https://askfred.net/Results/roundResults.php?seq=1&event_id=116408&highlight_competitor_id=91067
I've been putting off writing about this one. Let's see if I can keep it short. I came in 22nd out of 34.
POOLS
My first bout was with Garrett Armstrong. We hadn't fenced in some time. I remember losing a pool bout 5-4 at SAS a while ago. This time I did better. I didn't write down the points in much detail. I scored one with my "wavy wave". He got one when I went off balance. We doubled once when I fleched. At one point I fleched, got parried and made a last second prime-type action as I passed him. The machine showed I had scored, but I was not sure whether it was after I had passed, or possibly even a floor hit. But the ref gave it to me. If I had been more certain about it not being good I would have said so, but I was just not quite sure and let it stand. I felt a little bad about it. Anyway, after these things I was up 4-3. After some maneuvering I advanced doing the wavy wave and almost launched a full attack but instead paused. He made an overly large parry, creating a nice opening for me to lunge into. That got me a single and a 5-3 win.
Then I had Mark Blom. It was a close bout. I used my usual tactics against him. We got to 3-3, mostly with double touches. Then Mark made a lovely hand hit, 4-3. I kept trying my beats and feints, finally doing a beat-fleche and scoring a single light, 4-4. Then we both continued trying the same thing. I kept trying to set up beat-fleches and he kept trying to pick me off when I attacked. In this way we doubled, and doubled again. We doubled five or six times doing basically the same thing over and over, each trying to get that tiny edge that would make a single. Finally, while maneuvering I thought he stepped too close, so I tried a direct fleche, without a beat. But he wasn't close enough, and/or his picks are just deadlier. He picked my arm on the way in, getting a single light and winning 5-4.
Next was John Mcdonald. It was a fun bout with lots of attacking, fleching, and crashing together. I did alright, generally attacking into his attacks. It was all very fast and crazy. I think I actually got up 3-2. Then he made a very nice accelerated fleche right off the line, starting slow (slowish) and speeding up, catching me reacting too slowly. That was a nice one. Then he got an awesome leg touch and took the lead 4-3. He fleched again for the last point, which I managed to turn into a double. So I lost 5-4. But it was very fun. And I did pretty well, especially considering our pool bout in the next tournament, where he beat me 5-0 in about twenty seconds.
Then I had Charles Bertone and did well. I got the first point with my wavy-wave attack, and the second in a way I don't remember. Then he scored when I made a bad parry, 2-1. I got the rest of the touches after that, winning 5-1. Mainly I scored when he made mistakes like big parries to my feints, and also with direct fleches when the distance collapsed just enough.
My last pool bout was against Paul Duchow. It began slow, each of us being defensive and cautious. I forget exactly how the first points went, but we slowly got to 2-2. The only specific touch I remember was a nice hit to my knee. Since we had been going slowly there was less than a minute left at 2-2. That was when things went downhill. He got a point in a way I don't remember. Once he was up he became even more defensive, while I tried to set up attacks, hoping to at least tie again before time ran out. I tried to create openings but found it hard. Eventually I launched a risky fleche. It almost worked—I could see my point just reaching his shoulder, but not enough to score. He got me with a counterattack or parry, making it 4-2, with little time left. I tried my Dragonetti fleche, but it failed and he scored, winning 5-2.
So I was two and three out of the pools. Two of my loses were 5-4, and my wins were 5-1 and 5-3. So I came in 4th place out of six, with an indicator of +1. Well...could be worse.
DIRECT ELIMINATION
There were 34 fencers, so the DEs started with a round of 64 and almost everyone getting a bye. Sam Larsen was 1st seed, no surprise there. John Mcdonald was 2nd, which made me feel good about my decent pool bout with him.
I was 22nd seed and got paired with 10th seed Matthew Comes. He beat me fairly easily, the end score being 15-8.
Beforehand I got advice from Sam, who summed it up by saying "out-stupid his stupid". He didn't see the bout, but afterward, seeing me with my jacket off was like, "What happened? Were you not stupid enough?" I replied, "Oh I was stupid." We jokingly agreed that there's a fine line between being too stupid and just stupid enough. Or something like that.
Anyway, the details of his advice, along with some from Russ and some of my own analysis, goes something like this. Get Matthew to attack from too far, falling short, then "crush the distance". He likes to make long attacks and tries to time them to when you are advancing or at least unable to retreat. The key is seeing when he's launching a real attack—ignore all the "stupid" things that are not real attacks; don't attack into the stupid—easier said than done for me. Also, you need fast retreats so he falls short, then quick direction change to crush the distance before he can recover decently. Of course, that kind of rapid direction change is something Sam is way better at than me. I tend to retreat too far (if I manage to retreat at all), then take too long to change direction ("too long" being measured in fractions of a second, but still). So too often I'd end up attacking after he fell short, but from too far and too late, after he had recovered. And that's just suicide.
Another bit was, when crushing the distance make sure you don't end up hanging out in close quarters—if you don't score right away either rush past him or get out fast. I did better than I had in the past about avoiding infighting with him. He "only" got me once with his behind the head thing. Two times he ducked my "crushing" fleche and hit me from below.
In short, distance, balance, let him attack long, falling short then shifting fast, crushing, then hitting or passing fast, avoiding the behind the head thing. Piece of cake, right? Hrm.
OTHER STUFF
I had to leave before the event was over, so I didn't get to see much after the final 8. While cooling off I took a video of Sam fencing Paul Duchow, but left soon after.
To my non-surprise Sam won 1st place. I only saw one of his bouts, but looking at the scores none were close—his DEs were 15-4, 15-3, 15-8, 15-6, and, in the final against Kaiden Crotchett, 9-5. Sheesh.
Despite being an A2 event the only rating change was for Henry Duchow, who came in 3rd place and went from a D2015 to a B2015. He was 1st in his pool, losing only to Matthew Comes and getting 7th seed. In the DEs he beat Jeff Lucas, then Tobias Lee in a very close 15-14 bout. Then he beat John Mcdonald 15-8 before finally losing to Kaiden Crotchett.
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