Up Against the Big Guns

𝖠𝗇𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗎𝗇𝖾𝖽𝗂𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝖾𝗋𝗉𝗍 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗆𝗒 𝗎𝗉𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗎𝗍𝗈𝖻𝗂𝗈𝗀𝗋𝖺𝗉𝗁𝗒 (𝖾𝗑𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖻𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖶𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗇’𝗌 𝖧𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗒 𝖬𝗈𝗇𝗍𝗁 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧)

…the classical chess tournaments that had defined my career up until that point started to feel unsatisfying, repetitive even. So I began to seek out different formats and new challenges. Maybe this was Bobby’s influence (𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺). I started to understand his disdain for traditional chess, and his obsession with new alternatives to the game.

Lucky for me, this happened to be the year when rapid and blitz chess tournaments began to take off in a serious way. I played in four such events over the course of a few months, which would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier. The first was the Melody Amber tournament, the combination rapid-blindfold event that Mr. van Oosterom had named after his little girl. It was the strongest tournament I had ever competed in.

I ended up exceeding expectations in the rapid portion, drawing Karpov and Vishy and beating both Ivanchuk and the British Grandmaster Nigel Short. I also finished ahead of Karpov, which was a particular point of pride.