MSSD Chess Qualification Competition!

Well, I went for the Chess Qualification Competition at school just now.
And guess what? I made the team!
The Under-18 boys team consists of 4 people: me, Ashman, Hazwan and Hari.
Poor Sehran... He really wanted to be on the team this year... I feel very sorry for him...

Anyway, we had to play 5 rounds, following the standard procedures of a Swiss System tournament ( Don't know what Swiss System is? Go and check yourself! ). The arbiters were none other than Winnie and Amirah, the two sole players in the Under-18 girls team!

My first round of the day was with a guy named Nabil. He represented the school before and was quite a tough adversary.
I was White, and I played 1. e4. He responded with the move 1. ...d6, which struck me as odd because 1. ...d6 isn't a very good way to start the game in any circumstance.
Anyway, after a fairly tense mid-game, I managed to pin his queen to his king. He got checkmated a few moments later...

In the second round, I had to play a game with Hazwan.
This time, I was Black and he was White. If I recall correctly, he opened with 1. e4, and I responded with 1. ...e5. Then, we played along the lines of the Petrov Defense with 2. Nf3 Nf6.
After a very long and tiring mid-game, we both agreed on a draw because it was difficult for both of us to exploit each other's weaknesses.
However, after the game, Hazwan commented that I was in a slightly better position than him, and had I calculated more deeply, I could have gained a valuable initiative in the end. But oh well...
For your information, my game with Hazwan represented the most exhausting game I played during the whole qualification competition. But I guess that's no surprise, really - Hazwan and I tend to draw our games a lot whenever we're playing against each other.

My third round was with Hari, the person who actually announced that he officially "quit" professional Chess! And yet there he was, at the qualification competition! Apparently, he changed his mind at the last minute! Typical Hari...
Anyway, I was White and I opened the game with 1 e4. He countered symmetrically with 1. ...e5.
Then I played 2. Nf3. Then he made the move 2. ...d6, the Philidor Defense. Finally, someone actually played the Philidor Defense against me after such a long time!
I instinctively responded with my favourite variation against the Philidor, which is 3. d4.
After an interesting open mid-game, I castled Kingside and opened the f-file for my rook to use.
In the end, my queen and rook combination managed to hit the weak spot f7. I checkmated Hari soon after that...

And now on to my fourth round. I got a shock when I found out that I had to play against Ashman himself!
I was Black and he was White. He started the game with 1. c4, the English Opening. I countered with 1. ...c6, the Caro-Kann Defense. I was hoping to drive the game along the lines of the Slav Defense Transposed with the moves 2. d4 d5. But instead, he played a different variant which I wasn't familiar with.
And during the mid-game, I lost my Knight for a pawn.
I tried not to panic and get caught in what we Chess players call a "downward spiral". I tried not to lose my focus and kept on telling myself that I could gain counterplay if I just kept a clear head and not dwell about the fact that I blundered my Knight.
So, I took advantage of my doubled pawns by creating a powerful central pawn chain, denying Ashman's rook and knight any access into my side of the board. I gained more counterplay when I managed to create an outside passed pawn on the a-file.
Soon, Ashman offered a draw and I accepted - I did not want to risk making any blunders in my counterattack for that would cost me a game. Half a point is better than none at all, after all...

Well, since I won myself 3 points out of 4, I managed to confirm a place in the School Chess Team. Ashman secured a place too, with 3 1/2 points out of 4.
Later, Hazwan made it into the team as well. And after that, Hari and Sehran had to play a tie-breaker match, which was won by Hari.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Jannah, Jaslyn and Sarah were at the competition as well...
I took a lot of pictures at the competition with my handphone. Well, Jannah took most of them, actually... I only took a few pictures myself.
Well, here they are...

My game with Hazwan. The tension was unbearable!

Jannah, Jaslyn and Sarah!

It's Kamal!

Jaslyn - Professional Chess player in the making!

It's Sarah! And she's playing Chess! Woot!

Sarah and Jaslyn!

I think this was just after I drew the game with Hazwan. You might not notice it, but I was super relieved at this point!

Imagine, having a profesionnal Chess player as a big brother...

I just took this picture for fun! [ smiles ]

Ashman trying to "teach" Sarah and Jaslyn the principles of pawn structure.

At least I managed to make the team.
I can't wait to represent school at the real MSSD Chess Competition!

Well, I guess that's pretty much it for now.
May the Force be with you...