I scored 4/5 points at the 2023 ACC Summer Chess Championship! [#35]

This past weekend, I played in the Reserve section of the ACC 2023 Summer Championship! I won three games, drew two, and lost none, which left me with 4.0 points. I'm super happy with the overall tournament experience – since I played well and had a ton of fun.

Overview

• The tournament took place on Saturday, August 5, and Sunday, August 6.
• I played three rounds on Saturday and two on Sunday.
• The time control was G/90 + 30s for Rounds 2-5, which means that games can take forever. Round 1 had a shorter time control of G/60 + 10s.
• I played in the Reserve section, which had a rating cap of 1800. At the time, my rating was 1737, which meant I had an okay shot of performing well in the tournament (as I didn't have to play many higher-rated players).

Round 1

Commentary

I played Black, and I felt like I was in a pressure cooker for the first 15 moves. My opponent, Benjamin, organized his pieces well to prepare for a scary break in the center. I was barely able to hang on until he made an error under time pressure. From there, I won a bunch of his pieces and he resigned — down a rook — with only 30 seconds left on his clock. He may have won if he didn't spend so much time on relatively simple moves in the opening.

Interesting Position

PGN

[Event "2023 ACC Reserve"]
[Date "2023.08.05"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Cai, Benjamin"]
[WhiteElo "1638"]
[Black "Brown, Nathan"]
[BlackElo "1737"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Re1 Re8 9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Nf6 12. Bc2 h6 13. b3 b6 14. Bb2 Bb7 15. Qd3 Qc7 16. Re2 g6 17. Rae1 Nd7 18. Nh4 Nf8 19. Qc3 Qe7 20. d5 e5 21. f4 Bb4 22. Qf3 Bxe1 0-1

Round 2

Commentary

This game was a rollercoaster. I played White, and my opponent, Rylan, played very well in the opening and began to apply lots of pressure to my pawn on c3. I eventually lost that pawn, but then sacrificed the exchange to launch an attack on my opponent's semi-open king. The attack failed, but I did manage to pick up some pawns and barely hold on in the endgame.

I later analyzed the game with him, and he was a really great guy! He's a sophomore in college who's studying meteorology in Kansas (and chasing storms too!). I had a lot of fun playing blitz / bughouse with him.

Interesting Position

PGN

[Event "2023 ACC Reserve"]
[Date "2023.08.05"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Brown, Nathan"]
[WhiteElo "1737"]
[Black "Lopez, Rylan"]
[BlackElo "1620"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 Qb6 4. b3 cxd4 5. exd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 d5 7. Bd3 Bg4 8. c3 g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3 Rac8 13. Rc1 Nd7 14. Re1 Rfe8 15. Ne5 Ncxe5 16. dxe5 Qa5 17. Qd2 e6 18. Bb1 b5 19. Bg3 Rc6 20. f4 Rec8 21. Re3 f6 22. exf6 Bxf6 23. Kh2 Bxc3 24. Rcxc3 Rxc3 25. Rxe6 b4 26. f5 Nf8 27. Rd6 Qc5 28. Rxd5 Qe3 29. Qxe3 Rxe3 30. fxg6 Nxg6 31. Rb5 Rcc3 32. Bd6 a5 33. Rxa5 Nh4 34. Rg5+ Kf7 35. Rh5 Nxg2 36. Bxb4 Rc1 37. Bxh7 Ne1 38. Bf5 Ra1 39. Bg4 Rxa2+ 40. Kh1 Nd3 41. Rf5+ Kg6 42. Ba5 Nf2+ 43. Kg1 Nxh3+ 44. Bxh3 Rxh3 45. Rb5 Rd3 46. Be1 Kf6 47. Rb8 Rd1 48. Re8 Kf5 49. b4 Rb1 50. Kf1 Kf4 51. Re2 Ra4 52. Kf2 Rb3 53. Bd2+ Kg4 54. Re4+ Kf5 55. Rd4 1/2-1/2

Round 3

Commentary

I played Black, and my opponent Vincent played Be2 on move 2 (in the Sicilian), which I did not recognize. He ended up playing the British Grand Prix and launched a full-blown attack on my king, which was very scary. However, he sacrificed a full rook and a knight in his attack, and I eventually managed to lock down the kingside and stay safe. I eventually won his queen with a nice little tactic, and then he resigned.

We reviewed the game afterward! He's a nice guy, and I appreciate how he played a quick attacking game (that could have gone either way) instead of a long, drawn-out positional game that might have lasted till 9:30pm (the round started at 6:30pm).

