Due to the pandemic the Asian Amateur Championships are being held online this year on another primarily tournament based chess server.
The Women's event was held over the weekend - this past Friday through Monday.
The Open event is being played 16-18 November so last night was Day 1.
The format is a 9 round Swiss, 3 rounds a day, 15 minutes plus 5 second increment per game.
171 players in the Open event.
As it was an official FIDE event, we had to play alone, with microphones on, 2 cameras, desktop shared on Zoom and task manager open. All in the cause of anti-cheating.
The field was broken down into breakout rooms, each with an Arbiter. Shaun Press was our Arbiter and did a great job.
I was playing mainly for experience on the arbiting side, but from the players perspective.
I was seeded 23rd.
My goal for the event was to learn a bit more about official online events from a players perspective, but in terms of chess, I hoped to finish higher than I was seeded! A Top 10 finish would be a the icing on the cake.
Round 1 played a 13 year old junior from Singapore. Round 2 played an 11 year old junior from Singapore. Round 3 played a 13 year old junior from Singapore.
Juniors can be notoriously underrated, especially during the pandemic. Rated events are few and far between and they improve at a rate of knots.
I lost in Round 2. Whilst my opponent had a low rapid rating, his classical rating was 400 points higher, we played an offbeat line in the Alekhine and he knew the theory pretty well. A tough game, got outplayed.
I won in Round 3. Had a few scary moments, but worked through them and got into a 2 Rooks and 7 vs 2 Rooks and 6 endgame which I won quite nicely I thought.
