http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=25705&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=102858
Well, I came in 7th out of 11, but just one point, with several chances, of getting 3rd or better, argh! It was a small event, just eleven of us, so not much at stake. Still, I wouldn't have minded winning one of the shiny medals they gave out for 1st-3rd place. On one hand, when it comes to medals I always think of Mikol Ryan once saying he prefers tournaments where they give out something other than medals, like a bottle of wine or a gift certificate, like they usually do at SAS. Mikol dismissed medals by saying "I have a drawer full of cheap medals". Well, I have three, all from U-only tournaments at Tacoma—two 3rd place and one 2nd place. I have them in my locker at SAS for a bit of inspiration, and would have liked adding another. Maybe when I have a drawer full of medals it will be different.
The were only eleven fencers, all vets of course, and no As. Russ was the only B. Tobias and Johannes were the Cs. Then there were three Ds and three Es, and two Us. In theory I could beat everyone there—or at least I could see how I might be able to beat each person. In reality, well, I'd have to be fencing very well, and/or others poorly, to come out on top. Still, it was imaginable, which was exciting. Things didn't get off to a good start though. My pool:
A distraction during the pools: Since I got my Leon Paul SR-71 blade a few weeks ago I've been using it all the time. I really like its stiffness—my beats feel much stronger, and my parries/takes seem to hold better. I tested it after fencing on Wednesday and it was just barely failing the small shim test. So I fiddled with the contact spring and got it to pass the shim test. However, when it was tested before my first pool bout it failed the small shim. So I switched to my Vniti. I went to the Vniti by default, as it is my "second best" epee. In hindsight maybe I should have used one of the cheaper but stiffer Absolute blades instead. The Vniti is quite whippy, especially compared to the LP, and I was aware of this throughout the pool bouts. I felt less confident and a bit hesitant about beats, takes, and parries. I tried to compensate by trying some flicks, since the Vniti is more whippy, but I don't think I scored with any flicks. Also, the Vniti is noticeably heavier than the LP. I tend to let the blade fall into absence of blade tactics more than might be wise, especially because it seems slower to get it out from absence of blade—I can move the handle fast but the blade seems to lag behind. I got the Vniti because I was tired of breaking cheap blades and heard Vnitis are practically indestructible. They are also cheaper than LP SR-71 blades. But maybe I should start treating the Vniti as a reliable last resort spare. ...or maybe all this is just an excuse for not doing as well in the pools as I had hoped.
Another weapon thing. When warming up with Tobias he pointed out how I had the bell guard wrong on my LP epee. I remember putting it together a few weeks ago and being a little rushed at the end, and even feeling uncertain about the guard's orientation. I hadn't thought about it since then, but sure enough, once he pointed it out it was clearly wrong: I had the wide part of the guard to the "southwest" when it should be to the "southeast" to cover the back of the hand better. Oops. But thanks, Tobias. Last Monday at practice I kept getting hit on my hand, especially my bottom fingers. I even said to David, "my hand feels big tonight". Sheesh.
So in the pools at least the Vniti epee's guard was on right! Even so, between the pools and DEs I fixed my LP's tip. First I tried tightening/shortening the contact spring. But I must have tightened it so much it stopped registering touches at all. And I was having trouble loosening it again, so I just switched to one of the new spare LP tips I had. At first it also failed the small shim. I tightened it just a little and it seemed good. It was fine in my first DE but then failed the small shim again in my 2nd DE. I guess I need to fiddle with it more.
Anyway, pools. I started with Jim Arrigoni. We fence all the time in practice and are pretty evenly matched. It was by beating him in a DE that I earned my E. I think I have a decent idea of how to score points with him—mainly lots of working the distance with active footwork, waiting for the distance to close just enough for a fast direct lunge, perhaps with a beat. But in practice I tend to try many different things, not trying to win but to practice various things. My pool bout with Jim was over before I realized I was in "practice mode" more than "winning mode". And like in practice we kept getting into low parry messes followed by wild attempts to escape and jab. He scored most of those. And he won, 5-3. I felt like my brain hadn't tuned into fencing yet, although it had when warming up with Tobias. I just didn't think to make the tactical switch to Jim's style I needed to make, I guess.
