Chess from the Northwest

I have some exciting news! Although my performance in my first 2 events, the WA Open and the PNCC club event, were abysmal, I learned a lot about my strength's and weaknesses's at the event. I woke up this morning with a text from John Rossell asking me if I wanted to attend the National Open in Las Vegas. At first, I was hesitant. I had just gone 2.5/7 in the WA Open, and in the PNCC event I hung my Queen. I've been performing pretty badly for my rating; 1300's don't hang queens, I dont care what you say! But in hindsight, I've only been back into chess for less than a month and the amount of time I have to study, although plentiful, isn't consumed by the myriads of other activities and endeavors I pursue that aspiring players are using on chess. This is no excuse; I've created this blog to make my study more serious, encourage actively entering my games online so my readers can view the games - it's a snowball effect. But, alas, he coaxed

After getting crushed at the Washington Open, I decided that if I refine my playing etiquette, I could probably have a higher chance of converting my winning positions at least. And the only way to do that is to play in more tournament environments! Not as nervous as I was last weekend for the Open, but I still want to make sure I get 2 solid games from going and not 2 blowouts, but we'll see. Round 1 starts at 7 PM, it's currently 2:33. Wish me luck! Edit (12:26 PM, 06/1/19): Haven't been to a Chess Club since Chess4Life was poppin back in the early late 2000's. Was definitely a fun experience. I lost both my games, which can be found in this study: https://lichess.org/study/7oxcRFXY As you may be able to discern from my notation, some of the moves are impossible! This makes it extremely difficult for me to review my games, as I'm trying to figure out what was played. At this event, the boards had no numbers or letters, so I was struggling to try and

Hey everyone! My name is Rithvik Bharath, and this is my first official blog post! As i've advertised on some other platforms, I will be creating a blog... on my experiences as a flourishing chess aficionado. I started playing chess in 3rd grade, where I attended Alcott Elementary. I attended the chess club ran by Michael Hosford at the time and became a 1300 scholastic player averaging 4/5 at the State Championship every year until 6th grade. After elementary school, my chess endeavors took a hiatus as other activities consumed my life. In high school I briefly played again at the Redmond High school Chess Club ran by Samuel and Daniel He, however I wasn't to serious about progressing or playing at the time. After high school, I took a couple of years off, and 2 weeks before the 2019 Washington Open I hit up Mike, my old coach, and asked him what I should do, and he told me to attend the Washington Open. I look at the roster, and sure enough, Daniel and Samuel were playi