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!!

Day 7-Yumthang! Here we come!

One of the best days of our trip! We had a light breakfast in Yarlam and left for Yumthang which is 24 km away at 7.30 in the morning. It was important to leave early as we had to return back to Gangtok in the afternoon! so reaching Yumthang takes exactly 1 hr from Lachung and the road for getting there is filled with lots of fun! you can see some varities of rhododendron which is the state flower! Few Yaks and loads of army men! there are Army camps over there and the sight is really nice! plus you can see the snow capped mountain ranges from a very close view! Yumthang is know for its valley of flowers but unfortunately april is not the right season for the flowers to bloom and hence we were not able to see the flowers! But still it was so amazing!! you could just imagine how beautiful the sight must be in May when the flowers are in full bloom! so the sight was something like this! Green plains! and after walking that you see the river Tista flowing! and you are surrounded on all sides by the snow capped mountains!! We took a lot of pictures! and spent some nice time just sitting quietly and enjoying the sound of the river! We also played with the snow and made a snow man!! over all it was super fun! the temperature too was ok! cold was bearable! somewhere around 7-8 degrees. there is also a zero point beyond Yumthang but due to extreme snowfall it is closed in april. I think it opens in the month of May. That is the end of India and you can see China from there. We left yumthang at 10.30 and reached yarlam at 11.30. We took some rest, had lunch and left for Gangtok at 1 pm. We thought all would be fine and we would reach Gangtok in 6 hrs but little did we know that our path was frittered with dangers.