Table of contents
- Taking a break from competitive chess to avoid burnout and come back stronger.
- I took a risk with an unconventional move in the Caro-Kann, and it paid off despite my opponent's strong track record.
- Overthinking cost me the game; sometimes a draw is the best move.
- Sometimes, knowing when to take a draw is the smartest move to save your energy for the next challenge.
- Spent 18 minutes on a move that should've taken 2 seconds, only to realize I miscalculated the whole line—chess can be brutal!
- Miscalculations can turn a winning position into a draw—always double-check your moves!
- Overthinking every move cost me the game and turned a winning position into a loss.
- Even the toughest losses are part of the journey to greatness.
Taking a break from competitive chess to avoid burnout and come back stronger.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Road to Grandmaster Series. This is technically episode number 49, but let's just say it's 49 and 50 combined. In this episode, I will be showing you the last two games that I played in my fourth tournament back in action at the New York City GM Norm Round Robin Tournament. Additionally, I will provide an update on my current situation, as you can see, I am obviously not at home. I will also explain why I will be taking a break from competitive chess for about two months and what to expect for the Road to Grandmaster Series during that time and upon my return.
To start, this tournament has obviously been a disaster, leaving me with some actionable insights but also a level of confusion and uncertainty. The three tournaments I played previously went pretty well, and I managed to overcome various adversities and ultimately succeed. However, in this tournament, everything went wrong in a variety of ways, leaving me searching for a reason. If I cannot find a reason, I am left wondering what comes next. I will, of course, work hard on my openings, do more calculation practice, and so on. Part of the issue might be burnout. At 28 years old, I might not always realize that traveling and returning can take a toll, especially between running this channel and Chesley, my educational platform. It's difficult to also include two tournaments every single month.
The next competitive event I have planned is from October 28th to November 2nd. I announced it on Twitter (I refuse to call it X). I will be playing Pia Cramling, the mother of Anna Cramling, in a match of classical, rapid, and blitz. Until October 28th, I will not be participating in any competitions. I plan to hibernate, rest, and recover.
Let's jump into the recap. This is the setup here because the mirror is just there, and there's nothing I can do about it. You can obviously watch the games, and I'm sure you will enjoy the analysis. At the end, I will also circle back to why I'm in Paris for the PS Championship and what to expect on this channel in the next few days. There will be a lot of Magnus, Hans, and Hikaru content, which I know you guys love despite making fun of me for it.
In the eighth round, I played against Eigor Kovalchuk. Eigor Kovalchuk is a fascinating individual with a FIDE rating of 2057. He was a last-minute replacement in this tournament because the original participant got COVID. Eigor Kovalchuk is a Ukrainian man in his 50s who works as a contractor, possibly in painting or home contracting. He was winning in multiple games against players rated over 2400 but managed to lose those games. I was intrigued by this mysterious 50-year-old former Soviet Union chess master who is obviously underrated. Watching his games, I found it annoying that I had to play against him.
In our game, he opened with E4, and I played the Caro-Kann. He played Knight C3, and I wondered if he would play Knight F3, but he ended up playing D4. I didn't prepare much before this game and was eight minutes late. After Knight C3 and D5, he played D4. I took, and instead of playing the classical Bishop F5, I opted for the Tartakower variation with Knight F6. He went C3, which is the main move, and in this position, the main move is castling. However, I had considered playing Knight A6, a weird move that postpones...
I took a risk with an unconventional move in the Caro-Kann, and it paid off despite my opponent's strong track record.
In this game, my opponent opened with E4, and I responded with the Caro-Kann. He played Knight C3 in every game, so I wondered if he would play Knight F3, but he ended up playing D4. I hadn't prepared much before this game and was eight minutes late, not thinking for eight minutes on the first move. After Knight C3 and D5, he played D4, and I took. Instead of playing the classical Bishop F5, I opted for the Tartakower with Knight F6, takes, takes. He then went for C3, the main move.