My second pool bout was with Tobias Lee. We hadn't fenced in a tournament for a while, I think, but we had warmed up together. We joked that having warmed up together we both knew what to expect, but each knew that the other knew and would adapt accordingly, but knew that the other knew and would adapt, and so on. Even so, I think it was fairly similar to our warm up. He won, 5-3. Afterward we talked and he said it was pretty even, but for two points: One a hit to my leg—he said I was protecting the high lines pretty well but my leg made a nice target, but it wasn't something he thought he could pull off twice. Two, he made a direct lunge to my chest that I failed to catch with my parry six. I had been doing pretty well with parry six but in this case I was too slow, he was too fast, and probably I had allowed the distance to get too close. I think I had scored on him with a nice six parry-riposte and was trying to bait him into it again. I should know about the dangers of distance with Tobias, I've written about it on this blog before!
My third bout was with Johannes Klein. Sometimes I can do okay against him, sometimes he destroys me. Tonight I was doing quite well, and my brain seemed to finally be fully engaged in fencing. My plan was to keep good distance and patiently try for his hand, always returning my point to aim right at his wrist. I have had some success with that approach in the past. I also planned to just get away if he fleched, and not to try to fleche him myself. The last time I fenced him in a tournament pool he won 5-1, mostly by fleching me or by swatting my blade away when I tried to fleche. So this time I would not fleche, and try to avoid his fleches, and simply nag at his hand a lot. Well, I didn't get any hand hits, but my nagging seemed to trigger his big, strong low line sweeps—a kind of parry two type thing. Eventually I saw some patterns in this and got the courage to try to take advantage. I scored a few times by triggering his low line sweep, then circling around with it into the high line and lunging to his arm. I think I scored single lights twice that way, and once a double. I began to feel confident. If I remember right I got to 4-3. Then he scored with one of his fleches. I tried to get away but he managed to land a touch just as he leapt off the strip. So it was 4-4. We were both patient on the last point, maneuvering and seeking openings. Then he fleched again. I retreated and parried. Our blades got bound up in a rather messy way, out of which we both counterattacked, or remised, or jabbed, or whatever to call it. I heard the machine beep and the ref call halt but didn't know who had scored. I looked and saw: he had, I hadn't. He won, 5-4.
Three losses, no wins, and only one bout to go. This was going to make my plan of coming in first place harder! My final pool bout was with Ben An. He's relatively new to fencing, I think. And I think we've fenced before. He has a lot of energy and speed. Earlier in the pools Tobias and I were watching Ben and Jim fence. Tobias observed that Ben was doing a lot of little flicky things. Not real attacks, not even false attacks, but just a lot of flicky blade movement. Tobias said one should fleche straight in when Ben does one of those flicky things. I'm not sure I would have seen that, but once Tobias pointed it out I saw it. A few seconds later Jim lunged into one of the flicky things and scored, seemingly proving the point.
So that was my basic plan with Ben. At first he wasn't giving me much blade movement and I was afraid I wouldn't get the chance to use that tactic. But eventually he gave it to me enough to try, and it worked. I scored that way at least a couple times, and also going straight in when the distance collapsed enough, and another time straight with a quick disengage. At one point I tried my 4-6 tactic, but it failed and he scored. I think I was up 3-0, then 4-2, and we ended with a double, 5-3.
So I came out of the pool with one win and three losses. Not great. Ben was also one and three, but my indicator was higher. Johannes was two and two. Jim and Tobias were three and one, with Tobias having the higher indicator. Going into the DEs I was the 9th seed. Ben was 10th. Tobias was 2nd and Jim was 3rd. Johannes was 6th. The other pool had one more fencer, and Carlo Malaguzzi had won all his bouts, so was top seed.
Since there were only eleven of us I can fit the whole DE tableau here:
The top five seeds got byes, while us bottom six had to fence it out. As 9th seed I was paired with 8th seed John Comes. I did what I usually do with him recently: Play with distance, trying to get him to come close enough for a quick direct lunge, try to catch him in six, especially when he attacks, or use my 4-6 tactic. Things began well. I got up 4-0 fairly quickly. Maybe using my LP epee instead of the Vniti helped! I certainly felt like I could hold parries better. Then he scored with something that tricked me. Some kind of disengaging attack. Then he tried a toe touch but didn't have the distance and fell short. He quickly remised to the chest but not before I had my point on his shoulder. At the end of the first period it was 8-4. I don't remember the details of the second period very well. We each scored twice, maybe both doubles. It ended 10-6.
