RCFC Thursday Night D & Under Epee

RCFC Thursday Night D & Under Epee, December 18, 2014.

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=27720&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=109583

I came in third and got another medal. The bust of Beethoven I've been putting medals on is getting a little crowded.

This tournament was oddly skewed toward the beginner side. There were two Ds, two Es (me one of them) and twenty Us. Not all the Us were beginners, but for many this was their first tournament. Perhaps because of this I took things a bit easier than at other recent tournaments. I knew I should have been working harder, but I just didn't feel like it, for some reason. Mentally I tried my best, but physically...well I know I could have pushed myself several notches more.

Maybe part of it was knowing there were so many beginners and having my warm up and first pool bout seem easy. Then I came close to losing all my other pool bouts, but managed to win them all. I was seed #2 and had a couple easy DEs before facing Craig Haworth and losing fairly badly. It was when fencing Craig that I should have turned the energy up a couple levels, but I didn't, at least not until it was too late.

In a way all this was interesting. I haven't had a tournament in which I've done this well against this many people in a long time. I realized this must be similar to what regular tournaments—or at least the kind of ROCs I've been going to—are like for really good fencers: You face a lot of people you should beat, but you still need to work as hard as you can in the pools to get as good an indicator as you can. Then you have an easy DE or two before things get challenging, and somehow you have to keep your energy and drive up through the gap between the pools and the harder DEs. Then you need to fence your very best at the end, after hours of fencing, when you are more inclined to be physically and mentally tired. These are challenges I am not used to! I realized that really good competitive fencers must have many ways to face these kind of things, developed over time—especially ways to refocus and re-energize as you get to your hard DEs. It was an interesting insight.

POOLS

Anyway, my pool:

I had never fenced any of these people, except Jameson Lu, who beat me in my DE at the Leon Auriol Open (I think it was), and Jim Loter, although I didn't remember much about Jim's fencing.

My first bout was with Pieter Daniell. He's from my club but I don't think I've seen him before. He seemed like a beginner, so I basically pushed him and waited for openings or counterattack opportunities. This got me up 2-0 fairly quickly. Then I got another point with what felt like a random hand hit. Well, I kept putting my point back toward his hand and he obliged me by sticking his hand on my point. Then he got a point, in a way I can't remember, making it 3-1. My waiting and baiting continued to work though and I won 5-1. Perhaps this bout made me relax a bit too much, because the rest of my pool bouts were too close.

Second pool bout was Jim Loter. Again I felt fairly in control of things, but the first two points were doubles, so we went 2-2. I was pushing and baiting, sticking my blade out a lot. He got a lovely hand hit one time I did that. So he was up 3-2. This got me a bit worried and I decided to press the attack. First I tried a toe touch. It was close, but I missed. Luckily Jim didn't land a counterattack.

Then, well...a week before Russ had told me something about beats that had gotten me to rethink how to do simple beats (basically doing them more toward the opponent and on their forte rather than so much to the side, like I had been doing), and I had been doing pretty well with beat attacks in practice. So I tried it here, waiting and trying to get Jim to stick his blade out, then, when he did, launching a fast beat-fleche. It worked well. In the past my beats, being too much to the side, too often resulted in my point missing. Now, beating more forward my point landed nicely on Jim's upper arm.

So it was 3-3. I tried to set up another beat situation or coax a mistake—I made a low feint in an attempt to confuse, but Jim made a very nice hit to my hand. Now he was up 4-3, oh no. I fell back to focusing on another beat attack. I managed to set one up and it worked very well, 4-4. Then, somehow, we doubled, which was thrown out. Then I managed another beat-fleche and won, 5-4. That was too close, but I was pleased with how well my beats worked. Thanks, Russ!

My third pool bout was with Zoe Tolbert, a rather small, young woman from MTFC. Having watched her in a couple bouts before it felt like I ought to be able to do well. But I remembered fencing and losing to a similarly small and young woman at the Subway Games (I think it was), Abby Barr. At that time I realized I had been reluctant to fleche or attack too strongly because she was young and small. And I lost. So this time I resolved to fence as well as I could, not to subconsciously hold back. Even so she almost beat me. I pressed her and attacked, maybe too much. She got the first two points. I managed some points but before long she was up 4-3, just like things had gone with Jim. In this case I found myself missing and making poor fleches. Perhaps I was attacking too quickly, perhaps my aim was off, perhaps being small she was harder to hit! Certainly my sense of distance was off, again probably because she is smaller than I am used to. Anyway, at 4-3 I reverted to the same beat-fleche tactic. It worked. I managed to score single lights twice with beat-fleches, to win 5-4. Again too close!

My next bout was against the other E in my pool, Jameson Lu. I had fenced him before, and not that long ago, at an SAS tournament DE. Russ had given me advice after the first period, but by then he was up too much. After I lost Russ gave me more advice. I had written some of Russ's advice down and remembered most anyway. It was mainly to mostly stick to shallow attacks, to worry his hand, to retreat quickly, and to use binds instead of beats. This was basically what I did, focusing mostly on keeping my point aimed at his hand and repeatedly making shallow feint-like threats toward his hand. I got at least two points on his hand too, which felt nice. He got some nice touches too. We got to 3-3, then doubled to 4-4. The final point was one of those things where you both attack and it isn't quite clear if either, or both hit. I looked to the lights and saw that I had scored a single light and won, 5-4. Another whew. I had been most worried about Jameson and was pleased that Russ's advice had been helpful, as it usually is. Jameson won all his other pool bouts, and better than me. I felt like I was rather lucky to have won. The final touch felt like it could have gone either way.

Also, because of Russ's warning about using binds instead of beats, Jameson was the only person in my pool with whom I didn't rely on beat-fleches.

My last pool bout was against Brandon Ross, another youngster. I'm not sure but I think he's done more foil and this was his first epee tournament. I don't remember the details of the bout except that it got to 3-3, which worried me. Brandon was fairly small, and like with Zoe I felt like I was misjudging distance and getting too close. He scored another and took the lead 4-3. Again I fell back to simple beat-fleches and again they worked. I scored two single lights with beat-fleches, winning 5-4. That beat insight from the week before sure came in handy!

So I won all my pool bouts, but it could have easily been much worse. In part I was lucky. But in another way, well, I felt good about being able to keep cool and patient when down 4-3 and having a good attack to fall back on.

DIRECT ELIMINATION

I didn't write down details about my DEs, in part because I was kept busy fixing my LP tips between bouts. As expected my LP blades kept failing the small shim. I tweaked one during the pools and both before the DEs, and again between DE bouts. They are so finicky. I keep planning to rewire them with German points, but haven't gotten to it. I probably should before the Battle in Seattle.

Anyway, my first DE was against Brandon Ross, who had been my last pool bout. Going to 15 with him was different than going to 5. He got some points but I kept up a steady pace of getting more, including several toe touches (I think...I might be confusing my first two DEs). I was patient and careful, relying mostly on waiting for mistakes. I think it was with Brandon that I set up a nice prime riposte—doing circle-6 threats until he fleched with a disengage, letting me fall back into prime nicely. I love it when that works.

My second DE was with Greg Doss, who is from my club but I don't think I had seen before. I can't quite remember this bout compared to my first one, but I think I scored a lot of toe touches. I don't think I had ever scored one before in a tournament, and almost never tried. I had enough of a lead with Greg to take chances. I ended up winning 15-4.

Winning that put me in the final 4. I would fence either Craig Haworth or Jerry Lu. And watching them I wasn't sure which I would rather fence. Watching them fence I felt like I would have a good chance against Jerry. Then again, I had never fenced him and I had fenced Craig a number of times. I had beaten Craig the last two times and felt like I had figured him out, to a point. And I knew he had not done a lot of epee recently. On the other other hand, as Craig pointed out I had never beaten him in a DE, while he's beaten me twice in DEs. Granted, both of those DEs were quite a while ago. I have progressed a lot since then, and he seemed to be fencing in the same basic way he was back then—relying strongly on his circle-6, his strength, and long lunges to the leg. Still I wasn't sure, and watched Craig and Jerry's bout closely. They went 14-14. I realized I was hoping Jerry would win, for some reason, but Craig did.

So I fenced Craig Haworth and lost pretty badly, 15-8. In hindsight there were several things. I should have turned up my energy level several notches. The last time we fenced, in a pool, I beat him in part by being a lot more active, actually pushing him off his end of the strip at one point, and retreating from his long attacks. This time I was slower, and after some initial pushing got lazier, giving him time to set up attacks and score with long lunges. Also, I was overly focused on my plan, even when it wasn't working too well. It took me too long to start looking for other options, at which point I began to see mistakes he was making. Most especially, he kept exposing his forearm, like a foilist might—especially during his circle-6 motions. Once I saw it I was able to score a few hits on his hand and arm. After the first period Toby talked to him and it was obvious that one thing he warned him about was his arm. Even so he kept exposing it, but by that point I was down too much to come back. I wished I had had someone as helpful as Toby to coach me right then! I needed it more than Craig, heh.

