On Monday, I faced my future Kennedy teammate, Neel Apte. Neel built up a strong attack and under pressure from his attack and the clock, I blundered badly and missed a mate-in-two. Losing this game definitely took some wind out of my sails and I was contemplating withdrawing from the tournament (for the first time ever). My Mom and Dad say, "Wheeler's aren't quitters". After a nice meal and getting to watch both the Giants and the A's play, I felt like I had a little more energy. I went back to the tournament hall hoping for a good pairing, and that is exactly what I got. I was to play black against Philip Seitzer. Philip crushed me at this very tournament last year playing the white side of the Chatard-Alekhine gambit against my French Defense. I was prepared for a repeat of that game (I had learned a thing or two about the opening in the past year), but to my surprise, he played a different line. I handled the opening well, and applied a lot of pressure in the middlegame. Eventually I sac'd a pawn to rip open the protection in front of his King. Despite being a pawn down, I had way too many threats for Philip to handle and I was able to recover material and head into a completely winning endgame. Despite repeated draw offers, which were tempting because I had to catch my flight to go to the US Chess School in North Carolina, I pressed on and eventually ground out the win. This was a very satisfying victory because I proved to myself that I can bounce back, even after some bad results and still play a nice game.
