This tournament is a big success for me. I came with a modest goal of simply establishing a FIDE rating so I could play in other events requiring any rating. The 9-round format afforded me with the opportunity since it takes at least 9 games against FIDE-rated players to get an established rating, which could be done as long as I did not get paired against the other three unrated players. Of the 44 players, only three of us are unrated. I was at least guaranteed to play against 7 rated players since I could not play myself.

So the goal was to score at least one point against a minimum of three rated players for the tournament to count as set forth in the FIDE laws of chess. The best scenario for me was to play well in the early rounds to get good pairings. A higher average rating of my opponents would be good for me.

Before round six, my performace rating was 2373. I got three points going into the 6th round against IM Sarkar who already has a GM norm. I lost the game. By the way, I had four chances to make FIDE master in this tournament if I could score just one more point.

Sadly, I lost squandered three chances. However, there is one round left. I am hoping to get paired against a player who is rated over 2300 so the average rating of my opponents would remain over 2300.

Well, it boils down to the last round for me. As I write this blog, two more games are still being fought out. I will not know the pairings until later. I will have the White color so it will help a little.

I lost my 8th round game to a rising Canadian Junior (FM) who drew GM-elect Josh Friedel. I lost the 7th round game against IM Hungaski. In that game, I had good opportunities there but squandered it by a dubious sacrifice when there were options to keep the game in balance.

So far, of the eight games, only one was against a non-titled player but he has a high rating of 2226. I won that game. I drew 2 FMs, won against one and lost to 3 IMs.

Andres D Hortillosa