This season I haven't been able to play as much as in others, but I've been able to find some solace in knowing I'm in the top 10 of the highest division. It's not easy playing in these tournaments with all the formats available and having more players than there are.
Most of them are exceptionally strong!
I was late again, but I spent a good while playing in the 960 tournament. I'm not too good in this format, but at least I've had a few wins against players I know are at the same level as me, so that's good.
You have to be constantly looking over your shoulder. We start with a random piece position, and from there, we have to figure out the best way to move forward. Not only is it a bit distracting to see where the pieces are, but you can also attack in the first moves.
It's one of my favorite chess variants, along with antichess. Although I haven't been playing much of either of them recently, I think some of these tournaments in this format could be interesting. There were some surprising results over the board, especially on the podium.
The fact that you can't use openings, only the basic elements of chess, makes it more interesting to play against higher-level opponents. It shows who has the best strategy and who is willing to make the odd sacrifice to take the advantage.