In this position, the main move is castling, but I had considered a surprise move, Knight A6, which postpones castling and quickly gets the knight to the center. This peculiar way of playing the Tartakower was something I found fascinating during my research, and it was actually shown to me by Coach Nion. After Queen C2 and Knight C7, my opponent played Knight E2, and I responded with H5. The idea was to avoid castling immediately since the pawn was hanging. If I played G6, he would play Bishop H6, preventing me from castling and planning to castle queenside himself. So, I played H5 to walk my king to G7.
My opponent, who had been performing well in the tournament, played Knight G3, which is not a typical move. White should usually castle or prepare to castle queenside at this point. Knight G3 allowed me to play H4, and his plan seemed to be to grab one of my bishops with his knight, disregarding my H pawn. He played Knight A5, and right away, black was slightly better. I felt confident because the Tartakower setup involves pawns on light squares, and I aimed to get rid of my bishop, which I did, followed by playing Pawn to G6.
According to the computer, the opening was a success for me despite not having the bishop pair and having a compromised pawn structure with doubled F pawns. Black was still better. My opponent played Bishop G4, and I advanced again. He wanted to place his bishop on the F3 square. Here, I took my first significant think of the game, considering various setups. I thought about walking my king to G7, playing Knight E6 to fight on the dark squares, and where he might place his king. I also considered Queen F6 to prepare long castling and a potential G5 G4 advance.
After thinking for about 10 minutes, I decided to play Queen F6, which was a reasonable move. However, the computer preferred starting by castling, as it would force my opponent to castle due to the threat of the rook on E8. The engine evaluated the position as slightly better for black because White's king would be misplaced given my space advantage and attacking ideas. My move allowed my opponent to quickly prepare a queenside castle.
At this point, I considered various ideas like Knight E6, Knight D5, and G5. One recurring theme was my calculation and misevaluation. I thought about playing H3 to soften his pawn structure, expecting him to respond with G3.
Overthinking cost me the game; sometimes a draw is the best move.
Castle and the engine evaluates the position as slightly better for black because this is not where White's King should be placed. Considering that I have a space advantage and some attacking ideas, it thinks that in the long run, maybe black is actually slightly better. The move that I played, however, allows my opponent to quickly prepare a queenside castle.
Here, I had another thought. I was considering various ideas like Knight E6, Knight D5, and G5. One calculation that I had, and this was a recurring theme toward the end of the tournament, was that I calculated something and completely misevaluated it. I thought of playing H3 to soften up his Pawn structure, expecting him to play G3. Then, I would use the bishop and play F4, threatening to compromise his Pawn structure. I calculated a line and ultimately didn't go for it because I thought the position would be equal after several exchanges. This was a mistake, as the position is obviously slightly better for black. White has a bad Pawn on F2, potentially a long-term weakness. I could play F5, King F7, King F6, and bring my knight and rook into play.
In the previous tournament, the I am Norm round robin, I would have gone for this position immediately. However, I thought it was too drawish and didn't want to trade that many pieces, so I played Knight to D5 instead. The idea was to put some pressure, and if he trades with me and plays something like Queen B3, I could sacrifice pawns to open up his King and create an attack. He just ignored me, and you'll notice that at this point, it's taken me about 10 minutes per move to make a decision, while it only took him two to five minutes. This guy was playing pretty fast, and I was getting nowhere in the opening.
I didn't want to trade because it would lead to opposite-colored Bishops, and he would just trade some Pawns in the center. I played Rook E8, and he took his Bishop back to its home square to avoid capture. I then played B5, which is the best move, preventing C4 and a couple of other things like Rook B8. He instantly played Pawn to G3, and suddenly I felt like I might be in trouble. If I played King G7 and he took with the pawn and then the queen, he could start creating an attack. I closed the position after spending more time, but he continued to play quickly.
