Journey to the National Master Title, Part 4

The journey to the National Master title is not a straightforward path, but rather a bumpy road that must be navigated with determination. Tactical awareness is essential. My losses to lower rated players have been due to a lack of focus/lack of tactical awareness, while several of my wins have featured nice examples of tactical awareness.

In the March 26, 2023 East Market Swiss, I scored 3.5/4, gaining 11 rating points to lift my rating to 2024 while finishing in clear second place. In the first round, I blundered in a winning position against a lower rated player and had to settle for a draw, but I recovered to win my next three games, including a last round triumph versus Faris Gabbara, a veteran 2000-rated player who earned the National Master title in 1992.

I played a nice second round game as white against Andrew Zhu, who has gained over 600 rating points since April 2022 as he makes his journey to the National Master title (and probably beyond). Here is the position before my 30th move:

Material is equal, but the opposite colored Bishops provide attacking chances to whichever player can seize the initiative. Here I played 30.Bg7. Taking the Bishop leads to mate in four starting with 31.Qxh7+, so my opponent found the only move to prolong the game: 30...h5. White has a decisive advantage, and I finished the game quickly: 31.Be5 Qe7 32.Qe4 Qf7 33.Rf3 Bb7 34.Rxf7 Bxe4 35.Rg7+ Kf8 36.Rxe4 Rc1+ 37.Kf2 Rc2+ 38.Kg3 Rxa2?? A blunder in a lost position. 39.Rf4# 1-0

In the April 1, 2023 Indianapolis Super Tornado, I scored just 2/5 in the Championship section, dropping 36 hard-earned rating points and falling below the 2000 point barrier. In the first round, I won a Pawn on move 22 versus a talented junior and I had a commanding position, but the game ended with blunders by both players in mutual time pressure; I blundered last and worst, so I lost. In the second round, I misplayed the middlegame against another talented junior, and my 0-2 start dropped my live rating below 2000. I recovered to win my third round game, and then in my fourth round game I squandered a winning position against an Expert. My fifth round opponent blundered a piece on move seven. I blundered back my extra piece but still had a positional advantage, which I nursed to victory.

In the April 8, 2023 Columbus G/30 Open I started out 3/3 to push my rating back over 2000, but then I lost my last two games, both to players rated below 1750. The top three seeds in this tournament all took a serious beating; the top seeded player lost his first three games and dropped 67 rating points, the third seeded player lost 31 rating points and finished out of the money, and as the second seeded player I lost 16 rating points while finishing in a tie for third through fifth. My last round opponent, Paul Alexander, ended up winning the tournament with 4/5, beating each of the top three seeded players while gaining 184 rating points! My third round win versus rising young Class A player (now Expert) Matt Wang featured an uncommon mating pattern:

Here as Black (moving up the board) I played ...e4. White will be checkmated immediately after a7, and in three moves after Ka7 followed by ...Ne7/...Nc8/...Nb6.  This is not difficult to see in this position, but we got here after I let my opponent take my a pawn and then hemmed in his King by playing ...Kc7. I placed my N on the correct route to deliver checkmate instead of just winning prosaically by pushing one of my passed Pawns.

In the April 15-16, 2023 Cincinnati Open (FIDE Expert section), I scored 3.5/5 (three wins, one loss, and one half point bye) to gain 22 rating points and push my rating back up to 1994 while finishing in a tie for fourth through eighth. That was the last tournament that I played before U.S. Chess generated their official May 2023 rating list, so for the first time since April 2022 my official rating fell below 2000. I played my favorite move from the Cincinnati Open in my second round win versus strong Indiana Expert Mohamed Elshazly. After I sacrificed a piece for two Pawns and an attack, we reached this position:

I played Rxh7, which forces mate in 10 moves or less. My opponent resigned after ...Rxh7 28.Qe8+ Kg7 29.Rxe7+ Kh6 30.Qf8+ Kg6 31.Qg8+.

I concluded April with three straight first place finishes, gaining 40 rating points in the process:

1. In the April 22, 2023 Columbus G/60 Quads, I scored 2/3 (two wins, one loss) in the "A" Quad, gaining 11 rating points to lift my rating to 2005 while finishing tied for first-second.
2. In the April 29, 2023 DBTHS Swiss, I scored 3/3, finishing clear first and gaining 15 rating points to improve my rating to 2020.
3. In the April 30, 2023 East Market Swiss, I scored 3.5/4, finishing tied for first-second while gaining 14 rating points to lift my rating to 2034.
   

In 2023, I have scored 41 wins, nine draws, and 11 losses in regular rated tournament games with seven first place finishes in 16 events--but four losses to players rated below 1750 were costly, and as a result my net rating gain for 2023 is just 22 points, so I need to gain 166 points to reach my goal.