Journey to the National Master Title, Part 5

In the May 14, 2023 East Market Swiss, I scored 3.5/4, finishing tied for first-second while gaining three rating points to lift my rating to 2037. In round two in mutual time pressure, I made a good practical decision to concede a draw to a lower rated player in a balanced position instead of pressing too hard to win and possibly messing up my whole tournament. Unfortunately, that wisdom did not carry over to my next tournament.

In the May 27, 2023 "Emotional Chess" tournament (a Cincinnati Swiss System event run by Robert Chenault), I scored 3/4, finishing tied for second-fifth--but I lost in the first round to Ethan Cao, a rising young player who has gained over 500 rating points since December 2022. Ethan's brother Elton Cao is a former student of mine, and one of at least three players who I have coached who achieved the National Master title that I am still chasing (Noah Keating-Adams and Runya Xu are the two others that I can confirm have achieved the NM title). 

I turned down two draw offers versus Ethan Cao. The first time that Cao offered a draw (see diagram below, after Cao played Rb6+), the position was equal (according to Stockfish) even though Cao enjoyed a slight material advantage of Rook for Bishop plus Pawn. My extra Pawn was on the seventh rank supported by my Bishop, and my opponent was relegated to using his Rook to defend the promotion square because his King was too far away to help. His King could not switch places with his Rook because then I could create a second passed pawn with my 2-1 Kingside majority, and that second passed Pawn would generate enough counterplay to maintain equality.

In the above position, I played ...Kg7 instead of ...Ke7, which would have forced Cao to retreat his rook to the first rank. Why did I decline his draw offer, and why did I then play an imprecise move? After much introspection about this game and about other games versus lower rated players when I made mistakes and lost after declining draw offers, I have concluded that one issue I face is that when a lower rated player offers a draw in an equal or roughly equal position I tend to assume that the lower rated player is so intimidated that he will accept a draw at any time, giving me license to aggressively push for a win because I have "draw in hand." A second issue that I face is that I have such an innate aversion to drawing with lower rated players that I tend to overestimate my chances and play risky "hope chess" rather than either accepting the draw or else playing on in a way that does not involve unnecessary risk.

Here, I was way ahead on the clock, and ...Ke7 would have been a valid way to keep the game going without risking a loss. If Cao had returned his Rook to the first rank the result would have probably been a draw, but I could have kept playing for a few more moves to see if he cracked under time pressure. The flaw with ...Kg7 is that it allows Re6, followed by redeploying the King to e1 to free the Rook to undertake active operations; although White still does not have a forced win, it is not difficult for a player of my level to see the specific move Re6 or to understand in general how strong it is to place a Rook behind a passed Pawn--but this is what I mean by "hope chess": instead of calculating objectively, I hoped to use my King to support the ...g5 push to create another passed Pawn that I hoped would crack my opponent's defenses. Cao provided a reprieve to me by playing Rb1, enabling me to reestablish equality with ...Kh6. We shuffled our pieces around for a few more moves, I declined a second draw offer in an equal position, and I eventually played ...g5 to create a passed pawn. The resulting position was still objectively equal, but then I made the decisive mistake (see diagram below). 

 

I could have held a draw by playing ...Bb5, after which White cannot make any progress (nor can Black).  Instead, I played ...h4, hoping that my h pawn would divert my opponent's King enough to enable my King to reach f2 and win his Rook, but simple calculation demonstrates that this does not work versus correct play; after the Kingside Pawns were exchanged, my opponent forced a winning King and Pawn ending by giving up his Rook for my Bishop and my e Pawn.

I won my next three games, but each of my opponents is rated 1610 or less, so I did not gain many rating points for those three wins, and overall I lost 18 rating points to fall back to 2019. 

"Emotional Chess" was the second rated tournament for my daughter Rachel Sophia, who played in her first rated tournament on March 12, 2023. After scoring one win and three losses in her first tournament, Rachel scored one draw and three losses this time around. Her rating is now 557 after eight games. 

We both had a great time, and we both supported each other throughout the event. I probably need more support than she does, as Rachel remains even keeled no matter what happens. After she lost her first round game, Rachel stood by my board and watched intently as I went down in flames. After the game ended she looked at me and asked, "Are you OK, Daddy?" I assured her that I was fine, but just disappointed about the result. I said, "There are three more games to go, and three wins would still be a good score." We then ate lunch, played catch, and talked a little bit with Li Cao (Elton and Ethan's father).

Rachel drew her second round game. She had a winning position, but she and her opponent became a bit confused after a series of illegal moves, so they decided to agree to a draw. I asked Rachel who offered the draw and if she was satisfied with that outcome. Rachel made it clear that they both wanted a draw, and I have no reason to think that Rachel was conned or pressured into accepting a draw in a superior position. I refrained from making any immediate commentary or criticism, but later in the day I casually mentioned that in the future if she and her opponent are confused about the board situation then she can summon a director to make a ruling instead of just agreeing to a draw. 

Rachel packed a book and some toys to occupy her attention between rounds, but she also seemed to enjoy watching me play, and it was neat to have my own personal fan club. Rachel sometimes leaned on my shoulder during my games, much as she is in the picture below that we took before the tournament started. I asked her afterward what she enjoyed most about the tournament, and she immediately replied, "Chess and food!" We are looking forward to going to more chess tournaments together.

Rachel and I enjoyed the 5/27/23 "Emotional Chess" tournament

In 2023, I have scored 47 wins, 10 draws, and 12 losses in regular rated tournament games with eight first place finishes in 18 events--but five losses to players rated below 1750 were costly, and as a result my net rating gain for 2023 is just seven points, so I need to gain 181 points to reach my goal.