Since I had done fairly poorly in the pools my next DE was against Carlo Malaguzzi, 1st seed. Well, I thought, I can beat Carlo. Being 1st seed doesn't mean I can't. I'm not sure I've ever beaten Carlo in a tournament, although we've only fenced twice in tournaments I think. I've done fine with him the few times we've fenced in practice. I ought to go to RCFC open epee more often. Russ gave me some advice beforehand. He said Carlo likes to attack and attack strong, often with fleches. And he is good at slipping out of parries. I knew these things. Russ suggested several things to do when Carlo attacks. One, just get away. Be ready to make a rapid retreat. Two, I could attack into his attacks, but I need to "deal with his blade" if I do, and to be ready for him to slip out of parries. Third, to parry his attacks, ideally with at least stepping in, but to be ready with a second parry because he's likely to slip out of the first.
Well, I had trouble with all those things and Carlo took a quick lead. At some point I decided that since I was having trouble dealing with his attacks I should take the attack to him. I began to launch my own attacks before he could get his off. Since he tended to attack fairly quickly this meant being aggressive right off the line. I got several points this way, including a nice thigh hit he said was well done. Another time I attacked with a six and our blades got bound up high but I managed to remise in prime to his hip. That one felt good. Before long I had tied the score and then pulled ahead. I think the score got to 8-5. Being ahead I began to ease off and he began to adjust, I think, and he began to score a little more. Even so the score reached 9-7. I only needed one point to win. A double would be fine. He needed four single light points. I did what I instinctively do when ahead like that: I eased off and began looking for counterattacks. This was the wrong thing to do. I had been doing well when attacking and not very well when he was attacking, so by easing off I was abandoning the very thing that had been working for me. Also, in easing off I slowed down, which made it harder for me to get away when he attacked. I knew I was slowing down but in my head I thought of it as a tactic, something like the way Dmitry will sometimes freeze and wait. In hindsight I might have been rationalizing things and really I slowed down because I was a little tired. But I could have, and should have keep my energy and movement up, or better yet taken it to the next level. Well in short, Carlo scored and scored. At 9-8 I became concerned and began taking the attack to him again, but he scored again, making it 9-9. At 9-9 I, again, instinctively became a bit more cautious, giving him the time to launch one of his lovely fleches. He scored and won, 10-9.
That was the big argh of the evening. I had an excellent chance to win, and if I had I would have been in the final four and thus at least tied for 3rd place. I would have fenced Russ in the semifinal. It seems unlikely I could have beaten Russ, but not unthinkable. But even if I couldn't beat him I'd have been much happier with coming in 3rd place than I am with 7th. Ah well, learn a little every time. The tournament was definitely enjoyable otherwise. I liked seeing and chatting with everyone.
Other DE bouts: Russ fenced Mark Blom in the final 8 and they went 9-9 before Russ got the final point. Close one. Jeff fenced Johannes in the round of 16 and almost beat him, 8-10. Johannes went on to take Jim out handily, 10-5. Tobias beat Ben 10-5, doing a lot of what we had talked about earlier: attacking into Ben's flicky preparations.
In the final four Tobias beat Johannes rather easily, 10-6. And Russ beat Carlo, also 10-6. Then Tobias and Russ fenced for first place. They fenced a DE bout at the last tournament I went to, and Tobias won 15-12. This time Russ won, 10-7. Afterward Tobias said something about Russ using a French grip but apparently not posting. But later Russ told me he was posting but with a "variant method" with his index finger pointing up the handle. Maybe this style isn't quite as far back as the pommel, or maybe the hand position makes it look like it isn't as far back as it is. I'm not sure. Russ also said that this time, unlike the time before, he did better with the distance. There were at least a couple times when Russ made a half lunge and Tobias didn't retreat much, letting Russ score by stepping into a fuller lunge—a renewal and/or remise, I'm not quite sure what the right term is. I think Russ calls it a renewal, where you make a less-than-full lunge then, without recovering or pulling the arm back, stepping the front foot into a fuller lunge, with or without a change of line.
No video or pictures this time. The whole tournament took just over two hours. It was small but also, the RCFC people said, we fenced "efficiently". Now a day off then the larger senior epee event of this year's Rain City Open. Currently there are 33 fencers signed up for it, including six As and four Bs. Among them Bela Suveg, Sam Larsen, Adam Frank, and of course Hans, Yuly, Jay, Matthew Comes, and Scott Phillips. Eek. But hey, looking just now I see Michael Orzechowski is signed up, the guy from Alaska I fenced and watched at the Battle in Seattle. Fun fun.
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