At the beginning of April, I registered through the Slovak Chess Federation as an individual member and received my FIDE ID. This allowed me to start collecting official rating points, primarily by participating in official tournaments. The first one was a tournament from the Rapidtour series near the Czech city of Ostrava.
Tournament in Havířov
On 11.4.2026, a tournament took place in the small town of Havířov, near Ostrava, with a format of 9 rounds, 2x13min. + 2 sec. per move. It was my first tournament where I started earning official FIDE rating points. 122 players participated. The day before, I diligently trained on chess.com, had an online rating of 2000+, and even read the entire book “How to Win At Chess” by Levy Rozman on the day before the tournament. But as it often goes, despite my high expectations, I delivered absolutely miserable results. I played completely unfocused, couldn’t properly analyze the game, and made amateur mistakes and blunders.
I started the tournament with two losses, even though I was leading in both games, but lost them through my own mistakes. I couldn’t explain why my quality was so poor — during the break, I was completely beside myself and forced myself to play 2 games on chess.com to verify whether I was really in such terrible form or not. Paradoxically, I won both online games against players with online ELO 2000+. This frustrated me immensely because I couldn’t understand why I was performing so poorly at the live tournament.
The only positive takeaway from the tournament is that preparation and mental well-being are extremely important parts of chess. My play at the tournament was closely tied to my mental state — stress, fatigue, the long journey to the tournament, a combination of these factors.
Nothing to be done about it. Thanks to participating in this event, my first official ELO is 1608 in Rapid chess, and it will probably stay that way for a while, since I don’t plan to play similar official tournaments in the near future.
Takeaway: Improve rest, sleep, and reduce stress before tournaments.
- Date
- 11.4.2026
- Format
- 9 rounds, 2x13min. + 2sec.
- Players
- 122
- Placement
- 79.
- Score
- 4/9
Žilina Chess Festival
On 25.4.2026, a local chess event for children and adults was held in my hometown of Žilina. Three tournaments ran simultaneously — GPX (for children), GPX+ (older children), and Open (for adults). Participation in the Open tournament was small, only 28 players, but with fairly strong opponents. I also had a high chance of playing against a CM (Candidate Master) titled player. In the first round, I was paired against a very talented young player with ELO 1933, Kvassay, whom I defeated. In the second round, I won with black against a player with ELO 1989 using my favorite accepted Pirc Defense 4.dxe5. However, in the third round, I fell short against a coach (2043) from the local club Mladosť Žilina, who played a beautiful game and decimated my defense. In total, I lost 3 games, and the loss that bothers me most was in the sixth round, where I again went for the accepted Pirc but unfortunately couldn’t build up my position, and my opponent delivered checkmate. Despite that, I was happy to have played some nice games even against strong players.
- Date
- 25.4.2026
- Format
- 7 rounds, 2x12min. + 3sec.
- Players
- 28
- Placement
- 10.
- Score
- 4/7
Saffron Chess Tournament Bojnice
During the national holiday, a fair was taking place in the beautiful town of Bojnice, and part of the event included a rapid chess tournament. The weather turned out beautifully and the chessboards were set up outside, along the square where crowds of people were passing by. At the tournament, I already recognized a few familiar faces from previous tournaments. The overall atmosphere was pleasant, and although the drive took about 1 hour and 20 minutes, I arrived relatively well-rested, refreshed, and in a fairly good mood. My tournament results reflected that.
My greatest achievement came in the 3rd round, where a very strong opponent with ELO 2118 awaited me. I played with black, Indian Game Accelerated, and managed to play an excellent game. Here’s what the final position looked like when I offered my opponent a draw:
My only loss in the tournament came in the 4th round, when an experienced player faced me and decimated me with the Scandinavian Defense opening, for which I was completely unprepared. On top of that, I made an inaccurate move in the opening, castled on the wrong side, and my fate was sealed with checkmate. The difference was also visible in the time spent — my opponent used barely 3 minutes while I used almost 10 before getting checkmated.
Takeaway: Work on attacking against the Scandinavian Defense and practice bishop vs knight endgames.
- Date
- 8.5.2026
- Format
- 7 rounds, 2x12min. + 3sec.
- Players
- 99
- Placement
- 7.
- Score
- 5.5/7
Dubnica Chess Tournament
A day later, another tournament took place in Dubnica nad Váhom. I went to this one with my 5-year-old daughter Viktória, who participated in the GPX, while parents could play in the B tournament for adults. At this tournament too, I met several familiar faces from previous events. The overall atmosphere was excellent, and Viki scored 2 points out of 7, which I think is a very good result for a 5-year-old girl, since she was competing against children aged 7-14. My performance suffered the same way as in Havířov. I hadn’t expected the Bojnice tournament to be so demanding, and I arrived in Dubnica tired and sleep-deprived. The tournament started with two losses, and the only bright spot was yet another draw against a player with ELO 2113, who evidently also didn’t have the tournament go according to his plans.
- Date
- 9.5.2026
- Format
- 7 rounds, 2x15min
- Players
- 22
- Placement
- 13.
- Score
- 3.5/7
Conclusion
By participating in live tournaments, I’m gaining valuable experience that I’ve been missing, and I’m discovering that it’s not always just about knowing how to play chess, but above all about managing the mental side of the game, which I had significantly underestimated until now. During a game, a player’s ELO means nothing — it’s just two opponents and pieces. What matters is which of them can better handle stress, pressure, and fatigue, and turn their chess knowledge into a victory.