He played Rook to E1, and I sat there thinking for a minute or two. Technically, you're supposed to offer a draw as you make the move, not after sitting for a few minutes. He played Rook E1 and then offered a draw after a couple of minutes. By that point, I was down to about 28-29 minutes on the clock, while he had a significant time advantage. I had no clear plan and considered moves like Bishop F8 to G7 or moving my knight. Another idea was Rook B8, but I didn't think I would succeed as he could always play C4, C5, or D5.
I decided to take the draw because I didn't fully trust that I could keep myself together with such a time deficit and an unclear plan. This game required a lot of finesse and a strong nervous system to hold together. I needed to make the push into his position at the right moment, and I decided that it was better to take the draw than risk a loss, which would be a huge ELO loss.
Sometimes, knowing when to take a draw is the smartest move to save your energy for the next challenge.
In this game, I considered several strategies. One idea was to move my knight, but first, I could play my bishop because my queen was protecting my pawn. Another idea was Rook B8, but I didn't think I would succeed as my opponent could always play C4, C5, or D5. Ultimately, I decided to take the draw, even though I hated to do so. I didn't fully trust that I could keep myself together with such an unclear plan and being down on the clock. This game required a large amount of finesse and a good nervous system to hold together. I needed to make the push into his position at the right moment, but I decided it was better to save my energy for the last round. Losing this game would have been devastating, especially since it would mean a huge ELO loss against a player rated 2050, who seemed to play at a 2200 minimum FIDE strength.
In the last round, I played against Robert Schenko. Robert and I had played before on this channel in 2022. I played C4, and he responded with E5. I had some preparation ready for this line and was hoping to showcase it. I played G3, anticipating his early C6 line aiming for D5. These lines are very sharp and complicated, involving moves like Knight to F3 and then jumping to the center with Knight D4. I played A3 to prevent his bishop from going to B4, which is useful when putting pressure on the center. I had some interesting ideas and got to showcase them by playing F3, a unique system where black has to be careful to equalize and know the lines.
After pawn takes and knight takes, Robert made an inaccuracy, not being familiar with this line. My mentality was to end the tournament with a win to prove that I could bounce back despite a bad tournament. Robert went Bishop D6, but the bishop is supposed to go to E7. When he played Bishop D6, I thought it was a reasonable move but not optimal because the queen no longer defends the center. I castled, and he castled. The plan, whether the bishop is on E7 or D6, is to play Knight H4 to pressure the position and open up the f-file. When the bishop is on E7, the queen defends, making the pressure less meaningful, but now it was quite significant. I liked my position a lot, and the engine agreed, indicating that something didn't go quite right for him. He played Bishop E6, and here I had my opportunity.
Spent 18 minutes on a move that should've taken 2 seconds, only to realize I miscalculated the whole line—chess can be brutal!
In the center, I mean, that's sort of like what I got out of this. So, I castled, he castled, and the plan, whether the bishop is on E7 or on D6, which is why you open up the f-file to begin with, is to play Knight H4. So, Knight to H4, and in many lines, you play Knight F5. The Knight pressures the position; it goes for the bishop. It generally pressures the bishop on E7, but also you open up here. When the bishop is on E7, this pressure is slightly less meaningful because the queen is defending, but now it is quite meaningful. Already, I liked my position a lot, and as you can see, so did the engine. So, I knew right away something didn't go quite right here. He played Bishop to E6, and here I had my first decently long thought because I liked a couple of different approaches here.
