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St. Patrick Open 2025

St. Patrick Open 2025

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Anyone who competes in a chess tournament is a warrior poet. I say this because when I reflect on all the different types of tournaments I've competed in -- soccer, volleyball, weightlifting, swimming, track and field, moot court, pool, and even ping-pong -- I can still say that a chess tournament presents the greatest challenge for the least reward. It takes a warrior to fight relentlessly for hours on end. It takes a poet to do this when there is often no tangible benefit (more often, there is tangible loss accompanied by popular scorn). But we compete anyway, for as many different reasons as there are stars in the night sky.

My mind was drifting along these lines as I made the long trek last weekend to Billings, where I would continue my quest for my best game while celebrating St. Patrick's Day with old friends. The quest goes on, but I played some interesting games and had a lot of fun.

In the first round I played against a chess dad whose son was also competing in the tournament (and would go on to face me in the fourth round). He caught me napping early in the game and grabbed a free pawn, which motivated me to find a fast win.

In the second round I faced someone who barely escaped losing to one of the kids in the first round, and who put together a pretty good game that forced me (once again) into a time scramble. My play was pretty sketchy, but good enough for a win and a third-round bye. Some of the final moves are my best guess because I had to stop recording.

After relaxing for round 3 and getting a good night's sleep, I soon discovered that I would be playing white against the son of the man I had played in the first round. I had seen him compete on other occasions and knew he was talented (his rating is already in the 1800s), but I had no idea what to expect. He made a rapid and strong attack down my queenside that I fended off, but this propelled us into an endgame where I (uncharacteristically) made a mistake and wound up in zugzwang. He went on to win the tournament, which takes some of the sting out of it.
Although round 4 was disappointing, what happened in round 5 made up for it because I got a chance to play the Budapest (which is becoming increasingly rare because too many players adhere to dull e4 openings). My opponent was a young man I've watched grow up over the past few years, since he has competed in several events and held me to a draw not long ago. To his credit, he understood the Budapest and was playing it quite well before making some hasty moves that ended it for him. This means I finished the tournament with a plus score that (perhaps) will help me make it into the state championship again. We shall see.