https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=31620&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=124588
A small, local tournament. Very local: my club, yay! Called "#1" because, I assume, it is the club's first open epee tournament of this season. There will be another one or two, later.
I like these little SAS open tournaments. Because they are easy to get to, for one. Also they tend to get a small but decent number of fencers with a good mix of skill. And they are pretty relaxed, and most of us know each other. I got my E at one of these, in part because there were just enough people and ratings to make it an A1. This time it was only a B1. There were three A-rated fencers, but no Bs. One more A or B would have made it an A1, probably. Not that such things mattered to me: I'm more than content with a C rating, for now.
I didn't do as well as I was hoping, but enjoyed it anyway. I lost a couple pool bouts I thought I might be able to win. Then I had a "winnable" DE, and had the lead and a sense of controlling the bout most of the way. But near the end there was a shift that I didn't figure out and adapt to, and I ended up losing. I felt like I had dropped the ball in that bout, and as a result came in 13th out of 17. Had I won, and then lost the next no doubt, to Yuly, I'd have a much better final result. Well, maybe only 8th, due to a lackluster pool.
I stuck around and watched the rest, enjoying it. Joel Howard did well, finally getting that D that's eluded him for too long. Garrett Armstrong did well too, renewing his C. Unsurprisingly the final was between two of the A fencers: Matthew Comes and Andrew Lee. Andrew won, his calm control making it look easy. In the semifinal Andrew and Yuly fenced, both working very hard. Andrew won, apparently the first time he's beaten Yuly.
POOLS
We had three pools. With three A-fencers and no Bs, it felt like there was a ringer in each pool. I had the pool with Andrew Lee. Each pool had one or two SAS fencers. The other SAS guy in my pool was Jim Arrigoni.
Being clubmates, Jim Arrigoni and I fenced first. We fence all the time and have for years now. We know each other's style very well, and our fencing often becomes layers of knowing how the other will likely react. In practice we fence in a rather lighthearted way. We hadn't fenced in a tournament in years. It felt a bit odd and maybe even wrong to go at it more seriously, more carefully and with less risk-taking than I might in practice. But I did. Mostly I tried to set up distance traps, so that distance would collapse and I could attack, or distance would expand and he'd attack from too far.
Mostly it worked like that. As usual I had a semi-rough start, even though I had warmed up pretty well. I think we traded points, or doubled, to 2-2. Then I started to feel more in the groove. He fleched from too far, perhaps thanks to my trying to set up distance traps. He disengaged to the inside, but early enough that I had time to go into a prime parry and score as he passed. Then, after more working the distance, he seemed to step in too close and I attacked straight in, hitting before his parry could stop me. That made it 4-2. I forget the details of the final point. I think it was a similar distance type thing, but he managed a double. So I won 5-3.
Second bout was with Svetoslav Dimitrov. I think it was the third time we've fenced. The first being a DE in which he fleched a lot and I won, mostly with counterattacks and distance. The second was a pool bout in which I expected fleches but he was defensive and I lost. This time was similar. He was quite defensive. I think he's a relatively new fencer and has apparently crossed the point of being attack-happy, as many people are at first, to a more epee-appropriate defensive approach. I certainly went through a similar process.
Anyway, he is young and fast, and his defensive is good. I had trouble getting him to bite on my feints and invitations, traps, etc. As we hooked up I noticed the sun was shining brightly through the windows at my end of the strip. So I thought, hey, maybe I can use this. Maybe I can pull him back toward my end of the strip where the brightness would be to my advantage. But his defensive thing, coupled with my love of advancing (not always wisely), resulted in most of the fencing happening near his end of the strip. That was okay, I like fencing near the far end of the strip. So I pushed him back and threw out all the feints and invitations I could, trying to get him to attack at the wrong time. He wouldn't bite. So I kept pushing, getting him near the back line. Eventually he had to attack, right? But I get nervous when I have someone at the very end of the strip (I like being near their end more than right at the end), and worry that if I get too eager to push them I'll end up closing the distance too much. So I ended up not pushing him as much as I could have, or should have, near the strip end.