First of all, I liked the very simple Knight F5. This is a move you can play in two seconds, but I was really trying to understand the difference between where the bishop is. Because the bishop is on D6, I also really wanted to play Queen B3 because now I'm threatening to take on D5, which is not something that I'm threatening to do when the bishop is on E7. So, I was like, Queen B3 looks really reasonable. I thought like DC, Queen B7, he can maybe try to trap my queen somehow, but I don't think it's possible. He cannot play Knight D7 because I can take this pawn. I couldn't calculate anything; I was like, is he going to go Queen E7? Where's he going to go? Queen B3 looked very decent. Maybe his plan was Knight bd7, Queen B7, Rook C8, try to give up a pawn, try to take back on C4. I don't know what his plan was here. Most of the time I spent here was debating between playing Queen B3, Knight F5, and also playing Queen B3, Knight F5 but first taking here. Lastly, another thing I thought of was C5, Bishop C7, and I was just trying to think where is he ever going to develop his pieces. His Knight will come to D7, but I felt he was quite restricted here.
After spending way too much time, 18 minutes to play Knight F5 is pathetic. I don't even know where the time went. It was so dark in here. Hello, I'm here. Hello, light? No, terrible. I don't know where the time went, but okay, Knight to F5, and he went Bishop to C7. He is now losing the game on move 12. This is one of the most painful moments in this game.
With all this stuff, with the bishop pointing this way, with the Knight pointing here, with the Rook on the open file, the first thing you think about is sacrificing. He takes Bishop H6, so I threaten the Rook. If the Rook moves, I have Bishop G5, hitting the Knight. He's going to go Knight D7. The board is doing some idiotic stuff; I don't know why chess.com enjoys breaking. I spoiled it, but okay, whatever, you would have known by the end anyway and probably have already seen the game. Don't worry about it though. Let me show you what went through my head. Of course, you look at all those sacrifices. For whatever reason, I decided Knight takes H6 was a bad move. Then I had another thought here, which is Queen D2. The amazing idea behind Queen to D2 is that I'm threatening Knight takes G7. Let's say d takes C4, Knight G7, King G7, Queen H6 is completely crushing. At the very minimum, I have Rook F6, and also I have Queen G5 check first, then Rook F6, and then Rook H6. Queen D2 was a very interesting idea. I also wanted to play CD, CD, and then Queen D2. Here, I thought his position was horrendous, but I didn't go for this because I calculated Knight bd7, Knight G7, King G7, Queen H6, King G8, Bishop G5, and I thought this doesn't work because he has Knight to G4. What I had completely overlooked was that after Bishop D, Bishop d8, Knight takes, Bishop C7, I win a piece. I had forgotten that when I played Knight to F5, his Bishop had moved. So, at the end of the sequence, what I was calculating the whole line, his Bishop was here in my mind. I forgot that the bishop was on C7, so when I'm taking the queen, I'm also taking the bishop at the end. Just a complete miscalculation, but even on top of that, the craziest thing about this position is I can sacrifice. I think literally I can sacrifice either piece.
Miscalculations can turn a winning position into a draw—always double-check your moves!
Then Queen D2. Here, I thought his position was horrendous, but I didn’t go for this because I calculated Knight bd7, Knight G7, King G7, Queen H6, King G8, Bishop G5, and I thought this doesn’t work because he has Knight to G4. What I had completely overlooked was that after Bishop D, Bishop d8, Knight takes Bishop C7, I win a piece. I had forgotten that when I played Knight to F5, his Bishop had moved, and so at the end of the sequence, what I was calculating, the whole line, his Bishop was here in my mind. So, I forgot that the Bishop was on C7, and when I’m taking the Queen, I’m also taking the Bishop at the end. Just a complete miscalculation.
Even on top of that, the craziest thing about this position is I can sacrifice either piece. I can even play Bishop takes H6 because if he plays GH, now I play Queen D2 with the threat of Queen H6. If he takes on F5, I have a completely crushing attack because I’m bringing my second Rook. I’m dominating here because his Center is falling apart. If DC, Queen H6 is crushing. If King G7, for example, I can play Rook F1. He needs to defend his Knight. If he plays Knight bd7, now I just start shredding open the center of the board. So, I can sacrifice either piece on either Square.
