How I won my 6th National Championship Part 2

Introduction

This is part 2 of my coverage of the Portuguese Championship, played in September. You can see part 1 here, where I cover rounds 1 to 4.

Round 5

We come back to the tournament at a moment where I stand on 4/4 and clear first. Round 5 was played against one of the lower-rated players of the tournament, so I had some hopes of continuing the winning streak. The game started well and I easily equalized, but after misevaluating my chances in the endgame, I started becoming paranoid and playing bad moves. Eventually, the game ended in a draw.

A draw against any of the players in this tournament is a fine result, and I was happy enough with it.

Round 6

Round 6 was a turning point in the tournament. I was set to play against FM Pedro Gil, someone that had been doing well in the tournament, and a student of mine as well! Again, being Black, a draw was a totally fine result, but I always play to have an interesting game, with three results open. He played much better than I and beat me in nice fashion.

After this loss, the tournament became suddenly complicated. Pedro was trailing me by one point but had beaten me, so he had an advantage if we were to become tied for first place. I still had a much better tournament, being a full point ahead and sharing one of the future opponents with Pedro (José Bárria) so, even though I was concerned, I still totally depended on me only.

Round 7

Coming into round 7 with White, I felt like a win would be important. Pedro was playing the lowest rated in the tournament so I was expecting him to have high chances of winning which would bring him closer to me in the case I did not win.

Pedro did win his game again, and suddenly was only half a point behind. My opponent's in round 8 and 9 were IM José Veiga and IM Sérgio Rocha, while his were FM José Bárria and NM Matviy Faryma. I felt I needed to win my game against Veiga, even though I was Black, as I really did not want a situation where I needed to do better against Sérgio than Pedro against Matviy. Probabilistically, I was still the favourite to win the tournament, but anything could happen now, and I was feeling a bit agitated.

Round 8

Round 8 came. I was prepared to play very solid chess, and accept the possibility of a draw. It was good fortune that my opponent decided to go for a win with a complicated opening (as, with a win, he could have a shot at the championship as well) and I managed to outplay him.

I was extremely happy with this win against a strong IM with Black. However, Pedro managed to beat Bárria (a third win in a row!) and was still trailing me by half a point.

Round 9

Last round, and if I win I get back my national title lost in 2023. Pedro is playing Matviy and while I had hopes that he would be able to stop Pedro, I was feeling like a fourth win in a row would happen and I really needed to step my game up or finish the tournament in second place.

I think I played a very nice game and, with it, secured my 6th national title in classical chess.

Closing thoughts

After finishing, I went outside to talk with my friends and competitors, and I learned that Pedro had achieved an IM norm, something that was totally off my radar. What a run, finishing with 4/4, clinching second place and an IM norm! I am extremely proud of his tournament, and I am looking forward to see the continuation of his evolution.

It was a nerve-wracking tournament. If anything, it really shows how one should never relax, even with a 1.5 point lead after 4 rounds. I am happy with the way I played throughout the games and I am obviously elated to have won the championship again. At the time, my next tournament would be the European Team Championship, and I was looking forward to it. At the time of writing, that tournament has passed and, while I was half a point away from a GM norm, I am quite satisfied with the way I played, convincingly beating Maxim Rodshtein with Black and drawing David Navara with White, among other good results. I am also extremely happy that Portugal managed to draw Israel and beat Sweden, which earned us a 23rd place out of 40 teams.

I hope you enjoyed the comments on the championship, and see you on my next post in November!