I didn't write notes for every point, but the basic idea was that I was too impatient, compared to his patient defense especially. And when I attacked I felt awkward and even spastic. I tried attacking with beats, but often missed his blade. I fleched poorly, right into his parries. In short, he got point after point and won 5-1. I don't even remember how I got the one point. About halfway through I fleched badly and ended up impaling my thigh on his point, so badly that his epee got a big bend in it. He tried to straighten it, but had trouble getting it right. It was a nasty bend and I felt a little bad. It was totally the fault of my awkward fleche. After a bit of trying to fix it he just changed weapons and went on to take me down point by point. I suppose the first DE I had with him, where he fleched a lot, won't happen again, not that way. Main lesson learned: More patience! Even if I'm losing—better to lose 3-1 than 5-1, right?
Next up was Jeff Johnson. I've written about fencing him a few times recently here. Suffice it to say I expected him to be very defensive and use a lot of absence of blade. And I figured my plan should involve patience, second-intention-type attempts to draw an attack, protection of my outside line, and the use of beats whenever possible. Also, I had imagined dealing with his outside line arm attack by using a wide six parry—wide enough to stop his leftie angulation, and wide enough that a riposte from six might be hard, so maybe if I caught him in six I would try to transfer to prime. He surprised me by attacking a lot more than I expected. I had figured I would have to work hard to get him to attack at all, but he attacked quite a bit without any help from me. And my six-focused plan failed, as his attacks tended to disengage to the inside. My "wide" six parries certainly helped him in this way. He got me this way two or three times before I started to wise up, by which time the bout was about over. At first I thought maybe he was attacking more than expected because he knew or could guess what my plan would be—since I like talking about tactics with him and basically tell him my plans after bouts (and write about it here). But watching other bouts, he seemed to be attacking more than I expected in general.
Anyway, although I lost it was a pretty good bout. I got the first point with a beat attack, as he kindly put his blade out just the way I like. Then, as I tried to set things up he got me with that disengaging attack two or maybe three times. He also got a lovely hand hit that felt, to me, somewhat "lucky", but somewhat good in keeping his point in the right place. In this way he got up 4-1. Ack. I finally started to grasp the way he was fencing that day, not like I was expecting. I had been very cautious, so i figured an aggressive change-up might work. So I did a fast charge-fleche right off the line, with a beat in there I think, and scored, perhaps surprising him. Okay, 4-2. Then I thought I would fake the same thing but stop short, hopefully triggering a reaction that would create an opening. It half worked. I charged, he retreated and counterattacked as I stopped, falling short. Then I tried to beat attack into his counter, a broken time kind of thing I guess. It worked in that I scored, but he got his point back on in time to make it a double. So he won, 5-3. The bout didn't go the way I had hoped—I wanted to win! But from being down 4-1 I was okay with losing 5-3.
The next bout was with Michael Schwartz. We hadn't fenced before, although we were both in the recent Thursday night vet tournament. I think he, or someone, said he was pretty new. I'm guessing that means he's either recently returned to fencing or new to the area, because he's pretty strong. I'd guess he used to fence and took a long break. He seems to have that "bit rusty but knows his stuff" feel. Watching him in other bouts I noted his good prime parry, his speed and strength. I went in thinking I would try to avoid getting too close. I didn't want to fleche into that prime, or to infight at all, if I could help it. My plan was to stay shallow, try to work the distance with fast in and out footwork. Maybe try that "seconde smack" thing, and generally break things up with beats and retreats.
