Montana Open 2014, Round 3

Sitting on 1.5/2 I was paired with a strong veteran player who had recently re-emerged after a few years away from the regional chess scene. That made him new to me, and being that the pairings in this tournament were announced only minutes before the round I was going into the game without any idea what to expect. Fortunatley Scott played an opening system familiar to me after many games with my buddy Wilton, but his play continued in such a reserved fashion that I, preoccupied with coordinating a tangle of my pieces in the center, was unable to mount any serious attack.

I was better for most of the game and at one point had a chance to play for advantage. My engine likes 26.e5, but after 26....f6 I couldn't see how to make anything of it. The game fizzled to a draw. A little dissapointing for a game with the white pieces, but there's some silver lining in this game being my most accurate of the tournament.