So I got third, tied with Benjamin Lee—Andrew Lee's younger brother. I think this was Benjamin's first epee tournament and that he usually does foil. I didn't get to fence him but it was interesting watching him. He has a lovely fleche much like his brother, although he seemed to use it a little too much, reducing the surprise value, and sometimes fleching from too far or at the wrong time. But he's only like 13 or 14. It seemed obvious he will be as good as Andrew soon enough if he keeps working.

The final was Shawn Dodge and Craig Haworth. Shawn won by as much as Craig had beaten me, 15-8. Shawn saw how Craig "presented" his arm right away, and took advantage from the start. Shawn's style is particularly good for making picks to the arm. Even when Craig scored with a binding attack Shawn was almost always able to slip out and get a double with a last second hand pick. Very nice.

If I had beaten Craig I would have fenced Shawn for first place, which if I got would have earned me my D. Shawn and I fence a lot in practice and I'm skeptical I could have beaten him, but it wouldn't be impossible, and Shawn seemed to think I'd have had a good chance. Maybe, but probably not that evening, the way I had been fencing. So the way it turned out I "re-earned" my E2014, which doesn't mean anything real in terms of ratings, but still felt nice since I had only earned it "once" this year. Doing it twice made me feel more like I actually deserved it. Even so both times were rather "ideal" situations for it. Shawn "re-earned" his D2014. Benajmin Lee earned his E—he had been a U. Not bad for what I think was his first epee tournament.

Goofy medal pics:

Couple videos of my own fencing

I took a video of myself and George fencing in practice recently, and George took a video of my pool bout against Carlo Malaguzzi last weekend. I am putting them up here with the intention of analyzing the many examples of bad form I can see. But not right now, later...

Videos from SAS Open Mixed Epee, 11/23/2014

Shawn Dodge and George Raush in a Final 8 DE bout:




Just the last bit of Matthew Comes and Scott Phillips, Final 8 DE:




Matthew Comes and George Raush, semifinal DE:




Yuly Suvorov and Steven Benack, semifinal DE:





Matthew Comes and Steven Benack, final bout:

SAS Open Mixed Epee, 11/23/2014

One of the small, somewhat informal SAS tournaments. These tend to be nice. There are often just enough fencers to be an A1 event, and usually mostly fencers I know pretty well, which makes for a decent chance of earning a better rating. I earned my E at one of these.

This time, however, I didn't do as well, coming in 14th out of 17:

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=28369&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=112379

The main reason I came in 14th instead of something more like 9th was two pool bouts that went 4-4 but I lost. At 4-4 things can easily go either way and I've had plenty of times when I won against a better fencer after getting to 4-4. But not this time.

I see the AskFred results link above has an error, showing me losing to Mark Blom 1-5, when in fact it was 4-5. I remember checking the scorecard after the pools and signing off. Probably Russ entered the data into the computer wrong, or misread the handwriting. So my pool on AskFred looks like this:

But I ought to have a D4 against Mark Blom, 16 under touches scored, and an indicator of -5 instead of -8. Mark's TS, TR, and Ind ought to be 20, 18, 2. I worked out whether this mistake made a difference for DE seeding and I don't think it did, so no harm done.

I also worked out how the DE seeding would have been if I had won those two 4-4 pool bouts. As it was, losing them, my first DE was against Yuly Suvorov, which I predictably lost badly. If I had won both of the 4-4 pools I would have seeded 8th instead of 14th. But John Varney would have seeded 9th instead of 10th and I'd have to fence him. That would have been at least as difficult as Yuly was. But if I had won one of the 4-4 bouts and not the other, and/or if other people had scored slightly differently I could have ended up with a number of different people, some of whom I would have had a decent chance with. Anyway, another example of how every point matters in pools—and not only your own points! And also how winning pool bouts matters. Losing 4-5 is better than losing 0-5, but winning 5-4 is even better.

I have only brief notes on my pool bouts. My first bouts were against my SAS clubmates, who were also the toughest fencers in the pool. First I fenced George Raush. I tried some tricks that sometimes work with him, but they mostly failed. He won 5-2. Then I fenced Yuly Suvorov. Sometimes in practice I can beat him to 5 points, but not often. This time I got the first point in a nice second intention kind of way, drawing him into a mistake and taking advantage. That bright moment faded fast though and I lost 5-1.

I didn't really expect to beat George or Yuly, but I thought I had a decent chance with Carlo Malaguzzi and Mark Blom. I faced Carlo first. George took a video, which I'll put up in another post. We were mostly tied up to 4-4. I tried to find an opening to take advantage of and when I thought I saw one I attacked, but either it wasn't really an opening or Carlo was tricking me. Also my attack was technically rather bad. So he scored and I lost 5-4.

With Mark Blom I tried to repeat the tactics I used to beat him in Portland a month before. Both my LP epees were out by then (one failed the weight test, to my surprise, the other was okay for a couple of bouts but then failed the small shim). I was using my Vniti which just isn't as good for the kind of beats I used in Portland. Still, I felt like my timing was good and I managed to keep the score tied off and on. Near the end he was up 4-3. I kept making shallow threats, trying to draw his counterattacks. Eventually he countered and I was able to sweep his blade up into a kind of septime or prime-like thing and score. That felt pretty nice. Then at 4-4 I tried to be careful, waiting for the right moment. He fleched from a long distance. I had enough time to think I had it, he was fleching from too far. Yet he managed to score a single light through a combination of nice bladework on his part and poor form on my part. Doh.

My final pool bout was with Mark Benack. He is getting better but still a beginner. I got to 4-0 fairly easily and wanted to get a 5-0 win, but he managed to double at the end, so I won 5-1. I felt a little bad for him during the tournament, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

My post-pool seed was 14 out of 17, so I got paired with seed 3, Yuly. He won easily, no surprise.

I stayed and watched the rest. Shawn Dodge beat John McDonald 15-14, renewing his D, before losing to George in another 15-14 bout. Joel Howard lost to Andre Stackhouse in a very close bout that went to 14-14. Joel probably would have earned his D had he won, alas. The main surprise was Steven Benack, who was fencing hot. He won all his pool bouts, including John Varney and John McDonald, and got 2nd seed. In the DEs he beat Russ 15-5, then John Varney 15-12. That surprised me. I had thought of Steven as more or less as good as me (though very different in style, and of course much much younger). So to see him beat Varney in a DE was surprising. Then he fenced Yuly and won 15-12. Wow. That got Steven to the final bout, against Matthew Comes. It was fairly close for a while, but toward the end Matthew seemed to figure out some tactics and pulled ahead to win 15-10.

I took several videos which I'll put in a separate post.

Columbia International Div1 ROC

Went down to Portland for my birthday weekend. A treat.

Vet Mixed Epee

https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=26708&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=105723#105726

Came in 3rd and got a nice medal, yay. Being a small group it was not crazy hard to do, but I was happy with doing fairly well in the pools (and getting a bye as a result), and then beating Mark Blom in the DEs. He's been beating me recently and had a good start, but I felt like I figured some things out during the bout and managed to get to 8-8, then 9-9, and the final point. Then I fenced Michael Mehall and lost 7-10. Then Michael fenced Erich Cranor for gold and Erich won.

Pools

I tried to keep in mind at least three "go to" actions to use in the pools. I hadn't fenced any of the people in my pool before, so I figured I might be able to use my 4-6 attack. I also figured I would try what I've been calling my "Dragonetti fleche". For a third action I figured I'd try my 6-prime trap, or if people didn't fall for that a leg/knee touch. Failing that I wanted to use lots of active in-and-out footwork and patience, coupled with hand and forearm threats, feints, and attempts. I was less sure what to do with Erich Cranor since he is left-handed. Both my 4-6 thing and the Dragonetti fleche don't translate well to lefties. With Erich I just figured I needed to be extra careful of my outside and my distance. I thought I would make lots of hand attempts, perhaps try prime or 2, and maybe go for his knee, which he kinda sticks out.

Debra Allen (SAF, E2014), won 5-3. I hadn't met Debra before. She's so friendly and cool. I felt a little cold going into my first bout but warmed up pretty fast, trying to focus on being active and patient. I got the first point in a way I can't remember. A parry-riposte maybe. Then I tried my 4-6 attack and it worked just right, 2-0. Then she got a point, I think with a nice disengaging attack. Then I tried my "Dragonetti fleche" and although a little ugly it worked nicely too, 3-1. I forget exactly what happened next except that it was a double touch, so 4-2. At the end I tried another Dragonetti fleche but she counterattacked and hit. I was a little surprised to see I hit too, so we doubled and I won 5-3.

Richard Hoopes Jr. (TFC, B2013), won 5-3. Starting out he seemed a bit unready and slow, so I soon fleched. He countered and we doubled, 1-1. Then I did my 4-6 thing and it worked nicely, 2-1. Then, as with Debra, I tried my Dragonetti fleche, and again it worked well, 3-1. Then, I forget exactly—I was probably trying to draw a fleche I could prime against and he wouldn't go for it. Somehow we doubled, 4-2. Then, since I couldn't get him to fleche and he seemed a bit slow on his feet and open to being fleched I tried to set up footwork for a fleche. Slow advance, quick retreat retreat, pause, etc. Eventually it seemed right and I fleched. He managed a counter and we doubled, so I won 5-3.