Thing began badly. He got the first two points. In my notes I just wrote "too impatient not focused". I tried to be more careful and focused. I got a couple points, I don't remember how. But he racked up a couple more, making the score 4-2. Yet again I was one point from losing, with a long way to go for myself. I needed single lights, so was very cautious and shallow, but tried to stay very active and focused. I got the next point with a strong up-beat and hand pick. That felt nice and gave me a little confidence. Then we maneuvered a bit. I threw out a few "seconde sweeps", in part hoping to look like invitations to go high, in part hoping to prep a change-up. After a bit I came in a bit harder with a strong seconde smack following immediately with a six, hoping to get a nice opposition attack in six. He brought his blade up into my six, but with enough strength to block my opposition attack. As distance closed I instinctively turned my hand and replaced my tip lower to his thigh, hitting and getting a single, yay. I had tied it 4-4. Then we maneuvered a little again and he made a mistake, basically. He extended from far enough to not be a real threat, and I made a simple counter and hit his extended arm. So I came back from 4-2 to win, 5-4. That felt nice. And it was a fun bout all around. I hope we'll get to fence more in the future.
My final pool bout was with Andrew Lee. I would try my best, of course, but didn't expect to win. But I didn't expect to lose 5-0 either, which is what happened, argh. I noted that there were many "almost things, but he is just too fast". Like one time we had an exchange and it seemed like I had a chance to launch a direct attack to his chest, as he pulled his arm back and retreated. I tried and watched as my tip reached just to about an inch from his chest as he retreated—and seemingly calmly too, like an inch is a million miles. Once or twice we got into infighting and my prime landed flat, while he hit. He also got a very nice toe touch. Well done. Five to zero, oof.
I realized after this tournament that I haven't been working on toe touches since we moved to our new space. For some reason we haven't put in the grounded metal strips yet. Without them I've been reluctant to work on toe touches, since so often it is hard to tell if they are floor hits or not. But Andrew's toe touch was unquestionably good. And in practice both Travis and Monica have gotten me with them. So in the last week I've begun working on them again—and decided that the lack of a grounded strip makes it necessary to practice better toe touches. So maybe that is a good thing.
DIRECT ELIMINATION
So I came out of the pools two and three, with a -9 indicator. Not great. That made me 13th seed. Russ, who was running the tournament, printed out the pool results and taped them up. As I looked, far enough to not quite read it right, Yuly came round asking who was 12th seed. It looked like I was so I said "me", and he said that meant we'd fence each other. I thought "oh great", a DE with Yuly? Should I just go home now? But I had misread the sheet from afar. I was 13th seed. So my DE would be with Jim Henderson, who was 4th seed (well done, Jim!). Yuly had Michael Schwartz, and then either me or Jim (Yuly beat Michael a lot better than I had in pools).
So, Jim Henderson. That seemed "winnable". The last few times we fenced I had done well, mostly, if I remember right. I felt like I knew what to do, more or less. Mainly it involved being patient and not doing anything rash, being wary of his good acceleration attacks and his good parry-ripostes; using beats a lot, for attacks as well as breaking things up.
That somewhat vague plan worked well at first, and I got up quite a bit, mostly using, I wrote down "beats and care". Even with trying to be patient I began to feel like I was not patient enough. In DEs I've been trying to keep the first period score fairly low, and we were getting near ten points. Then again, I was ahead and things seemed to be working, so why not? Toward the end of the period he caught up a little. We ended the period 10-8. I didn't have a coach to talk to, but someone, Perth I think, talked to me a little. Mostly I felt like I knew what to do and just had to keep doing it, without screwing up. Patience, care, beats...
The second period didn't go as well. We had a lot of doubles and he got some singles. He had adjusted slightly in a way I couldn't figure out. He tied it, then took the lead. My confidence eroded and I became a bit unsure. We got to 14-13. I probably should have taken extra care at that point, but my impatience that day took over and I tried a surprise fast attack. It was from too far and basically gave him an easy point and the win.
Well, he fenced smart. I had a nice early lead and he adjusted in a way that worked, and that I couldn't quite see. Later I went and simply asked him if he had adjusted somehow. He said "oh yes". I had meant the question as also "what did you do?" When he didn't say I asked bluntly, but he just smiled and wouldn't say, which made me laugh. Me, I'm very open about tactics and love talking about them, maybe sometimes to my detriment in local tournaments like this one. And I have no qualms asking people outright what they did. If they don't want to say, that's perfectly fine.
