The Minnesota State Championship... The Return and the Glory.

Come one, come all! Welcome to the pinnacle of OTB chess, the top of the pyramid, the point of the dagger, the Minnesota State Championship. Welcome to the Stenburg Cup, the most important tournament in Minnesota chess, the State Championship with four sections, the peak of chess strength in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Welcome to greatness, to glory, to the stage where dreams are fulfilled, hopes are crushed, and champions are born. 

This was a surreal experience. When I first walked into the room, with its white tablecloths and chess sets set up, I knew this was special. I am playing in the U2000 section, where six players play a Round Robin tournament, one game against each other player. The time control is a long one -G40/90 SD30+30s, which means that each player starts off with 90 minutes and a 30 second increment for the entire game, AND on move 41, each player gets 30 minutes added to their clock. With an extra 30 minutes for the endgame, each player has time to think, time to play their best chess and plenty of time to blunder. 

Let me introduce you to my opponents and my gameplan. [NOTE: I actually formulated my gameplan BEFORE the tournament, this was my actual plan a week in advance. Don't try to call me out for making this up after I saw what happened.😆] In Round 1, I play Michael, a 2100 that I've drawn before. I have White against him, and I plan to draw. Round 2: I have White against Thaddeus, a strong 1800 and I plan to win. Round 3: I play against my IRL brother(!) and I have Black with a plan to win. Round 4: White against a 2070 named Yuval and I plan to make a draw. In the final Round, I have Black against Mr. B, a 1950 that I've played twice (once before in last year's state championship), and I lost both times in the past. This time, I am going to win, I will entertain the crowd, and I will play for those two losses in the past and beat him in the final game.

Round One: Ethan vs Michael (1/2 - 1/2)

Game One started at 6:00 in the afternoon, so the sun was setting and darkness would soon envelope the landscape outside. Inside, all the players were gathering and familiarizing themselves with the tables and sets. Clocks were being set and the amount of space around each board was given its appreciation. The tournament director (TD), Jiten Patel, explained all of the rules and then gave the starting signal. And with that, Game One commenced.

This was a very tough game. I analyzed it with Michael for a few minutes afterward since all of the other games had concluded and we thought that I could have had some more chances in the endgame to push. But we couldn't find a win and concluded that we each deserved the draw. I then headed home and fell asleep at 11:30.

Round Two: Ethan vs Thaddeus (1 - 0)

On Saturday morning, I woke up around 7 feeling refreshed. Round Two started at 10:00 so I had a few hours to wind down, relax and have breakfast, and then psyche myself up. So I took some time alone, looked over one line that I was going to play and got into my sports jacket. There's a curious thing that happened when I played at the State Championship last year: on the final day I dressed up in a suit to respect God on Sunday and to respect the players and the occasion. Mr. B (who I'm going to play again this year) had already been wearing a jacket and he liked to dress up because it was the State Championship. So I decided to wear my fancy suit jacket on the final day last year and I drew my first game and won my second. I scored my only points wearing a suit last year. 

Back to the present! I arrived at the Crowne Plaza Hotel where the tournament was taking place and walked in the room. I had some fun conversations with the other players across the sections and then the next round kicked off. I was playing Thaddeus and I decided to go for the same opening as last night and was prepared for a tough fight. I've played Thaddeus once before in the Minnesota Open, which was the tournament that I qualified for the State Championship in. It was an incredibly tough fight, which I won due to a late blunder in the endgame. You can read about that game here.

What a game! Again a very, very difficult game, but luckily for me not all rook endgames are drawn! Thaddeus is a very nice opponent and I always look forward to playing him. One more game today!

Round Three: Jesse vs Ethan (0 - 1)

With Game 2 out of the way, I went to my hideout (AKA the comfy chairs in the nooks and crannies of the hotel) with my mother and brother. I consumed some sustenance in the form of energy bars and then relaxed for a couple hours. My third game was going to be against someone very special, my very own brother, @ChessicalMoves. I had been looking forward to this game for a long time, and I had even made a deal with him before the game. You see, in the spirit of trolling, I had told my brother these words: "If you play 1.f3, I will play 1.f6". 

Well well well. You might be able to guess what happens next. 

