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...
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
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:
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:
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.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Columbia International Div1 ROC
Went down to Portland for my birthday weekend. A treat.
Vet Mixed Epee
Vet Mixed Epee
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.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, September 26, 2014
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.
.
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.
.
Monday, September 22, 2014
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):
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):
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