I tried to think it through a bit more as I watched the rest of the tournament, but didn't get any insights. I realized though that I couldn't remember the details of the bout too well, especially the second half. To me that means I hadn't been paying attention as closely as I could have, and should have, during the bout. So, although I didn't figure out what he was doing, I did realize something I wasn't doing. Focus. And that is something I've been working on in practice. My natural state is somewhat distracted, but I certainly know how to focus, moment-to-moment, when I remember to. It's almost like flipping a switch. I just have to remember to do it. Inevitably I slip back into less focus. The practice is working to more frequently and consistently remember to flip that switch. It's a lot like meditation, but a lot less passive. I think I've gotten the hang of it. I just have to remember to do it.
Other highlights of the day. Joel Howard and John Comes had an excellent and close bout, Joel winning 15-13. With his pool results that was enough to get him a D, which has been a long time coming. Jim and Mark Benack did not get byes and fenced each other. Jim did pretty well at first, but fell for Mark's flick more and more, and lost in the end, 15-13. Tobias Lee had a very close bout with Jeff Johnson, winning 15-14. I only saw a bit of that one. That put Tobias and Andrew Lee against each other round of eight, which was fun to watch. I remember when Andrew was a U, and over time Tobias saying it was getting harder and harder fencing his son. And nowadays it certainly is. Andrew won 15-8. The final point involved Andrew chasing Tobias down the strip, in what looked like the very thing I've done with Tobias sometimes—chasing, inevitably to get picked off. But Andrew chased him down to the end then fleched, and scored. Man, if I tried that it would be suicide!
Garrett Armstrong did well, beating Carlo, then Joel, to reach the semifinals, where Matthew Comes beat him soundly. Garrett renewed his C, which was getting a bit old. Yuly and Andrew fenced in the other semifinal. They both put a lot of energy into it and were breathing hard at the end. It was fairly close, but Andrew seemed more in control and kept a lead through most or all of it, winning 15-12. Tobias said it was the first time he had beaten Yuly, so that was exciting. I thought surely Andrew had beaten him before, sometime or other, but I guess not.
The final was Andrew and Matthew Comes. I knew they had fenced a lot before. Being a little surprised that Andrew hadn't beaten Yuly before I asked Tobias if he had beaten Matthew before. Tobias said "oh yes, lots of times". Heh. They are nearly the same age and have improved from beginners to A-rated fencers over the same years in the same local area (I just checked—Matthew is a year older; Andrew still qualifies as cadet, Matthew doesn't, I think). So yea, they've probably fenced many times over this period. Yuly, on the other hand, moved to the area more recently, was already A-rated, and is something near ten years older. Anyway, in big tournaments like NACs Matthew seems to usually do better than Andrew, although both tend to do pretty well. This weekend, as I write this, they fenced Junior Epee at a NAC. They both did well, but Matthew did very well, coming in 6th. I think Matthew' often does well at big events where he fences people unfamiliar with his somewhat odd style. Whereas Andrew's style is more "normal". I guess I'm speculating that Matthew benefits more when fencing people who don't know him. But with someone like Andrew, who has been fencing Matthew since they were beginners, things are different. Matthew can't surprise Andrew the way he can with many others. [EDIT: Apparently I misunderstood, or Toby was joking, or something: This was actually the first time Andrew beat Matthew in a 15 point DE. Yuly and Matthew. So my random speculation in this paragraph might not be quite right. And, so it was a doubly awesome tournament for Andrew!]
It was a fun bout to watch, and fairly close. But Andrew seemed more in control and ended up winning 15-12. I watched, hoping to learn something about how to fence Matthew. But I don't think I learned much. Andrew made it look rather easy. There were many times when it looked like Matthew scored or at least doubled, but instead Andrew got a single light. And mostly I couldn't tell how he did it, unless it was magic.