The first thing that I did was C takes D5 because I never wanted him to have counterplay. This is an even more absurd moment. Now, I can play Bishop takes H6, Knight takes H6, or Queen D2 setting up Knight G7. I cannot play Knight G7 right away because he’s going to be in time with the Rook, but I can take on H6 with either piece and also play Queen D2 preparing Knight G7. All these moves are basically winning for white. Winning is a strong statement, but it forces him to play extremely passive defense for the rest of the game. It’s unbelievable that I sat here for 101-15 minutes. I even vaguely knew about these ideas because I remember a game by this young Polish Grandmaster, Gumars, who won a really nice game sacrificing a bunch of pieces on that side of the board.
I went Queen B3. I spent some time here and went in the complete opposite direction to put pressure on his position. It was purely a lack of confidence, a lack of feel. It hasn’t worked out; it’s not going to work out. You’re miscalculating, and here is where it gets even worse. Queen B3. My original idea was he’s going to play Bishop B6, and I’m going to go Knight A4. What I had missed here, which is actually a really disgusting idea, is that he can take on F5, removing the defender. After Knight B6, and I’m going to take back on F5, he has Bishop C2, which is quite a move. He forces me to take, then he goes here, and he has permanent pressure on my Center. Neither one of us saw this. He went Knight C6 and Knight B6.
This was pretty brutal. He took on B6 with the pawn and offered me a draw because he had just played his 15th move. The rule of the tournament is you have to play 15 moves before you make a draw. I made a draw in the morning very quickly. I knew people were going to criticize it. I knew the fans watching would think, “Oh my God, he’s such a quitter.” For better or worse, when you are broadcasting your games and your coach is commentating them, and you have 150,000 to 200,000 live viewers on these streams—not at the same time but in general—you do think about it. Going to these tournaments, there is no peace for me.
I thought about just taking the draw, but I was like, Robert is having a good tournament. He has five points. He lost that morning, but why is he offering me a draw? He must not like his position. I saw a line here, which I rejected once again. I calculated Knight takes H6, which is the best move, G takes H6, Bishop G5. The idea here is not actually to take the Rook but to come back and go for the Knight because the Knight can’t go anywhere. The Knight would be free because it would be pinned, and it’s very hard for him to move here. He cannot make a move because the Knight needs protection. What I looked at is that the Knight would go somewhere, let’s say Knight G4, and I just didn’t think a position like this was particularly great for me. It is, and against Knight E4, I completely forgot that I can play Rook.
Overthinking every move cost me the game and turned a winning position into a loss.
Robert is having a good tournament; he has five points. Although he lost that morning, I wondered why he was offering me a draw. He must not like his position. I saw a line here, which I initially rejected. I calculated Knight takes H6, which is the best move, followed by G takes H6 and Bishop G5. The idea here is not actually to take the Rook but to come back and go for the Knight because the Knight can't go anywhere and would be free. It's very hard for him to move here as the Knight needs protection.
I considered that the Knight would go somewhere, let's say Knight G4, and I didn't think a position like this was particularly great for me. Against Knight E4, I completely forgot that I could play Rook D1, which simultaneously defends the pawn. If Bishop takes, Pawn takes would have attacked my Pawn. Rook D1 prepares Bishop E4 takes and D5, so the Rook is not just playing defense; it's pushing the pawn forward. I didn't see that detail and thought, why would I sacrifice without a clear resolution? So, I rejected the sacrifice even though it worked every single time and instead rejected his draw offer.
I did something idiotic here. I played Queen E3, intending to sacrifice on G7. I calculated Bishop takes, Rook takes, Rook E8, Queen D3. Then I realized it was dumb; why go Queen E3 if he's just going to take my knight? Why not just play Queen D3 because now there's no threat. I rejected his draw offer and thought I would make some slow improving moves and figure out how to outplay him. However, I was completely lost three moves later.