Erich Cranor (NWFC, A2013), lost 4-5. Erich was the top rated fencer in my pool. I had seen him fence very well before, although I'd never fenced him myself. He's tall, thin, and left handed. To my surprise I did pretty well. He started off well, scoring the first two points with nicely done attacks that confused me. Then I got a point in a way I can't quite remember, except that it felt good. I think it was a counterattack to his arm. He was fencing fairly aggressively, pushing me back and fleching or making long lunges. I wasn't expecting to win, but mostly just trying to get as many points as I could. So I was ready to try for double touches by counterattacking. On the next touch I tried to wait and bait and eventually he fleched. I counter-fleched and we doubled, making the score 2-3. Then, after much maneuvering, something similar happened again and we doubled. So it was 3-4. One of my plans was to go for his knee if he attacked high. On the next touch I saw him coming off the line quickly. He made an immediate fast attack to the high outside. Somehow I had the presence of mind to counterattack low to his knee just in time for his blade to go over my head. He said it was well done. I was pleased. So we were 4-4. I worked hard on the last point, being patient and as active as I could, trying to find or make openings. We had a little exchange then both attacked. I thought, or hoped at least, it was a double. But it wasn't. He won, 5-4.

Michael Moore (NWFC, C2013), lost 4-5. Ratings can't always be relied upon. Michael was fencing very well. I watched him beat Erich and others. I was worried but planned to use the same basic tactics I had been using. Michael was fast and strong so I tried to keep some extra distance and use some absence of blade, and I tried to be more active and in-and-out with footwork—closing rapidly then opening distance wide a lot. I can't remember the details of the first few points. I got one point using my 4-6 tactic, which felt good. I tried my "Drag. fleche" but it failed. I think I was starting it from too far. Joel later said he thought I was fleching from way too far. Anyway, we got to 2-3, then I scored in an exchange where I thought his counterattack was good, but I must have just grazed his arm going in. This made it 3-3. He made a very nice beat-fleche to my arm, 3-4. I kept trying to close then open distance, seeking to draw a fleche from out of distance. It worked and he fleched from far enough that I was able to swat his blade with a big 2, then riposte sideways as he ran by. So, another 4-4 bout. Again I tried to draw a long fleche and again it worked. This time he fleched from way too far. I retreated and had soooo much time. Time enough to think "ah ha, got it" as I took aim. But he managed to keep his blade free from mine and land his point on my arm. Argh!

Patrick Daugherty (NWFC, D2011), won 5-3. I don't think I had met Patrick before, but having watched him in the pools my plan was to try and use in-and-out fast footwork to draw attacks. It seemed possible to trigger fleches from out of distance. But I also wanted to try my tactics of the day. I don't remember the exact details very well. I couldn't get my 4-6 thing to work, but my "Drag. fleche" worked twice. Once he fleched and I parried, then hit him on the leg almost by chance as he ran by. That one was a little lucky. A couple other times we had exchanges and ended up in infighting distance and he kind of gave up trying, letting me get easy points. I got up to 4-3, then used the Drag. fleche to win.

Direct Elimination

So, pretty good pool. I seeded 5th out of 11. Better than my initial seeding by rating, which was 9th or 10th (Debra and I are both E2014, Joel is E2013). There were five byes, so I just barely got one. My two 4-5 losses made a difference. Richard Hoopes and I both won 3 and lost 2 bouts, but I had scored 23 touches to his 20, and received 18 to his 19. Or put another way, his two losses were 5-2 and 5-3, while mine were both 5-4. That's what gave me a first round bye, while Richard fenced Patrick Daugherty in the first round and lost 10-9.

I was paired with Mark Blom in the second round. He also got a bye, seeding 4th. In the past Mark has usually beaten me, although I've beaten him at least once, in a pool. This day we had warmed up together and he had scored on me a lot more than I had on him, although in my defense I was focused on warming up rather than scoring per se. The bit of warming up we did helped me plan for our DE. Mark is left handed, which often gives me trouble. He uses a French grip, which is usually something I like, if I can take advantage with hard beats and strong takes. But the way Mark holds his blade, which I took note of in warm ups, makes it hard to do a "normal" beat, due to the angle and left-handedness. He is good at surprise toe-touches and, like a French-gripper, quick disengages and picks. I went into the DE without a strong plan. Mostly I intended to keep good distance, try and be faster on my feet, and try for second intention type actions.

Mark was up a point or two for most of the bout, but I was able to keep it close. At some point, despite my intention to be ready for it, he got me with a toe touch. Another time I got rather lucky—he made an attack and I swatted it aside but totally missed my remise, going clear over his shoulder. I was wide open but he missed twice, giving me enough time to recover from my miss and hit. We got to 4-6, which felt like a rather dangerous place to be when the bout is only to 10 points. Knowing I had to get single lights I became more patient. I also began to work out a tactical approach that in the end worked pretty well. I couldn't beat his blade the "normal" way, but I could make strong downward beats in 2 and upward beats toward 6. I began doing both of these quite a bit, to distract him and break up his plans if nothing else. Before long I realized that even with a strong beat he came back on line too quickly for me to make a direct attack without doubling, and he'd come back on line ready to disengage if I tried to take his blade, which would also result in a double touch. But if I beat and made a convincing feint he might be drawn into a counterattack out of distance, then I could get a clear and open shot. It also seemed to help for me to mix up my downward and upward beats, trying to set up minor patterns to be broken. Figuring these things out got us to 8-8, then 9-9. By then I felt good about this tactic, although worried about the close score. I kept up the hard beats and feints and eventually he counterattacked into a feint, giving me a wide open shot. So I won 10-9, woo.

Afterward he told me I did a good job in changing tactics. I felt good about it too—adjusting tactics during a bout is one of the things I have difficulty with. I think I did good with patience and focus toward the end—often I feel an urge to rush toward the end of DE bouts, to try dangerous things, when usually I ought to be doing the exact opposite. This time I felt the urge to rush but held it in check.

So, with just 11 of us and with my first round bye, I made the final 4, where I fenced Michael Mehall. Michael had been in the other pool, and I had never met him before. I got to watch him finish his DE with Maria Copelan. I watched knowing I would fence the winner. I kinda hoped Maria would win since I knew her slightly better, but Michael won 10-7. Watching I saw he was strong and fast, and good but not particularly unusual. I figured I would continue with the same basic tactics I had been using. We had a good bout and I think I mostly did what I "should have" done. Except I sometimes fleched from too far, and sometimes allowed him to fleche from too close. Also I felt like I simply missed a few too many times. There were two or three times where he fleched and I made good parries but missed my ripostes while he snuck in remise hits before running by. At least twice he fleched by and yelled in frustration before realizing he had actually scored the point and I hadn't. Anyway, we got to 6-8, then 7-8, at which point I tried to be extra patient, looking for singles, while he seemed to turn things up a notch. He got the last two touches with a burst of speed. I made "correct" parries, but too slow. So he won 10-7.

Michael Mehall and Erich Cranor fenced for first place. It was fairly close. Erich won, 10-8. Coming in 3rd, or tied for 3rd anyway, meant I got a medal and stood on the podium for pictures. I also got a little insulated bag thing printed with "Columbia International Division 1A ROC 2014". They said the bags, for 1st-3rd places, had "goodies" in them. The goodies turned out to be a little pack of peanuts, some dried fruit, and a granola bar, heh. They actually had medals for 8th place and higher, which was more than half of us.

It felt very nice to come in 3rd and get a medal and all. It's been a while since I came in 3rd or 2nd (I've yet to be 1st). If I remember right I've been 2nd or 3rd six times now. Three times at U-only tournaments in Tacoma, once at a U-only tournament at SAS, and once at a D and under SAS tournament with just ten fencers. I got medals at the Tacoma tournaments but not the SAS ones, so this was my fourth medal and the first that wasn't from a Tacoma U-only tournament. While it feels a little silly to enjoy medals, and I always remember Mikol Ryan saying he didn't care for them because "I have a drawer-full of medals", well, I got a kick out of it.

Senior Men's Epee

The next day I was in the Senior Men's Epee event. There were 39 fencers, all quite good and most very very good. I did very poorly—perhaps the worst I've ever done, although it was perhaps the hardest tournament I've been in. I won't go over it here, except to say my pool was Wesley Johnson, Andrew Lee, Sawyer Jackson, Henry Lange, and Tristan Krueger. My DE was with Zachary DeWitt.

I took a video of Tristan Krueger and Cole Mallette fencing in the final 8. Lots of prime-like infighting craziness. Maybe some ideas for fencing lefties.

