Time to draw conclusions

Recently I played in the Rapid & Blitz Szansa Chess Open. I could make this post showing off the interesting games I played and move on, but the pattern is to blatant to ignore. This time let's do things differently. Beforehand, a little (*a lot) context, so let me paint the picture. A really big picture.

It's March of 2025. I warned you. This is the first time when I traveled alone (over 500km by a train) to play in a tournament. It that event I also beat a titled player OTB for the first time. The event itself didn't go well, I threw so many wins I ended up losing FIDE. But we can call it the start of my serious chess career.

Our next stop is in September, when I played in the Rubinstein Festival. I played in the 2000+ group, as a 1975, by far the strongest tournament I played up to that point. It went incredibly well. In the first round I had my highest win, just to raise it 2 rounds later. In only 4 rounds I crossed 2000, gaining 40 FIDE and keeping that until the end. However it was a pretty weird tournament, as I didn't feel good at all. I'd sleep poorly, then rush my moves, play like I didn't care and it felt our of my control. After this tournament I started working with a sports psychologist to deal with that issue (and other that came up when I progressed) and I don't regret any bit.

Next up is November, when I beat a grandmaster for the first time! In a 9-round rapid event I scored 8.5 blundering a perpetual in one game, but gained no rating, as it wasn't rated. Remember, 7 months ago I beat my first titled player. From now on my expectations for every event are very high.

At the start of 2026, in fact in the first event I played this year I faced my strongest opponent yet, whom I beat! With Black!!!

In March I faced off against one of the strongest polish players in 30+30 format, where after just 20 moves I'm strategically winning. Next month I played 2 insane rapid events back to back. In one I would've gained 50 FIDE, had it been rated, in the other I did. 57 to be exact, starting off with a win over a GM with the black pieces. Next month I played another insane tournament, this time in blitz.

In June we are back to classical, when I managed to defend a draw against an IM with Black, and beat a GM with White for the first time in classical. In another event i get the clean 5-0 sweep. At the end of the month/beggining of July i WIN AN EVENT breaking 2100 FIDE. Not a random weekend tournament, I won Group B of Najdorf Chess Festival. However I didn't post a blog about it, as the chess wasn't that great. In the same month I play another crazy rapid, +50 had it been rated.

Last month I played 3 amazing events, with another win over a GM in classical and almost breaking 2100 blitz. Had the rapid events been rated, I'd be 2100 there aswell.

I've beaten so many strong players, when I sit down at the board against people 200, 300 or even 400 points higher-rated I expect to get a better position. Isn't that ridiculous? And yet somehow every month proves me right again and again. But wait, if I can get regularly get better positions against FMs, how am I not one? That brings me to the Szansa Chess Open.

Game 1 — Black against GM

The Rapid event went pretty bad, finishing with a performance below 2000, gaining elo only because my rating is so low. But I want to bring one game to your attention.

In 25 moves the game is over. Something I didn't mention is the time control. It's 10+2, so I have plenty time. Even though I spent 2 minutes on castling, which is a mistake (time spent, not the move) I used my time perfectly. A minute to evaluate my options after 16.Rac1? and another one after Na4 to calculate the break-through with b3. I realized e5 is a mistake, so I spent my time to punish it and I'm rewarded with a winning position. If White defends g3 with Rf3 I can simply push h5-h4.

White has only one last practical chance, Rxf5.

That's the pattern, the second any bit of chaos is introduced into the position I'm like a blind newborn stumbling into the jungle. I recapture with the e-pawn and it's over, White can't stop the e-file infiltration.

This was the only game I played on streamed boards, so let's move on to the blitz (oh god).

Game 2 — Wrong pairing

I don't know why, but I was getting paired with my rating from last month, which meant in the first round instead of playing someone weaker I got to play the starting number 2! Against that I'm never complaining.

