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.

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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):