Magic City Open 2025
The first tournament of the chess season took place in faraway Billings and was fun despite being a tad disappointing. I was winning all four of the games I played, but I converted only three of those into wins while throwing away the fourth with blunders so boneheaded that they astonished me immediately after making them. Throwing away a won game feels worse than being outclassed, since I have no control over the latter but should be able to avoid the former.
In the first round I faced Kyler Bergman, the young man I saw just recently in Wisconsin because he represented Montana in the youngest division while I was in the oldest. I played a little too cautiously in the opening, which often happens in the first round, but I quickly found my way during the middle game and won with a nice little tactic.
In the second round I faced a young woman I'd never met before, but my friend Daniel Mattson said that she had managed to defeat him at a tournament earlier in the year. When we got into our game, I could see why because she fought hard to the very end, putting together serious threats even when I thought I had the game in the bag. Finally, on move 61 and with only about 1 minute left on each of our clocks, she made a fatal blunder that ended it (Stockfish says that absent the blunder, it could have been a draw). I congratulated her on a job well done and expressed hope that she would come to more tournaments if she could. She went on to defeat Brandon Arensmeyer, a recent contender for state champion who took a game off me at the Closed!
I took my customary bye for the third round and woke up bright and early on Sunday for the fourth round, where I threw away a win and then threw away a draw to lose to Luke Miller, the same young man I threw away a win against in a tragic game last February. He appears to have the same hex on me as Ben Curtis, as they both make me take leave of my senses and throw away wins on a regular basis. The lesson for me is not about technique, but rather patience and focus, as I have a bad habit of playing fast and loose when I'm winning. At my age, I should know better.
In the final round I faced a young man who, two years earlier, pulled off a nice upset against me. I played him once again after that and beat him, so I was curious how things would go this time. Fortunately for me, I won again and managed to salvage 3.5 points from the tournament, which will net me some good Grand Prix points for the championship cycle.
