It's Only Been 18 Years

After 18 years away from rated tournament play I entered the 87th Montana State Open this past weekend, which took place in my hometown of Missoula. In the month or so prior I dusted off my original copy of Silman's Reassess Your Chess, picked up a not-so-great book on the French Defense, and started playing too much online blitz. But I wanted to play again, and I want to hit a couple chess goals I've set for myself. 

I enjoyed seeing familiar faces at the tournament and meeting new ones. Of course we're all getting older, but the Montana chess scene is certainly getting younger. It was great to see Elementary, Middle, and High School players make up a notable part of the tournament. There were also several unrated and provisionally-rated players. This speaks volumes to the future of Montana chess. 

I came in with a 1539 rating, which was what I earned after the Efim Geller Memorial Tournament in July 2004, my last rated tourney (I came in 7th there, by the way). I was only ever rated higher than that (1541) from the tournament previous to that one, the Mike Stubblefield Memorial in June of the same year.

I had no idea what to expect at the Open. I joked I was there to just give away my ratings points, but I am happy I was wrong.

Since I was dab in the middle of the 39-person field, I was paired with the highest-rated player in the Open for Game 1 on Board 1, Michael A. Murray (2031) out of Washington. I later learned that Murray first played in the Montana Open in 1962 and won the Open twice (2006, 2011)!

The game, as you'll see below, was one I was able to transpose into the French Defense, the one opening I had been trying to study as black most recently. With the long time controls I was able to put my concentration on one thing: the position in front of me. I haven't yet said why I took off those 18 years from play, but it was to raise two kids. The family lifestyle can pull you into a lot of different directions, so to have hours of peace and quiet and the ability to focus on one task was a treat and ultimately what is most exciting to me about returning to the competitive side of the game. 

In my game with Murray I took my time and tried to set up a solid defense. What I have learned from playing too much blitz is that wild, preemptive attacks don't usually work out for me. It wasn't until I played 16. ...Qa3 that I felt I was on the attack (while also defending my threatened a-pawn). Only eight moves later, after my opponent plays 24. Qa5, he offers me a draw. I knew I was about to win a pawn and I felt I had a slight positional advantage, but also I knew I was still a long way off from a win against a very highly rated player.

Since it was my first game back after a long hiatus, and I am currently lacking confidence in my endgame, I decided I was quite happy to draw an Expert so I accepted. For this game I ended up winning the prize for "Biggest Upset." 

I have been hearing a lot about a young player out of Bozeman, Matteo Nero (1678), so I was happy to both meet him and play against him in Round 2. He certainly lived up to his reputation. I played 1. d4 and we got into a Queen's Gambit Declined. I ended up down a pawn and Matteo never forgot that fact. I ended up having to trade off my bishop for an advanced pawn and then it was game over for me.

Gratefully, Game 2 was my only loss of the tournament. I took a third round bye so I could go watch the KU Jayhawks advance to the Finals of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament and (unfortunately) Duke not advance (I had Duke in two of my brackets!). I was pretty well-rested by Sunday morning and ready to return to the board.

I was paired against an unrated player from Bozeman, JC Amberg, and playing black I was able to go with the French Defense again after he played 1. e4. I won an exchange around move 20 and was able to immediately get our Queens off the board, but it took another 40 moves for me to get a decisive advantage and earn the win. 

In my final game of the tournament I played Alex Karns (1663 p.) out of Great Falls. Karns has only been playing competitively less than a year, but he is very strong. After his first two tournaments in fall 2021 he earned an impressive 1867 rating! I was white and opened with 1. d4. and Karns played the Nimzo-Indian. (I didn't know this right away, of course, because I need a lot of improvement in my knowledge of openings.) I missed a pin early in the game, and though I was able to chase around his Queen I was never able to win it. I eventually won an exchange, and then won a pawn, but his Knight grabbed a few too. It came down to a Rook vs. Knight ending, with me up a pawn. After I was going to be up two pawns my opponent resigned. 

My three point record and my 1539 rating was enough for me to share first place in C Class with a new chess friend, Michael Muller, out of Bozeman. 

I'm no good at annotating my own games. Hopefully I gave you enough backstory above but here are my four games from the 2022 Montana State Open. I'd love to hear some commentary on any of them below in the comments. 

Chess, thanks for having me back!