The director of this bout was a kid, which is always nice to see. Justin Meehan was there too, as a mentor perhaps. There were a few tricky calls (well, tricky for epee) and I think the kid did very well, especially considering the craziness of the fencing and less-than-wonderful attitude of the fencers. At one point the ref called halt then had to think about what the halt was for. Justin prompted him and he decided to call it corp-a-corp, which was the right call, I think. Later he gave Cole a yellow card for turning his back. Cole complained about it in a rather impolite way, but watching the video it seems quite clear that Cole was fencing his with back turned and not "just waiting for the halt" as he claimed. Near the end Cole got a touch that Tristan didn't think hit him and in the video looks like a wall-hit. The ref let that one stand, but in his defense it is hard to tell even in video slow motion. Good job, kid.

2014 Leon Auriol Open

2014 Leon Auriol Open, Senior Mixed Epee

http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=26987&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=106864

Another tournament, another mediocre result. I was a little bummed after losing my DE, but the rest of the tournament was interesting and the final bout was amazing. So that was good.

Pool bouts:

Henry Lange, lost 1-5. I didn't know Henry Lange and had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that he was left-handed and rather tall. For some reason I assumed he was lower rated, but later saw he's a B. Well, he made quick work of me. I felt rusty with left-handed tactics, and those I tried failed.

Bob Noble, won 5-4. I'm not sure if we've fenced before. If so it has been a long time. I got a chance to watch him fence before our bout, so I had the vague idea that he likes to attack to the inside, often quite angulated. After trying to be aggressive with Henry Lange, and losing, I switched to a much more defensive approach, retreating from his feints and attacks and looking for openings. Luckily for me he made some small mistakes I was able to capitalize on, and before long I had a 3-1 lead. I can't remember the details exactly, but he got a point, making it 3-2, then we doubled, 4-3, then he got another point. At 4-4 we maneuvered a bit and eventually had an exchange in which he went to my inside. I managed to parry and hit with a big four, getting somewhat twisted up. Phew, very close.

Carlo Malaguzzi, lost 1-5. I've seen other people beat Carlo, and I've done okay with him in practice, but I cannot figure him out in tournaments. I feel like there is some fairly simple understanding I am just not quite getting, and so he keeps beating me rather badly in tournaments. I knew he would fleche a lot and felt prepared. I planned to retreat quickly, or counter-fleche, or try a prime parry. My counter-fleches failed, as did my primes. Perhaps I stopped him once or twice with prime, but failed to score a riposte. Mainly he timed his fleches just right to catch me unable to retreat quickly. Next time perhaps I should pay extra close attention to footwork and distance. I thought I was pretty well this time, but apparently not well enough. The one point I got felt good, at least. We were moving in and out of distance and in a split second I saw the distance close and I made a fleche to his shoulder. I tried to recreate the opportunity but apparently just gave him opportunities, hmm.

Matthew Comes, lost 2-5. Well, I did not expect to win this one, Matthew has gotten so good over the last year or two. My goals were simple: Score at least one point, avoid his toe and leg touches, and at least try to avoid his awesome fleches. I expected him to go for a toe touch within the first three seconds, as he often does. I was totally ready to pull my foot back and fleche, but he didn't make the attempt. I tried to be very defensive and avoid getting too close—his infighting is weird and good. He still managed the first couple of points. I eeked out a double to get to 1-3. Then we had an exchange at a close-but-not-too-close distance. He reacted with a strange big parry in the wrong direction and I was able to take aim and pop him on the chest. That felt nice. Even though it was his mistake I was able to take advantage, in part because I didn't launch an overly large attack, which his parry would have stopped.

After that, with the score fairly close at 2-3, we had another exchange after which I tried a fast beat-fleche. He went into his body-twisting 4, blocked my blade but missed his riposte. He tried again as I ran by, twisting even more but still missing. As I passed I managed to land my point on his leg, almost by chance, although I had at least made the attempt. I wasn't sure if it would count, since I was passing as I hit. We both looked to the ref, who was Justin Meehan. Justin thought for a moment. I assumed he was thinking about whether my point counted or not, but after a moment he pulled out a yellow card and said to Matthew, "disorderly fencing"—explaining that he had twisted his body to the point where his his head was tipped over backwards to me. And he annulled my touch. It was surprising enough that I didn't think to at least ask whether my touch should stand. Afterwards Matthew and I talked about it. He knew he had twisted enough to make the yellow card reasonable (although I said "but that's your whole thing!"), but seemed to think it was too bad, for me at least, that he annulled my touch. I guess he thought my touch was good at least. Ah well. As it turned out the point would not have made a difference for DE seeding, so whatever. Matthew got the next two points—the first after a lot of maneuvering, the second easily with a fast fleche off the line, catching me unprepared.

Mark Benack, won 5-1. This was a case where my now being an E helped. Mark was the U in our pool. If I was still a U I would not have had another U in my pool. I met Mark and fenced him at a few RCFC open fencing evenings in August. He's Stephen Benack's brother and only just getting started fencing. He's a nice kid and fun, but new enough to fencing to beat rather easily. The one point he got on me was due to my trying a 4-6 attack. Mark simply pegged my arm as I stepped in in 4. Whoops.

So my pool result was 2 and 3, which isn't too bad, although my indicator was -6 thanks to a couple 1-5 loses and one 5-4 win. So I seeded 29 out of 43. Not terrible, but I felt like I could have, should have done better.

I thought it was likely I would end up in a DE with someone a lot better than me, but it turned out the top 20 got byes. So I got paired with Jameson Lu, the 36th seed. We've fenced once or twice before, and I've seen him a few times. He's a relatively new fencer and still a U, but young (early 20s?) and fast. I thought I had a pretty good chance, and I did, but failed in the end, losing 12-15. He got me several times with fast fleches with nice disengages. I also tried beat-fleches a few times, but every time I failed to get my point back on target, and he recovered from the beat quickly and hit me. After the first period Russ suggested I just retreat from his fleches and not try to parry or counter. He suggested I concentrate on shallow attacks and keep pressure on his hand and arm. He also said my beat attacks were not working, which I had already figured out after screwing them up two or three times. As usual Russ's advice was good and I did get a nice hand hit. But by the end of the first period the score was something like 9-12, which was too much for me to come back from. In addition to the shallow attacks I got at least two nice touches with my 4-6 tactic. Both times he fell for it perfectly (unlike Mark Benack, who just picked my arm). Weird how that tactic works against some people but not others. I also scored a few touches when Jameson made mistakes—like many newish young fencers he tends to be a bit too aggressive, sometimes attacking too deeply or from too far and such like. We were both putting our all into active footwork, with lots of bouncing, but at one point he stopped and was still for a moment, perhaps thinking of a plan. I took advantage with a advance-lunge with feint disengage kind of thing, scoring nicely. Kyle Margioles, who was calling out advice, yelled "don't just stand there!" Heh.

I felt down about losing to Jameson. If I had won I would have faced Henry Lange. Henry had beaten me badly in the pools, and probably would have won in the DEs, but maybe I had learned enough in the pools to have a chance. Didn't get to try though.

The rest of the tournament was interesting. I got to watch a lot of good fencers I don't get to see very often. Kaiden Crotchett beat Andrew Lee, then Henry Lange, then beat Jay Slater in an exciting bout that went 14-14. I got to see Kaiden enough to get over the annoyance I had had after the Battle in Seattle and his incessant screaming. I'm sure he's a fine kid.

In other bouts I watched Sam Larsen, who was 1st seed, beat Cole Mallette 15-8. Cole got quite frustrated and angry with himself, but Sam is simply amazing. In another bout Stephen Benack, who was fencing quite well (and had his french grip epees again), went 14-14 with Denys Kovtunenko, but lost. Yuly did well, beating Matson Lalor by a very close 15-14, then Denys Kovtunenko by a larger margin, 15-9. Then Yuly fenced Walter Dragonetti and lost 15-3. Dragonetti is amazing, although he had some close bouts before facing Yuly—beating Thomas Antal 15-14 and John Mcdonald 15-13.

The final bout was the top two seeds, Walter Dragonetti (2) and Sam Larsen (1). Both are amazingly good fencers and really nice people too. They are very different though. Dragonetti is in his 50s, while Sam is more like 25. Sam had the advantage in terms of raw speed and youthful flexibility (he can make extremely long lunges). Dragonetti is very strong, with a kind of raw power. He's extremely smart, tactically, and deadly accurate technically. He seems to have great fencing instincts, parrying, disengaging, counterattacking just right within milliseconds. I made a video and watched parts of it in very slow motion, stunned by how both of them adjusted in-the-moment at speeds too fast for me to see except in slow motion. They both had very interesting tactics. Dragonetti tended to be very defensive, retreating to his end of the strip and doing everything he could to draw attacks, including all manner of body feints, foot stomps, and strange blade motions (including lots of tapping the floor with his tip, a curious idea I've been trying a little myself). He was almost always able to get at least a double touch out of Sam's attacks.

