World Open Results

Philadelphia is a fantastic chess town. I've been there now for two Philadelphia Opens and a World Open and it has treated me well. (Well, not counting when I got checkmated in 8 moves in my first Philadelphia Open.)

This year I played up in the World Open U2000 section, where I was rated 1667 and was seeded near the absolute bottom of the 233 player section. But I managed to earn 4 of 9 points, and went up to 1724. I had 2 wins and 4 draws, with all my opponents in the A class!

Next I played in the five round World Open U2100 Championships. Quite an impressive sounding name for a tournament with a ragtag group of 17 players, with the top two players weighing in at 2009 and 2002. In the first round I beat the 2002 (actually my first master scalp, as he is a life master!). By the final round I was tied for first place with 3 points. A win would put me over 1800 for the first time and guarantee first place! I prepared myself mentally to fight for a win, no matter what--I would win or lose.

I lost. But I won the top U1800 prize and ended my trip at 1751, up 84 points for the trip and near my all time high of 1753, which was coincidentally also from last year's World Open.

Now it is time for a family vacation in Yellowstone and a few weeks break from any chess training. When I get back I'll spend time reviewing my 14 games and then come up with my chess plan for the rest of the year. My goal for the year is to hit 1900, still audacious, but not as much as it was just eight days ago.