Interesting Position

PGN

[Event "2023 ACC Reserve"]
[Date "2023.08.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Ramirez, Vicente"]
[WhiteElo "1513"]
[Black "Brown, Nathan"]
[BlackElo "1737"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Be2 e6 3. d3 Nc6 4. f4 Be7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O O-O 7. c3 b6 8. Nbd2 Qc7 9. e5 Nd5 10. Ne4 f6 11. d4 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bb7 13. Qe1 Ncb4 14. Qh4 Nc2 15. Bd2 Nxa1 16. Bd3 f5 17. Neg5 h6 18. Qh5 Qd8 19. g4 Qe8 20. Qh3 hxg5 21. gxf5 exf5 22. fxg5 g6 23. Nh4 Bb4 24. Bc1 Qe6 25. Rxf5 Rxf5 26. Nxg6 Rxg5+ 27. Bxg5 Qxh3 0-1

Round 4

Commentary

I crushed my opponent, Jared, pretty soundly as White. He played a weird variation of the Benoni, and I was able to engineer a divisive break in the center. I broke open his kingside and won a bunch of pawns, and he eventually resigned. The game was pretty smooth, and I felt that I was in control the entire time.

Interesting Position

PGN

[Event "2023 ACC Reserve"]
[Date "2023.08.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Brown, Nathan"]
[WhiteElo "1737"]
[Black "Modica, Jared"]
[BlackElo "1637"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. d4 c5 2. d5 e6 3. c4 exd5 4. cxd5 d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bg5 g6 7. e4 Bg7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. Nf3 Bg4 10. O-O Nbd7 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Ne5 13. Qe3 a6 14. Kh1 b5 15. f4 Nxd3 16. Qxd3 Re8 17. Rae1 c4 18. Qf3 Qc7 19. e5 Nd7 20. e6 Nc5 21. f5 Be5 22. fxg6 f6 23. gxh7+ Qxh7 24. Bxf6 Bxf6 25. Qxf6 Ra7 26. Re3 Rg7 27. Ref3 Qg6 28. Qxg6 Rxg6 29. Rf7 Rg7 30. g4 b4 31. Ne2 Nd3 32. Nd4 Ne5 33. Rxg7+ Kxg7 34. Nf5+ Kg6 35. Nxd6 Re7 36. Rf5 c3 37. bxc3 Nd3 38. cxb4 Nxb4 39. Nc8 1-0

Round 5

Commentary

This was the most balanced game I had in the tournament. The opening and early middlegame was balanced, and I managed to gain an advantage in the late middle game and endgame. But queen endgames are notoriously tricky, and I eventually had to take a perpetual check! I should have pushed my passed pawn further down the board when I had the chance.

It's a shame I didn't beat him in the endgame — because I would have won quite a bit of prize money. But I could have easily lost (instead of drawn) in Round 2, so I'm okay with my final performance. Plus, after the tournament, his adjusted rating was 1820, so I did quite well against him!

Interesting Position

PGN

[Event "2023 ACC Reserve"]
[Date "2023.08.06"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Singh, Harnoor"]
[WhiteElo "1697"]
[Black "Brown, Nathan"]
[BlackElo "1737"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O Bb4 8. Qd3 d6 9. f4 O-O 10. Kh1 Nbd7 11. Nb3 b5 12. Bf3 Bb7 13. Ne2 Rfd8 14. c3 Bc5 15. Rd1 Rac8 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Qxe3 Nc5 18. Nxc5 dxc5 19. Ng3 h6 20. c4 bxc4 21. Rac1 Rxd1+ 22. Rxd1 Qb6 23. Qc3 Rd8 24. Rxd8+ Qxd8 25. e5 Nd5 26. Qxc4 Qa5 27. h3 Qd2 28. Qb3 Qxf4 29. Qxb7 Qxg3 30. Bxd5 Qe1+ 31. Kh2 Qxe5+ 32. Kh1 exd5 33. Qc8+ Kh7 34. Qxc5 Qe4 35. Qc7 f6 36. Qc6 a5 37. Qc3 a4 38. Qf3 Qe1+ 39. Kh2 Qe5+ 40. Kg1 Kg8 41. b3 axb3 42. Qxb3 Kf7 43. a4 f5 44. Qb5 Qd4+ 45. Kh2 Qf4+ 46. Kg1 d4 47. a5 Qe3+ 48. Kh2 Qf4+ 49. Kh1 Qc1+ 50. Kh2 Qf4+ 1/2-1/2

Conclusion

• I ended up placing 5th (there were 67 players) in the Reserve section after tiebreaks, which is the best I've done in a while!
• My rating went up from 1737 to 1764 — an appreciable 27-point jump. I might be able to break 1800 after a few more tournaments.