For his part Sam has an awesome long lunge to the leg. I watched him use it against other fencers. I think he has a whole set up pattern of footwork with the aim of stealing distance. Then he makes an advance, or hop lunge, his blade flicking high before dropping low at the last moment, right to the thigh. He got so many people with that attack in this tournament. But not Dragonetti. He tried, but Dragonetti's sense of distance is impeccable and he always managed to retreat and pull his leg back just in time for Sam to fall short. Sam also has a super fleche and was able to score with it several times. Dragonetti, although mainly defensive, has good fleches too, as I learned when I fenced him in the Battle in Seattle. He tried a couple against Sam but they totally didn't work and he gave that up soon enough.

Anyway! Here's the video. I slowed down most of the touches. It is one of the most exciting and interesting bouts I've ever seen in person. I was able to stand quite close to Dragonetti's end of the strip, rightly thinking most of the action would be at his end. Watching these guys gave me several tactical ideas I've been trying out in practice. I haven't been able to do Sam's long lunge to the leg very well—maybe I am too old and creaky to lunge so deeply. I have had some interesting results trying something Dragonetti was doing—fleching high but pulling his arm back and replacing the tip low to the outside flank, running off strip to the left.

BladeFest 2014, C & Under Senior Men's Epee

BladeFest Div 2 ROC
C & Under Senior Men's Epee

http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=27065&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=107153#107165

POOLS

Tobias Lee. Lost 5-4.
I started out well but got over-eager to attack and he came back to win. I got the first point using a few half-advance-retreats followed by a half-advance, front foot back into a fleche. I kept trying to set that up again after it worked the first time, but the best I could do was to chase him down the strip. The second point was a double. I set up a circle-6 pattern then attacked with a bind in 8. I hit, but he disengaged and hit too. Then he scored a single light, making it 2-2. I don't remember quite what happened. I think I spaced out for a moment, unsure or perhaps trying to think of something to do. Then I tried to set up a fleche attack. When I fleched he retreated quickly but not so much that I stopped. It seemed like my tip was only inches away so I reached more and ended up chasing him down most of the strip. He continued to retreat out of range and eventually picked off my arm. I knew I shouldn't chase him like that. It was the way he retreated only just enough that lured me into the chase. After that we doubled, somehow, making it 4-3. In the end I tried my 4-6 move, thinking it might work given the angle he was holding his blade. It did work, but he managed to hit too, thus winning 5-4.

Charles Bentone. Won 5-4.
I don't remember exactly how the first few touches went, except that I got the first one and was up a point until we tied at 3-3. My points were mainly counterattacks into his mistakes. His points were mainly fast fleches with binds or disengages. At 3-3 we both attacked. I thought I had hit but the box showed a single light for him, putting me in a bad place, down 3-4. I kept up my game of making a lot of feints, hoping he'd make an overly large parry or start an attack out of distance. Luckily for me he did, advancing with a parry to my feint. This let me attack into the opening, scoring and making it 4-4. At the end I scored with a fast beat-fleche. Whew, too close.

Audun Holland-Goon. Lost 5-2.
I went into this one knowing Audun doesn't attack much, tending toward parry-ripostes and counterattacks. I knew I needed to be very patient and try to create openings or get him to attack. But, as often happens, I found myself attacking anyway, with feints turning into actual attacks now and then. He kept scoring with nice parries and ripostes. At 2-0 I tried a hard beat. I knocked his blade away nicely but then missed, while he recovered and hit. Down 3-0, not good. Taking my time and trying to be very patient, I managed to get a point with my 4-6 move. Almost by chance I glanced at the clock and saw there was only about 13 seconds left. No more time for patience. I tried another hard beat and we doubled, making it 4-2. Eight seconds left and I needed two points to even tie. I attacked quickly, but he parried and scored, winning 5-2.

Mark Blom. Lost 5-1.
The last time we fenced, at the Battle in Seattle, I won. It was close but I felt fairly well in control. Remembering that gave me confidence. Plus we had warmed up together and I had done fairly well, despite taking it fairly easy. But he beat me badly. It started with a toe touch, which I knew to expect yet still was surprised by. Then he ran up a series of touches, mostly to my outside (he's left-handed). I got my one point with a fleche that resulted in a double touch. In another case I fleched and he calmly picked my arm. In hindsight I should have been more patient and less attacking—the main theme of this whole tournament for me.

Steven Bennack. Won 5-1.
This made up for my 5-1 loss to Mark. In the past and in open fencing at RCFC Steven and I have been fairly evenly matched. Over time I've become quite familiar with his style, which helped a lot. I didn't fall into his traps (or not much anyway), and I got him to fall for mine sometimes. I got the first two points by pushing him and faking attacks until he counterattacked into a feint, allowing me to counterattack (or perhaps the term is "counter time", when you counterattack into a counterattack). Eventually I got to 4-1, then won 5-1. Mixed in there I tried using some advice Toby gave me—of trying to get him used to a distance with my arm extended, then slowly changing to a more withdrawn arm distance, hoping to draw him in a few inches too close. I think it worked, although there were certainly other factors too. Afterwards he said part of it was his fencing with a pistol grip because all his french grips were broken. That probably screwed with his sense of distance too.

DE
Audun Holland-Goon. Lost 15-10. He had a good lead for most of it. Got to 13-8 before I finally figured out some 2nd/3rd intention stuff, which worked for doubles, 14-9, then 15-10. In short I attacked too much. Talking to Toby later I realized I kept pushing Audun to his end of the strip only to get anxious about being there and attacking instead of waiting and pushing him until he attacked. I wonder whether practicing with John Varney so much has made me more likely to get anxious when I've pushed someone to their end of the strip. I did get at least two nice touches I felt good about. Once I set up an advancing circle-6 pattern, then made a stronger advance with a circle-6 take, but with a second intention—hoping he'd disengage and attack to my inside and I'd prime. It worked perfectly, he fleched to my inside and I did a prime riposte to score. That felt good. Another time I kept threatening high, then lunged to his leg. That one was good too. But overall I attacked too much—and too often direct attacks right into his strong 4-parry.

Overall I think I had some trouble with focus. From time to time I spaced out a little, or felt at a loss and become less active. I also fell into a bit of the tournament anxiety thing. But at least I was aware of these things and made an active effort to avoid such things. I felt I did alright with breaking off engagements from time to time, retreating a bit and resetting myself.

Although I tried to be patient I ended up making too many attacks—certainly too many long fleches from out of distance, which sometimes turned into chases. I feel like I ought to have worked on shallow targets more than I did. A few times I attacked simply because I got impatient and made a poorly planned attack into a strong defense.

I think my footwork got better toward the end of the tournament. Toward the end of the pools I began to realize I would probably not be fencing much longer, which made me put more effort into fast, bouncing, in-and-out footwork despite feeling tired.

A few videos:

Andrew Lee vs. Henry Duchow

Andrew Lee vs. Mark Blom

Final bout: Andrew Lee vs. George Raush

Next tournament coming up is the Leon Auriol Open. Looks like it will be at least an A1, probably an A2. As usual for me, this means I'll probably have to win two or three DEs to get a D rating. So far the fencers registered are tending toward the higher end, so this may be tough. In addition to the SAS A fencers (Varney, Yuly, Jay), Dragonetti is signed up, as well as Sam Larsen, Cole Mallette, Matthew Comes, and Kaiden Crochett. Well. I think perhaps my goal should just be to not do as badly as I did the last two Leon Auriol Opens—which shouldn't be too hard; last year I didn't win a single bout

Oh, and George just uploaded a short video of me fencing Audun. It's one of the only videos of my own fencing ever, and certainly the only one from a tournament. Maybe I should bribe someone to do more for me.

.

BladeFest 2014, Vet Epee

http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=27065&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=107153#107153

POOLS

John Comes. Lost 5-2.
I was probably over-confident at first, having won against him the last several times we fenced. Not this time. I attacked too much and too quickly, for one. He parry-riposted or counterattacked well, getting to 4-0 rather quickly. Yikes. Then I managed a point, mostly by luck. We doubled for the final point.

Niul Manske. Won 5-4.
A B fencer I had never heard of or fenced. Apparently he was only just returning to fencing after a long break. I was more patient with him, after my impatience with John failed. Niuls used a french grip and seemed to be a counterattacker who liked picking. He obviously knew his stuff, but was rusty from his long break, as I later learned. The rustiness meant I was able to score when he missed several picks. Even so it was close. We tied at 2-2, then I got a single light and kept a one point lead through a couple of fleching doubles.

Aaron Page. Lost 5-3.
The last time we fenced in a tournament pool, at the Seattle International Veteran's Cup, I beat him 5-1. That time I felt like I could feint and disengage him pretty well. This time he got the first point with a powerful binding attack that surprised me for being so strong. So I began fencing absence of blade and got the next point. I think he made a distance/blade mistake and I was able to hit with a direct lunge. Then I think we had a double touch and he scored again, I forget exactly what happened. Somewhere in there I decided I wasn't happy about fencing absence of blade, but I didn't want to give him my blade either, so I started using a lowish guard positioned for a possible septime beat or lift, like I had been practicing recently. That wasn't the best idea, especially against his style. I kept trying to gain a distance advantage and fleche. Eventually I did fleche, trying for a fast direct hit. He attacked into my fleche, or counter-fleched. We ran into each other a little. I thought it was a double touch but when I looked he had scored a single light. At the end I had my blade up again and he fleched with another very strong bind. I think he missed, or perhaps pulled his arm far back, then hit with a remise just in time as he ran by.