When he played Knight E4, my original intention was to play Rook F4, which puts some pressure. I ultimately rejected Rook F4 because I didn't know how to meet Queen F6, which simultaneously hits my knight and the pawn on D4. If I take his Knight, the center will shred open, and he will win the pawn. I rejected Rook F4 because of Queen F6. Instead, I played Bishop B3, and he attacked my knight. I didn't realize how bad the position was and captured his Knight, offering him a draw back, thinking we would trade everything, and I could put the bishop on E5 or F4.
I defended my pawn, and he played H5. I realized I was losing. It didn't fully sink in how bad the position had become. I thought I could make a draw, but suddenly, I was lost because his blockade in the center was so powerful, and my king was weak. If I take, it does more harm than good as he gets a sniper and the open E file. The game continued for a few moves, but I just lost. He had a very nice idea at the end with Bishop G2. If I take, Queen G4, King H1, Rook takes, and he has Queen E2. He brings his rook, and the game is over. I resigned.
A game like this is brutal. I got my prep on the board on move 12, and he misplayed the prep to a horrendous degree. Sometimes, misplaying a position is fatal, and here it was fatal. If I had gambled, I could have sacked one of the pieces. I calculated all these lines, completely mis-evaluated them, and stopped myself from doing it. I did the same thing against Sam Rug in round six and against Barbosa, where I saw a line but didn't play it. I lost this game and finished the tournament with two points.
Even the toughest losses are part of the journey to greatness.
The game concluded with Bishop G2, and I resigned. A game like this is brutal. I got my prep on the board on move 12, and my opponent misplayed the prep to such a horrendous degree—not to insult him, but sometimes you misplay a position, and it's fatal. In this case, it was fatal. If I gambled, I could just 50/50 pull a card and sack one of the pieces. If not, I could play Queen D2, threatening Knight G7. I calculated all these lines, completely mis-evaluated all of them, and stopped myself from doing it. I did the same thing against Sam Rug in round six and against Barbosa, where I saw a line but didn't play it at all.
I lost this game and finished the tournament with two out of nine. Back in the day, I would make these videos feeling really sad from tournaments, being so negative and whatever. That's not how I feel this time around, but I am shocked. I went into this tournament fresh off of Italy, thinking I wouldn't have to travel, wouldn't be jet-lagged, and would be in good spirits at home. I was completely sure I was going to do well in this tournament. My goal was six points. I lost the first game, which wasn't great, and got outplayed. The second game, I lost from a better position against Churilla, and maybe that set it off. In the fourth round, I ran into my friend Kiren, who got seven out of nine. He was just a buzzsaw, and there was nothing to be done. I started with half out of four, and by then, my confidence was gone. Maybe that's what happened.
I lost about 25 ELO in this tournament. The journey to Grandmaster was never going to be linear. It wasn't going to be a case of playing a tournament and gaining rating every single time. If any of you thought that, you're either kids or delusional adults or delusional kids. It's going to be a long journey with ups and downs. You have a bad tournament, you bounce back, you have a good one, etc., just like any sport. I will be taking my training more robustly and seriously, but I'm going to take a break from competition until the Pia Cramling match. Even that match is four games of classical, six rapid, and twelve blitz—it's kind of all over the place. More details to come. I have nothing planned for the rest of the year, maybe a tournament in November. I need to work on my chess and think I need a vacation in general. I might be burnt out and not feeling it until I get to those three-four hour chess games and am completely fried.
We took two steps forward, stood still in Italy, and now took a big step back, wiping all the rating gains of the second tournament. Hopefully, there's stuff to learn from this. I need to do a better job training, preparing, managing my schedule, and performing at tournaments.
Other cool updates are coming for Chesley. I'm in Paris for the Speed Chess Championship, where I'll be interviewing Magnus, Hikaru, Alireza, and Hans Neiman. I will be posting those interviews here. Tune in; the action should start around 1 to 3 PM every single day local time. Check the ch.com website for more details. That's all. I'll see you in the next video. Get out of here.