2013 Oregon Open
I participated in the 2013 Oregon Open and I took a half point bye the last round. This tournament was a great tournament for me, as I gained many points to go from 1845 to 1932. I played 2000+ rated players in all of the five rounds I played, and scored 3/5. My rating is 1845, so it was a fantastic tournament! In the end, three experts tied for first, and not one of the five or six masters at the event could join them. The winners were Alexandria Valeria Botez, Aaron Grabinsky, and Richard Gutman. Daniel He was on a perfect 4/4 score, but withdrew because he would become a master.
In the first round I played Paul Romero(2098), and he played the Pirc Defense. I barely survived the opening, but then managed to organize some type of a kingside attack by sacrificing a pawn. In the end he made a huge mistake and I was able to win easily after that.
In the second round I was black against Michael Morris (2033), one of the tournament directors!!! I played the French Winawer, played c4 and castled queenside, and after about 10 more moves, the position became very closed, so we agreed to a draw.
In the third round I played Dennis Hoefler (2039), the only opponent I played without a FIDE rating. He sacrificed a pawn in the opening for some compensation, but soon the compensation evaporated, and right after that, he blundered a piece! Soon after that, he sacrificed a exchange for some chances, and then unfortunately, I blundered a piece!!!! Fortunately for me, a move after I lost a piece, he blundered checkmate! Such an up and down game! I did not want to repeat this experience, but unfortunately an even worse game was waiting next round.
I lost in 12 moves to Brian Esler!!!!!!!!! WHAT??? 12 MOVES???? Yes, sadly, the game lasted only 12 moves. We played a scotch where I was confused at one point and spent 1 hour on a single move. Then with 40 minutes left, I tried to move faster since I had to make 30 moves in 40 minutes, and promptly blundered my queen to a two move combination. I resigned after that, disgraced.
In the fifth round I played Becca Lambman (2045) and I chose the Dutch Defense. Even though she got a better position out of the opening, I played Rae8 at one point with deadly threats down the e file, and the best she could do was play a long maybe 10 move line which traded down to a drawn endgame, where we soon agreed to a draw.
Next, for some funny and strange incidents! In one situation, Jeff Roland was playing Hh Ward, and Hh made two moves during his turn. Apparently after Jeff reported this to the TD, it was interpreted as a "mistake" and the game became a draw. In another incident, one player's opponent kept checking him and saying loudly"Check!", so he asked his opponent multiple times to stop saying check. But his opponent still did it, and guess what! The player called his opponent a IDIOT! During a tournament game! In the playing hall!
Well folks, that's all for today's blog about the 2013 Oregon Open, and please leave a comment about the event pr even better, the incidents that happened during the tournament! Thanks for reading!