Jeff Johnson. Won 5-4.
Jeff is a relatively new fencer, but pretty good. We fenced a few times at RCFC open fencing in August, so I knew what to expect and what might work, more or less. He's left-handed, tall, and uses a French grip, which can be trouble. At first I tried some things that had worked back in August. My first attack might have worked except I went wide to my left and missed. I think I turned my hand over too much, making the tip go too far left. He scored. Then I tried an 8-6 fleche, feinting 8 and raising to 6. But he parried and hit. I might have been too obvious about starting to fleche. I was down 2-0, so I quickly changed tactics. Instead of attacking again I would wait for him. Before long he obliged me with an attack, and this time he was a little too obvious and I scored with a parry-riposte. Again I waited and again he attacked, and again I scored with a parry-riposte, or perhaps a counterattack. Being tied 2-2 felt better than being down 2-0. I forget exactly what happened next, whether I attacked and remised or he attacked and I countered, but whatever it was it ended with my getting a lovely touch on his forearm. That one felt good. Then we had a double touch, somehow, making it 4-3. The final point was also a double. He made an advance that was too inviting not to fleche into, so I did. My fleche was not great though, and he was able to get a double touch out of it. My aim was off and instead of hitting his arm I ended up hitting his neck somewhat under the bib. I was worried I had hurt him, but he was okay.

My DE bout turned out to be with Niul Manske. I had beaten him in the pools, but only by a point. Having just fenced him in the pools I felt I knew more or less what to do, and what not to do. As it turned out we had a lot of double touches. He was mainly counterattacking, and too many times I was drawn into an overly long attack as he retreated, resulting in a double touch or him simply picking my arm. He was up a point or two most of the bout, but I managed to tie it up at 8-8. With vet DEs only going to ten being tied 8-8 was exciting. But he got the last two points, winning 10-8. One of them was a nice fleche as I was stepping in a little too much.

A couple videos (not sure why sound cuts out, was fine in iMovie, hmm):

Videos from 2014 Subway Washington Games, Rain City Fencing Center

I started videoing Joshua Meehan and Paul Duchow in part because Joshua had beaten me so badly I wanted to see how Paul Duchow might deal with him. Part way through I switched to watching Kim Ji Sun and Bela Suveg, so this video is only the first part of the bout. Paul won 15-8.




Kim Ji Sun only recently arrived from South Korea. I don't know if she is staying or for how long or what. But she is good! Being newly arrived she was a U coming into this tournament. Left a B.




Having watched Kim Ji Sun beat Bela I was curious to see how she might deal with Matthew Comes in this semifinal bout. She did some interesting stuff, but Matthew's deadly leg hits and fast fleches won the day. Matthew went on to beat Yuly in the final, 15-14, which would have earned him his A if he hadn't just earned it the day before in Portland...by beating Yuly. Sheesh.




The other semifinal. Yuly is impressive. I didn't video the final, wanting to watch it with my own eyes—and having seen several Yuly-Matthew bouts before. They got to 14-14 before the first period ended. In the second Matthew won with one of his long lunges to the leg, of course.

2014 Subway Washington Games, Senior Mixed Epee

2014 Subway Washington Games, Senior Mixed Epee

http://askfred.net/Results/roundResults.php?seq=1&event_id=105085&highlight_competitor_id=91067

Yay for the rare July tournament. I did about as usual for me lately: Not bad in the pools (3 and 3), lost my first DE. My pool results were a little weird. Other than Bela Suveg, who beat everyone, I beat everyone except the two women who everyone else beat. Still, I was pleased to finally beat Jim Henderson and to solidify my Craig Haworth strategies. I had a close one with Dylan Meehan but managed to come back from being down 3-4 to win 5-4. In my DE I quickly lost to Joshua Meehan. There were four Meehans fencing, plus Justin Meehan reffing. Quite the fencing family.

There were 33 fencers competing, although John Comes withdrew during the pools after twisting his knee. There were five As but only two Bs and three Cs, which made it a rather "bottom heavy" A2. With few Bs and Cs but a surplus of Ds, Es, and Us, well my pool was: Bela Suveg (A), Jim Henderson (C), Craig Haworth (D), me (E), Claire Heppner (E), Abby Barr (U), and Dylan Meehan (U). For once I was kinda in the middle of a pool! Here's how things went.

I started with Bela Suveg. Might as well get it over with, I figured. Also, I tried something new this time, epee-wise. I used either my fairly stiff, "good for beats and binds" LP epee or my more flicky Vniti, depending on what I thought would be best with each person. With strong fencers like Bela I used the flicky Vniti, figuring beats and binds are less useful against people as strong as Bela. This tactic seemed to work pretty well overall.

With Bela I started out bouncing and strong, while he seemed not quite ready, maybe. I got the first point, a somewhat surprising hit to his hand. I was just putting my point out a lot and bouncing in and out, and blam, hit his hand. How nice. Perhaps the flicky Vniti helped there. I got the second point too, with a parry-4 riposte that felt rather nice. Things went downhill from there. In my bouncing in and out I bounced too close and blam, he hit me, 2-1. Then, after a bit more maneuvering I tried bouncing into distance and fleching, but it wasn't a very good fleche and he parried and riposted, making it 2-2. So much for my initial lead. I can't remember the next point, but it was his, 3-2. Then, after a bit more maneuvering I tried a feint-8 fleche-6, a tactic I sometimes try with lefties. It worked, but he counterattacked and made it a double, 4-3. I don't remember the final point, but it was his. I think I was trying to bounce in and out, looking for a single-light opportunity, and I came too close and got hit. So I lost, 5-3. Having seen Bela many times before I figure 5-3 isn't too bad for my first time fencing him. I also figure I need to work on my bouncing in-and-out, stutter-stepping thing more. Much of it is just something I've been trying out over the last week since watching the FIE World Championships and getting inspired. I think I need to work on keeping the advancing smaller and the retreats more frequent, among other things.

Second bout was against Jim Henderson. The last bunch of times we've fenced he's beaten me, sometimes quite badly. My notes about him said little more than "don't miss". Thanks, notes. I switched to my stiffer LP epee for Jim, thinking he might be susceptible to beats. Turns out he was, although it took me some time to make it work. Hmm, writing this now I realize I actually adjusted during this bout, a good sign! Early on he got up a couple points. I continued my bouncing in-and-out thing, being patient and waiting for openings. But when they came up I found Jim was deceiving my parries, getting me to make the wrong parry, or making nice disengages. He also seemed well able to parry my attacks and make nice ripostes. I think I managed to get back to a tie at 2-2. Then he made a lovely shot to my leg, 2-3. At this point I began to focus less on parries and more on beats. At first I had trouble finding his blade to make a beat, but eventually it felt like I started to be able to draw him out a little into places where I could make a rapid bouncing-advance along with a very hard beat attack. After some probing and attempts to mislead him I managed to make a very strong beat. Strong enough to make his tip smack hard onto the floor. I hit and scored. Jim suggested to the ref that his tip had hit the floor off the strip. I thought it had hit the strip, and the ref agreed. Luckily we were on one of RCFC's few grounded strips. So I got the point, 3-3.

I became rather careful then, and I think my footwork got better. I didn't want to attack. I wanted Jim to make a large attack while I retreated, then beat-attack into his committed lunge. So I patiently waited, bouncing in and out, trying to draw him, and making lots of slow bounce retreats. I also used a lot of slow circle-4 and feint-4 type motions, hoping they might induce him to attack. It paid off. Finally he did attack, with a fleche, lowish, toward my leg, exactly the kind of thing my circle-4 stuff was trying to trigger. I responded with a strong parry-8, catching his blade and riposting as he ran by. Score! I'm up, 4-3. The last point was much the same—me patiently waiting and trying to draw an attack. When he did attack I made a strong beat-parry and scored with the riposte, winning 5-3.

Next up was Craig Haworth. In the past he tended to beat me but recently it has felt more even to me. I watched him fence others in my pool and saw he was basically doing the same things he was doing the last few times I've fenced him. Relatively slow footwork, a very strong and fast circle-6 parry-riposte usually followed by a fast flick to the chest, along with some surprisingly long lunges, usually to the leg. In the past I was never quite sure what to do with him, except that I could usually get doubles by attacking with a counter-clockwise circling, evading his circle-6 such that we both hit. This time I thought I could get an advantage using very fast footwork with lots of bouncing "false attacks", triggering his circle-6, after which I could deal with things in various ways. Watching his footwork I thought he tended to be a little over-balanced when he lunges. Also, since Craig is a strong fencer I switched back to my Vniti. Not much point in trying to power through his parries or attempt much in the way of beats.

