things fall in place. Today I py praneeth surya 2210 a player with whom I have drawn twice. Today more than opening preparation, I need mental preparation that I will play for win no matter what he hurls at me! There are 64 mins left for the game. Its time to start thinking for a win.

Round 3 Harshal Shahi

The tournament has not yet taken off it seems. I still feel as if I am at home. But today it has to change. I have to give my all. To fight like a warrior. My opponent Harshal Shahi(2010) is a young kid. If I play my best he doesn't have a chance. The key is to be hungry for making good moves! Lets do it!!

National Challengers 2013 starts!

I sit here at the Dadar railway station waiting for my 12137 punjab mail to come. Its an important event for me. The national Challengers 2013. Its my chance to make it big because only 9 qualify for the national premier. I ve worked decently.maybe not as much as I would ve liked but good enough to finish in the top 9. Prior to the day of going always some or d other problem crops up and today it was no diffeeent. Yet I think its good I ve to face fights with my family gf or others for it strengthens my resolve to do better against all odds. I start as the 30th seed I guess. I just dont ve any aims. Its my aim to just play a good game of chess. I am going to flow wid d flow n thats y I havent even booked a hotel. I hope all will go well.

Finally, A Champion!

9/9 would have been great but 8.5/9 is not bad. Finishing as the clear champion at the 4th Buddhi Open is a nice feeling.  I dont deny that I was the favourite to win. But still it feels nice. And I gained 50000 SL rupees n a beauty trophy and 8 elo! Very successful trip.

Final round

Today I meet Srilankan player TSS Peiris(2020). He is a good player. But I must not think of the championship. A chess players true possessions are his games not his accomplishments. No one is interested in which tournament you won or lost but if your games have instructional value then everyone would like to see them and learn from them. This I have learnt from Mark Dvoretsky. So lets forget about 1st place, prize money, 9/9 etc and play good game.

Top seed

The tournament begins in 30 minutes n I am tensed. I dont know why but being the top seed in a tournament is kind of a new feeling and that too in a foreign country! And that too by 200 points. Phew! I m all d time reminding myself that coming here is not a mistake but my games will have to prove that!

Anuruddha Srilankan champion

Today after a hard fought win against Nishant, I will now play a good player from Sri Lanka Anuruddha(2156) in rd 8. He is quite a resourceful player so I must be careful. According to Niklesh he might offer a draw before the game but I intend to play. Its one thing to win the tournament but quite another to play good chess and I must play in order to show that I am capable of playing strong games.
(Before 8 rd)

Nimzo or Benko

My 7th round opponent is Nishant Malhotra(2073). He always play d4. I was confused between Benko n Nimzo but finallt decided Nimzo as its the most solid.

Patience, perseverance & trickery!

My 6th round opponent was Yogesh Gautam (2047).A tricky player and quite strong in trappy play. I played Catalan with white and he played the open catalan. He played Nc6 move to Bg5 which is not theory. I played safely and secured a small edge. The entire game revolved around whether he could play c5 or not. He defended nicely and at one point I felt as if there is no way but to accept a draw. I had a 28 min advantage but slowly not only the time but also my energy drained out. I did something interesting at that point. Unlike Dubai where I would blunder in such situations, I ran to a nearby shop and drank milk. Immediately I felt better and starred seeing better. Funny thing is seeing me drinking milk, he too ran to the shop but the one I drank was the last. Thats what he told me after the game. Soon he played c5 but turned out be a mistake as I set a small trap in which he fell. As I always say sometimes its not wirth achieving something that u were trying for a long time!

Room mate mated

My game against my room mate Niklesh Jain (1893) didnt really cause too many difficulties as first of all I got the position I prepared previous night and he kept making passive moves due to which he never really got any chances. Overall there wasnt much scope for me to go wrong but I think I played a game without any mistakes. Now I might get some strong opponent for which I should be mentally prepared.

Room mate opponent!

Niklesh Jain(1893) is my opponent for round 5. Playing against a room mate is always a tricky affair. First of all some trash talks begin like tu kya khelega!
Will give my best etc. I hate all this pre game talks. I dont know. Maybe coz I take chess too seriously. But in any case after the talks its preparation. For me my opponent watched a movie as I prepared. I guess that spurred him to work hard as he woke up at 6 in the morning to prepare. In any case I hope to do well. A motivated opponent is tougher to beat than a skilled but lacking motivation opponent. So will try to give my best!
(Written at 7.45 am before rd.5)

1600: tough nut to crack!

Round 3 I faced K Hariraj(1614) from India. He played some good chess to put me on the ropes. I had to put my entire energy to overcome him. Round 4 was relatively easier as I dispatched Srilankan Osheen de silva(1833).

E4 best by test

Before tye 2nd round I was feeling uneasy. I wasnt so happy with my decision of playing the tournament.  I needed something drastic. Something that would change my mood. And thats when the idea of playing 1.e4 struck me. It was a double edged sword.  Usuaaly against a 1250 player u can expect to win by playing anything. But still 1.e4! He could play sicilian french caro kann anything. Was I prepared for it? Frankly no. But it was a risk worth taking! I always remember Javed Akhtars words from zindagi na milegi dobara: dilo mein apni betaabiyan lekar chal rahe ho to zinda ho tum..... tum ek lehar ki tarah behna sikho.... yes if u have some butterflies in your stomach its a good idea to try it out! I played 1.e4 and won very easily. The point was not just that I won bit it changed my mood. I started feeling better in Sri Lanka! Bobby Fischer had rightly said 1.e4 best by test!!

1st round victory

As I sat waiting for my opponent I realised that the organisers had made a mistake due to which I was to recieve a walkover. But fortunately they put someone else a young boy 10 yr old as my opponent. I was glad to just play. We played sicilian scheveningen and of course I was able to outplay him. Next round is at 3 pm. I just hope to improve my play and calculate more freely.

SriLankan Tournament!!

Tomorrow I will leave for srilanka. Its been not such a great year this 2013. I hope in this tournament I can start my successful journey to the end of the year in which I shall play 4 more tournaments. I might be the top Seed for the event and hopefully I can finish on the 1st place. But more importantly I would like to play good games and come back as a better player. Let's hope for the best.my flight from Mumbai to Colombo is on 18th September 2.30 AM.
ps: Going with an unshaven look just to remind myself that I mean business!!