I Beat One of the top Players in my Country Last Weekend. Here's How It happened

I came into Chess On Board Lagos seeded 38th out of 83 players. My FIDE rapid rating coming in was 1766, already up from a 20+ point gain in my previous tournament. Nobody was picking me to do anything special. I wasn't even sure I was going to do anything special.

The first round

Round 1 set the tone immediately — and not in a good way. I was paired against an unrated player, got into serious trouble, found myself in a losing position with almost no time left on my clock. I survived with a draw. Half a point from a game I nearly lost against someone without a rating. Not exactly the statement I was hoping to make.

Round 2 and 3

I won comfortably and reset mentally. Then Round 3 arrived.
CM Lapite. Likely, the best blitz player in Nigeria. Rated 2232 — 466 points above me on paper. In rapid chess that gap is enormous. The rating system gave me roughly a 3–5% chance of winning that game. I knew the number. I sat down anyway.

I won.

I still don't think it has fully sunk in. You spend months training, studying, grinding games online wondering whether any of it translates when it actually matters. That game was the answer. It translates.

A positional pawn sac, I forced e4 then Qc2, he decided to hold on to the pawn, led to another pawn sac with e6. I calculated and judged it was a draw if he had found a queen retreat back to f8! That led to a couple of desperado attacks, it was a 6+ move sequence, I don't know how but I calculated through and saw he could defend the attack, by a thread. But somehow, I saw I had another desperado after the sequence he opted for, Bh6!!! Long story, short, it was a wild game. Four sacs total maybe?

Round 4

Round 4 I beat Okojie — rated 1916 in rapid but a 2050 classical player, meaning stronger than his rapid number suggests. Back to back wins. I was now ranked inside the top 10 of the tournament. Somehow now on top boards.

The stump in round 5 and 6

Then Round 5 happened. I had White against Oyakhilome rated 2082. I made an error in the opening and never recovered. My only straightforward loss of the tournament and it stung because it was self-inflicted. Not outplayed — I beat myself. That's a different kind of loss and honestly a harder one to process.

Round 6 I faced IM Balogun. One of the best rapid player in Nigeria. Rated 2254. I lost. That one I can live with. It was a positional squeeze. I missed a tempo in a critical position and it was downhill from there.
My attempt to recall the position(didn't annotate) as it kept burning into my thoughts again and again.

Comeback win

Round 7, I closed out by beating CM Oyama rated 1877. Another titled player. A professional finish to close a tournament I'll remember for a long time.

What I took away

The CM win confirmed something I already suspected — my chess is ahead of my FIDE rapid rating. I gained 41 points from this tournament alone, pushing me to 1807, and I know there are more where that came from.

But I'm not going to pretend everything went well. It didn't.

My openings let me down. I've neglected them for years in favour of middlegame and positional understanding and Round 5 was the bill arriving. One opening error against a 2082 and the game was over before it started. That's on me.

The nerves were real. The chess was there — the mental composure wasn't fully there yet. Round 1 should never be a near-loss against an unrated player. Tournament chess at this level demands more than just chess ability. It demands mental toughness and I know I have work to do there.

Fitness surprised me. I underestimated how physically and mentally draining seven rounds of rapid chess is. Add travel to a different city on top and by the later rounds my energy wasn't where it needed to be. That's something I have to take seriously going forward. Tournament preparation isn't just chess preparation.

I'm disappointed. Not because the result was bad, it wasn't. But because I know what I left on the board. Fix the openings, fix the nerves, show up fitter, and this same tournament is a different story.

Back to work. Calculation, endgames, openings, master games.
The next event is the 25th. I'll be ready..