I started out aggressively bouncing in and out, mixing in some fast advancing "stutter-bounces" that might scare him back or might also be turned into real attacks. He retreated in the face of this and soon was way back in his end-strip box. I continued to press, but with more caution, thinking he would attack out of the box at some point. We had a flurry of blade action. I was careful to not overcommit but tried to keep the pressure on. During the exchange he took just too much of a step back and went off the end of the strip. I did not intend to push him off the end, and I think he didn't realize just how close he was. But he stepped off and I got a point. That's the first time I've ever seen that happen that I can recall. Once in practice Yuly pushed me off the end of the strip, but that's the only other time I can think of.

The next point came after a big exchange, where I managed to land a riposte. I can't remember the details, but I was happy to be up 2-0. Then he got me with one of his long lunges to the leg. Perhaps I was bouncing too close, as I've been doing a lot. Well, 2-1. Then we got a double somehow, 3-2. I think I got the next one, somehow, making it 4-2, a comfortable place. My notes about Craig said to try my 4-6 tactic and variations. I had been trying to set it up but not quite commiting. So now I commited and it seemed to work. I landed my point nicely, but it didn't go off and Craig scored. I had my epee checked, it was fine. This is one of the risks of the Vniti—it is so whippy sometimes it looks like a good hit but landed flat. So I was up 4-3. I know how every point counts in pools and how it would be best to get a single light to win rather than a double. But at 4-3 I got a little worried and decided to double out. I knew from past experience I could score doubles with Craig by fleching while disengaging his circle-6. So I did that. It worked perfectly. Ending with a double and a score of 5-4 was not as good as a single and 5-3, but I was pleased at how well I was able to pull the double out when I wanted it.

So I was 2 and 1. Not bad. And the remaining three fencers were two Us and one E. Looking good? Well, I should know better than to think ahead of things like that. Next up with Abby Barr. I've seen her around but never fenced her. She seemed pretty good, but fairly small. I took my "beat and bind" LP epee on strip, thinking it was the one for her. But alas, it failed the small shim. It's been a little flakey lately like that. Oh well, I switched to the Vniti. In hindsight maybe I should have switched to one of my stiff Absolute spares instead, but I didn't think of it. Anyway, things began well and I got up 2-1. Then I bounced into distance with a couple of stutter-steps/body-feints. She made a bit of a panic parry and I rather easily lunged to her bib, making it 3-1. Going fine! Then...well I'm not quite sure. Perhaps she adjusted to me. Definitely I got a little too cocky and let myself bounce too close too much. I was also getting tired from all my bouncing, which probably made me more sloppy and slow. She got a point, then we doubled, 4-3. Then, when I should have been patient and keeping good distance, I bounced too close without a plan and she easily hit my leg, making it 4-4. And again I got too close and she hit, winning 5-4. So, a lesson. People often say confidence is good in fencing. But when I get up a few points I often get reckless.

Next up was Claire Heppner. In theory I should have had no big trouble with her, but my attacks kept failing and she kept hitting me. I got one easy point when we had a blade exchange where it seemed like someone hit, but neither of us did. She paused just for a second and I got an easy hit. Besides that though we quickly got to 1-4, yikes! At that point I redoubled my efforts and scored, 2-4. A ways to go. The next one turned into a double, so she won, 5-3. I think I was making many of the same mistakes I made with Abby—bouncing too close too much, too often without a good plan. I was certainly tired and getting sloppy. I could try to blame the Vniti a bit—I simply missed several times, and the Vniti has a "less stable" point than the LP. But still, I lost fair and square.

My final pool bout was with Dylan Meehan. I had watched him and he seemed pretty good—maybe not super-great but better than his U rating might suggest, I thought. He was young and fast, but didn't seem "strong" like Bela or Craig. So I decided to stop using the Vniti and, since the LP was out of service for the moment, try one of my spare Absolute epees. They might be even stiffer than the LP, but a little annoying in other ways.

By this point we were double-stripping and not getting much rest between bouts. And I was feeling tired. So I tried to be extra careful. He got the first point, I forget how (my point by point notes get worse over the pool bouts, perhaps a symptom of being tired?). I kept being patient, slowly retreating, waiting and trying to figure out what to do. He got impatient and launched an attack from too far, which I was able to parry and score with a riposte (parry-4 riposte I think). So, 1-1. Then, well, I don't remember the details, but he got up a point, 2-3, then 3-4. I hate being down 3-4 in a pool bout. But I turned up the energy and was able to make a strong beat attack, getting a single light, 4-4! For the final point we maneuvered cautiously, then both attacked. Double touch, thrown out. More maneuvering, then an exchange of bladework, after which I made a small retreat, perhaps just a little off balance, and he attacked. As his blade came out I managed a nice hard beat and scored a single light, winning 5-4. Woo!

So I was 3 and 3 in the pools. Not bad, not bad. Bela won all his bouts, so took 1st. Jim Henderson was 4 and 2, so took 2nd. Craig and were both 3 and 3, but my indicator was -1 while his was +1, so he was 3rd and I was 4th. Phooey. Maybe I shouldn't have ended our bout with that double after all! Still, I seeded 15 out of 32 out of the pools. Above the median. After the DEs I finished 19th, a little below the median.

For my DE I was paired with Joshua Meehan. A B fencer I'd never seen, I was told he was a leftie, aggressive, and strong, but, according to Jim Arrigoni, "you can beat him". Hmmm. Well, he trounced me pretty badly. Ah well.

Videos in next post.

2014 WWD Senior Division Championships, Senior Men's Epee

2014 WWD Senior Division Championships, Senior Men's Epee

http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=26171&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=104339

I did less well this time, compared to recent tournaments; finishing 22nd out of 27. I wasn't feeling on my game too well. A bit spacey, slow. Also there were a lot of good fencers among the 27. Nearly half were As or Bs. And then there were people like Steffen Felt who is a C in epee but mostly fences foil. He came in 2nd. The WWD Division Championship has a special trophy for whoever does best in all three weapons, so a number of people fence all three, like Steffen, and also Iain Valentine, who I fenced in my DE.

I've fenced most of the people who were there, other than Steffen Felt. Iain I'd only fenced once, in practice at SAS. Kevin Mar was there too, who I haven't fenced or seen fencing since Blade Fest 2012. Unfortunately I didn't get to fence him today. My pool was a bunch of familiar people:

My first pool bout was with Joel Howard. It was close. We tied 3-3, then he scored, then I scored, making it 4-4. He got the final point and won 5-4. I did best when he attacked and I did parry-ripostes. My own attacks were less successful.

Second pool was with my other clubmate, Yuly Suvorov. Usually I can at least get a point or two on him, and sometimes even beat him to five points (although not in a tournament...yet). Today though he destroyed me 5-0. Three times I attacked and he parried and scored on the riposte. One or two of those attacks were into his powerful 4, which I should know not to do. Twice he attacked and scored. Once with a lovely 8 opposition, nice and small. I counterattacked but his opposition pushed my blade aside just enough to make me miss—my point couldn't have been more than an inch from his chest. Another time he attacked more or less straight in. I had lost focus a bit and he wasted no time taking advantage. Afterwards he said he was doing a lot in 8, and that was "not something you usually let me do". He also said he went to a clinic recently which focused on blade takes and he was doing a lot of simple, small, oppositions in 8.

My third bout was with Garrett Armstrong. The first time I fenced him, at SAS, he beat me badly. The second time, also at SAS, he was beating me badly until I started using footwork/distance and fleches, with which I came back to 4-4, but lost the last point. After that I felt like I knew better how to fence him. My fleche into his advance had worked so well last time I began with that tactic this time. But it didn't work as well this time and he popped me with his good prime. I tried a couple more times and he managed to stop me but didn't manage to score on the riposte. I was probably lucky at least one of those times and he just missed. Seeing how my fleche tactic wasn't working too well I changed to something a little more patient, with more feints. I had some success feinting fleches—body feints, or starting the motion of a fleche, or even starting to fleche but stopping suddenly with the distance not fully collapsed. It seemed that these kind of actions could get him to start his prime parry, but since I was not close enough for prime to work he'd parry air and I could attack straight in. I suppose these were second intention attacks, although I wasn't thinking about it that way. I'm not sure how clearly I was thinking at all. Still, I managed to get up 3-1. At that point Garrett began to launch his own attacks more frequently. One worked, making it 3-2. He tried another fleche but I was able to catch his blade and riposte as he fleched by. At 4-2 we had a bit of a simultaneous attack and doubled, so I won 5-3.