Kinda funny that I got paired against a GM twice in the first round. This time the game has a completely different character. I make it chaotic in the opening, sacrificing a pawn to get a pin and my opponent isn't able to find his way in the chaos. It's clear I must be winning, the question is how? It's even simpler this time. 26.R1c4 forks the bishop and Re4. How did I proceed?

Game 3 — Polish goat

I had to win 2 games to get back to playing stronger opposition, and I was not going back down. After beating a 2272 and 2171 I was sitting on 4/5, playing with Black on Board 3.

My opponent has hit 2500 FIDE in classical before. I like playing the Scandi in blitz and rapid, but surely he knows something against it, so how do you surprise such a player? Nothing better than the Colorado! I think it's clear I'm much better out of the opening. Up a pawn and with a strong knight on d4, which is about to get even stronger all I have to do is not get mated.

I was so pissed after this game, like just play b6 and don't let him break through, it's so simple.

Game 4 — Capablanca would be proud

After last game I got paired against GM Monika Soćko and I have to be honest, I got cooked. The position was enjoyable out of the opening, but that's just the nature of the line she played. I missed 2 things in a row and was just playing for tricks. The engine found 2 moments where I could get back to the game, but that's besides the point.

After that loss I had to play 3 rounds to get back to playing stronger players, so it's now Round 11 and I get another shot.

I missed a winning tactic, but still, Black is completely dominated, how can I mess this one up (spoiler, a little chaos)

Next game I played a CM, where again, the same scenario occurred. I was completely crushing positionaly with Black, so he sacrificed a knight in a -3 position and won :D. In my last tournament blog I had 2 more games like this.

Conclusion

Before we proceed I really recommend you read this blog. No, seriously, please go read it. Just tap the link, I'm always one click away.

Did you do it?

I'll assume you did.

It's written in a very sarcastic manner losing a lot on seriousness. At first I had a good laugh reading it and didn't think much of it. I mean I'm improving every month, that couldn't be about me, right? But the more I think about it, the more I see myself in author's role. I spent a lot of my time on openings. In fact all of the time I'm not playing, or analysing the game I just played, I'm working on openings.

While it's not mindless watching youtube videos, or switching courses after 5 lines and I clearly improve thanks to that training, it's still not addressing The Pattern. And The Pattern is to blatant to ignore for any longer. My openings and early middlegame are already at an insanely high-level, I mean it's literally a surprise for me if I stand worse after the opening. And endgames aren't the fix. Out of the 7 losses mentioned in the blog, endgames would only save me half a point.

The Pattern clearly shows I struggle with converting. I freeze, I don't know what to play or where to even start looking for what to play. I used to have this problem in classical and instead of fixing it I just got better. That sounds stupid, but is the truth, with time on the clock I'm able to more consistently figure out unobvious moves. As The Pattern shows, the problem still exists, it's just moved deeper into the game, much more prominent in shorter time controls, when I have less time.

The fix?

But how do we fix that? How do you train playing winning positions under pressure. After a lot of thought finally an answer came to my mind. There is a way to get a lot of volume of just that, even with consistent feedback — playing @LeelaPieceOdds. It seems reasonable enough to try, so I'll try to switch my habit of chasing online elo to actually focusing on The Pattern.

"You must learn to walk before you can run"

It's gonna be a long journey... First of all I don't know how to analyze those piece odds games, I hope to figure it out along the way. I played knight odds twice, after losing decided to try queen odds just to regain some confidence... It took 8 games to get one win. I got humbled pretty quick, and first it seems I have to learn converting games up a queen, only then can I move on to queen for a knight, rook and finally knight odds.

I can't lie, it's not a fun experience. The bot plays instantly, pushes random pawns, meaning she always starts an attack faster and if you somehow stop her plan, she just doesn't execute it and looks for something different. I even struggled to win a 2RvR endgame, when I had extra pawns.

Oh, and just to mention, I won't stop working on openings, I really enjoy doing that even if it wont contribute to my progress as much as it used to. I'll try to swap the time I spent playing online games to playing queen odds for now. I'll try to document interesting games and ideas in this forum thread. Thanks for reading!