Recap: Marshall ALTO Feb 2024

On Saturday I played in the monthly ALTO (21+) Tournament at Marshall Chess Club in NYC.

Unfortunately, I copied the tournament listing to my personal Google calendar back in early January - and missed that they changed the schedule earlier this month! The new start times (11 AM) were updated on the Club calendar, but the original start time (12:30 PM) on my personal calendar was not in sync. Lesson learned: always check the original tournament listing the day before! They might have changed it (and they don't send out any notification to pre-registered).

As a result of the scheduling snafu, almost missed my first game and had to play with 3 minute vs 1 hour odds (of course I lost). I didn't want to take the forfeit, as there is a financial penalty. I was of course very apologetic to my opponent - who was understanding as he had arrived a full hour early for a similar reason (the club calendar had the even starting at 10 AM even though the first game started at 11 AM?).

(Note: all this scheduling confusion was very odd, as Marshall tournaments are typically run very well. I would chalk it up to their trying to figure out where to fit this new tournament category into their schedule).

Anyway, the games:

Round 1 vs. Maldonando

Because I only had 3 minutes, I didn't take notation - so this "miniature" is a reconstruction from memory (I should have asked to take a photo of my opponent's scoresheet but forgot).

I was surprised that my opponent tried for the "Fried Liver" - as I face this online all the time, I flustered him somewhat by blitzing out my moves - causing him to leave the table for a few minutes to compose himself (as he admitted in post-game analysis). However, playing with less than 2 minutes on the clock was too much - and I played the instantly losing blunder 7. ... Bxb5?? Ah well, I'll remember that for next time.

Round 2 (Filler) vs. Wecht

Because I lost my first game, I was in last place and (again!) had a full point bye in the second round. Fortunately, they were able to pair me with a player in the next section up.

I got another shot at playing the Two Knights Defense against the Italian, and played Nxe4 like I had planned. Even though I lost, I was happy with this game because I was able to navigate the opening to a fairly equal middle game, after having played Nxe4. What I missed was that Nxe4 needs to be followed by Bc5, putting pressure on f2 (if white allows it of course - which it seems most players in my section do).

Round 3 vs. Omilabu

For my final round, I had a rematch from last month's tournament. My opponent, Omilabu, had played the French Winawer. I had analyzed the game and had some new moves planned. Would we replay our previous game, each looking for improvement? However, he opted for a Sicilian instead, so we had a new game.

Lately, my mindset to tournament chess has become "play as safe as possible, fending off tactics, and outlast them until they crack and blunder, or you fight to a draw." The former outcome was the case in this game, as my opponent, tired from the previous two games it seems, blundered a piece on move 22. This was rather fortunate, as my position was not great. Black was slightly winning (-1.1).

Achievement Unlocked

Even though I only had 1 win, the full point bye brought me to a tournament score of 2.0/3 and 4th place. The result: I was "in the money" - my first ever cash prize from a chess tournament: $25 (covering my entry fee). So that's something!