My fourth bout was with Matthew Comes. If I remember right we started with a double touch, me doing a prime riposte. He said "nice double". Then he got me just barely on the knee. I knew to use extra distance with him, but apparently not quite enough. His tip actually just touched the wrinkle of my fencing pants just above the knee, which was sticking out an inch or so. Sheesh. Then, although I knew to watch out for toe touch attempts, he got me with one. I learned a little though—he got it right off the line. He's very good with tempo changes and lulling people into fencing at his tempo—then he'll suddenly change from a slow to a fast tempo. I knew that and was ready for it in general, but wasn't ready for it right off the line the way he did it. He was on guard in a relaxed way, then the ref called "fence" and he took a slow calm step forward and I did the same. Then he suddenly went for the toe and hit. That calm coming off the line tricked me. So he was up 3-1. The next point was annoying and stupid of me. We were fencing for a bit, had a little exchange, then he dropped his point to my knee or toe and I was convinced it hit. Perhaps there was a beep on a neighboring strip. Whatever, I thought argh, he got me again, and stopped fencing. It took him a moment to realize, and he had retreated after the exchange. But as I slowly looked up at the scoring machine he leapt forward and popped me on the chest. Ugh, I felt like an idiot! Perhaps out of anger and frustration I managed to get the next point, pegging him on the arm while he was doing some blade waving. Still, that only made it 4-2. Annoyed still, I fleched with a strong beat, hoping his French grip epee would go way out of line. It did, but he made one of his signature half-behind-the-back flexi-ripostes and hit my shoulder. A frustrating bout, but I think I learned a little more about his style and how to read it, especially his timing and tempo changes, which seem key. Better, I saw a number of things I want to work on myself, especially these tempo changes and lulling opponents into certain tempos.

Next up, Scott Phillips, who I've always had trouble with. The last time, at the Battle in Seattle I think, he destroyed me, mostly with fleches. Beforehand Joel said Scott is a very "clean" fencer and that it's best to fence him "cleanly". I managed the first point by catching him with a 7 parry. Then we doubled, 2-1. After that, well, I kept trying to catch him in 7 again. Or at least I kept making circle 6 motions. According to Joel he caught on to this and took advantage, evading my blade and scoring the rest of the way to 5-2. In the final point I felt like I had spaced out. My focus today was certainly not what it could have been.

My final pool bout was against Andrew Lee, who I've fenced several times in recent months. The last two times we fenced I used an aggressive tactic, mainly meant to prevent him from fleching. It did prevent him from fleching, but also pushed distance too much, allowing him to hit with rather direct attacks. This time I was more than ready to abandon that tactic and instead try a more patient game with wider distance. Russ even said as I connected up not to push too hard. I was like, "oh yea, I learned that lesson last time!" I was ready to respond to his fleches with prime parries, which I thought might work. But, like other times, when he did fleche my instinct kicked in and I did not try prime. Still I managed to catch one or two. Mostly we played a very patient game, both searching for openings. I mostly bounced in and out of medium to long distance, ready to retreat and counterattack. From time to time I launched attacks, but tried not not overcommit. He reacted by quickly retreating and a couple times I continued my somewhat cautious attack until we were at his end of the strip. I think once I made a fully committed attack, perhaps a fleche, and got hit with a nice riposte. After that I kept things more controlled. I tried a variety of half-lunges, hoping for a reaction I could renew into. I tried feints of many kinds, but he didn't bite, or made retreating counterattacks. Eventually we got to 4-3, Andrew in the lead. Needing to score two singles I became even more cautious. Luckily for me Joel was watching and at one point called out "ten seconds!" I had not realized the time was almost up. And I was down a point. So I began advancing more aggressively, while still trying to not overcommit. He retreated, clearly trying to kill time. After a few seconds of that I accelerated into a fleche. To my surprise, the action being somewhat reckless, I scored. So it was 4-4 with four seconds remaining.

It wasn't until much later, when I was at home telling the story, that I realized at that point I could have let time expire. Since we were tied the bout would have gone into overtime—sudden death overtime I think. Certainly it would have been wise to do that rather than launch a last second all out attack. But in the bout itself...well, like I said I was feeling spacey and it didn't occur to me that with the score tied I could let time run out. For some reason I assumed I had to score in four seconds or lose. So when the ref called "fence" I made some very rapid advances, while Andrew retreated. Then I made what was probably an awkward and ugly fleche. We had a quick blade exchange and as I ran by off strip I had no idea if either of us had hit. Looking back I saw that I had scored a single light, with one second on the clock. I won, 5-4, beating Andrew for the first time ever. I was elated and a little surprised at having scored twice with two rather desperate attacks with seconds left. It was only hours later that I realized the second attack was actually a dumb and unnecessary thing to have tried. On the other hand, maybe that helped make it work. Perhaps Andrew assumed I would let time run out and was not really ready for my all out last second fleche. Maybe being stupid actually helped me there, heh. Or maybe I was just very lucky. It was certainly an ugly attack.

So, with that inglorious end I came out of the pool with two wins and four losses. My wins were 5-4 and 5-3, while my losses were 5-0, 5-2, 5-3, and 5-4. So my indicator was not great: -8. Still, out of seven fencers I came in 5th. Joel and Garrett each won just one bout—Joel beat me and Garrett beat Joel.

So I was the 21st seed and thus paired with the 12th seed, who turned out to be Iain Valentine. He's a very good foil fencer. I've rarely seen him fence epee. One night not long ago he was doing epee at SAS and I got the chance to fence him to 10 points, if I remember right. To both of our surprises, I think, I beat him 10-1, with what felt like ease. Well, that night was not this day, and he beat me with relative ease, 15-7. On the plus side, I felt like I was mostly "doing the right things". We had a whole bunch of exchanges where I almost scored but just missed, or my tip was flat, or just a little off. Granted, he did nail me with a few very nice attacks. A few times I thought I had hit and at least made a double, only to see his single light on, which got a bit frustrating. One of these times I had the ref check my epee but it was fine. A few points later I made a more obvious hit that didn't score and asked for another check. Nothing—the epee was dead. Maybe I had lost some points earlier to a dying epee. Or maybe not. It seemed like a few at least might have been lost. By then the score was 5-13, so it was looking quite bad. And even if some hits of mine had been lost I would probably still have been down a good bit.

So I changed epees and faced a question. My LP epee had failed when I was warming up with Aaron Page. We were about done anyway when suddenly the LP was dead. Recently it has been failing the shim test a lot. I'd twist the contact spring back in enough to pass shims, only to have it failing again after a bit of fencing. So last night I changed the tip to one with a tighter contact spring. At first it was too short and not registering, so I stretched it out a little until it seemed good and was passing shims. However, after warming up with Aaron it was again not registering. Probably the spring got smooshed back. But with pools about to start I didn't want to fiddle with it. Instead I fenced with my cheap-but-stiff Absolute epee. So when that one failed in my DE with Iain I had to pick between my cheap-and-rather-whippy Blue Gauntlet blade or my Vniti. I had decided not long ago the Vniti should be a last resort epee, but when faced with it or the Blue Gauntlet epee I decided on the Vniti.

I plugged in and tested the Vniti and it was also dead! I had tested it before taking it to the ref in case it failed, which would otherwise be a red card. When it did fail I paused, ready to go get my last epee. But the ref saw and came over, suggesting it might be my body cord. We tested the cord on my bell guard and nothing, indicating it probably was the body cord. I was ready to get my spare but the ref did a final check to see if it was the strip cord. When he was doing that he noticed my body cord's connection to the strip cord was "very loose", and we quickly determined that that was the issue. He said "I fix it". He got a little screwdriver and used it to pull the "ribs" of the body cord prongs out a bit—they were quite flat. Then it fit more snuggly and worked fine. Another armory lesson learned. He offered me my first epee back but I said I was fine. The score was 13-5 after all, and I had already been thinking I might try some flicks, since the Vniti is whippy. Maybe that would change things up.

We started fencing again. Right off the bat I tried a flick to Iain's forearm. It worked like a charm, ringing over his bell guard and feeling like a very nice flick. Then as he attacked in a somewhat foil-like way I managed to peg the underside of his hand. That one also felt very nice. A very solid and direct hand hit, with my blade bending quite a lot, feeling like the Vniti it is. So two nice touches there, but still not much hope at 13-7. Iain got the next two and won, 15-7.

So that was it for me. In other DE bouts there were some close ones. In the table of 32 Zach DeWitt lost to Andrew Lee 15-14. Very close, and I think Zach had been up a couple points near the end. John Comes beat Aaron Page 15-14.

In the table of 16 Iain Valentine faced Dmitry Bokhanevich, who had seeded 5th in the pools. I knew I would have extreme trouble with Dmitry and I figured Iain probably would too. They fenced an extremely close bout, tied off and on all the way to 14-14. Iain got the last point with a desperate and somewhat awkward infighting jump with a foil-like prime parry to the chest. Iain scored a few times with those "foil-like" primes. Joel called them "reverse primes" and we debating a bit whether that's the right thing to call them. I argued they were not "reverse", just rather extremely angled. When Joel asked Iain he said, thinking about the final touch, "they are called 'oh god I've got to do something or I'll get hit and it doesn't matter what it is!'" Ah yes, those.

Also in the table of 16 Cameron Brown beat Charlie Muñoz 15-11. It was quite close for a while. Charlie had some very nice attacks. Unfortunately on several of them he had an excellent chance to score but simply missed.

In the final 8 Steffen Felt took out Iain Valentine, 15-13. They are both normally foil fencers but were both fencing very good epee. I took video of that bout, below. In the semis Steffen Felt beat Yuly 15-12, which was impressive. Hans Engel beat Jay Slater 15-10. I left before the final bout. It turned out Hans beat Steffen 15-13.