This game finished in an hour and a half, so the night was still young when we concluded. I would also like to add that I have a record of 3W/0L/1D when wearing my suit to a chess tournament and I have still never lost while wearing it. I watched the other game for a few minutes and then went home and got an early night's sleep. In the morning, I found out that Michael had won both of his games on Saturday so we were tied for first with 2.5/3 and two more games to go.

Round Four: Ethan vs Yuval (1/2 - 1/2)

Final day! After three nerve-wracking games, I'm within striking distance of the goal. But I made sure not to dwell on how close I was, instead, take it one game at a time. I've played Mr. Yuval twice before, in rapid and in classical. I actually won the classical game, after a long fought middlegame, but I was Black. Here I'm White, and I need to walk away with at least half a point to stay in contention and keep my title hopes alive.

Another tough game! A solid one though, and Michael also drew his game which put us both at 3/4. With this draw, Mr. Yuval was unfortunately eliminated from contention, which left three players with a possible shot. Odds are best for Michael, who has to win with Black against @ChessicalMoves. I, meanwhile, have Black against Mr. B, a rock solid player who has many years of experience and many more games under his belt than I do. Jesse also has an outside chance to win as he has 2.5/5, but he would need to beat Michael and then hope that I don't win. 

Round Five: Barry vs Ethan (0 - 1)

Final game! I was oddly at ease in the hours before this game, as I knew what I had to do. So I was lighthearted and I joked around with some of the other players, played some blitz, just had a good time and enjoyed to feeling of being here. I also got to meet some of the parents of the players and made some connections which may prove fruitful in later times! All too soon, the time was upon us and the final game of the final day started.

It was impossible to describe the emotions that followed. Knowing that I had accomplished the almost impossible, done what I had set out to do, and won exactly according to my plan was such an amazing feeling. This is my favourite tournament to play in Minnesota, and I hope to keep playing for many more years to come!

Statistics and cool facts

In the days that followed, I compiled some cool statistics that happened over the tournament. They are as follows:

1. I always had the exact same score as Michael. We drew our first game, won our second and third, drew the fourth and each won the fifth. 

   

2. I played each game with an average accuracy of 93.24% (according to chess.com's Game Review feature). As far as I know, this is the highest average accuracy of a single tournament in my life.
3. After the final round had concluded and people were mingling in the hall, I asked Michael what rating he thought I would be. He guessed it would be around 1960-1970. I though that was waaaaaaaaay too high and I would have been happy with 1920+. But lo and behold, my rating became 1962!!! Right within his guess! I am now 38 rating points away from the title of National Expert.
4. During the five games that I played, I played these classifications of moves (according to chess.com's Game Review): 1 'Brilliant' move, 10 'Great' moves, 88 'Best' moves, 38 'Excellent' moves, 24 'Good' moves, 20 'Book' moves, 12 'Inaccuracy' moves, 5 'Mistake' moves, 3 'Miss' moves and 0 'Blunder' moves.
5. According to my plan that I had formulated before the event, I was going to draw Michael, beat Thaddeus and Jesse, draw Yuval and finish by beating Mr. B. And that is exactly what I did.
6. To my knowledge, this was the first time in World History that a double Wrongcloud has been played in a state or regional championship.
7. I have NEVER lost a classical chess game while wearing my suit. I have a total of 3 wins and one draw, but no losses.
8. In one year of playing classical chess, I have gone from finishing last in the State Championship, to finishing first.

Other sections

While I'm showcasing my tournament specifically, I will also do a quick recap of the other sections. In the Open section, IM Samrug Narayanan held a draw in a long endgame against IM Sean Nagle to clinch sole first with 4/5 and win the Stenberg Cup. In the U2200, John Blomer and NM David Schabert both won on demand in the last round to tie for first place with 3.5/5 each. They will play each other in a tie-break match at a later date. In the U1700, Saleem Amini forced a draw in the final round to hold onto first place with 4/5 and clinched first in his third(!) ever tournament.

Conclusions

After a long time of mulling over the results from this tournament (and a long time of procrastinating on this blog lol), I've come up with three takeaways from the State Championship.

1. I could still be underrated.
2. My greatest strength is my ability to make an adequate move in far less time than it takes for my opponents to make a better move, and the time advantage evens it out in the endgame.
3. Becoming a valued member of the chess community is just as important as winning titles.

These takeaways are going to shape my life and my chess career in ways that I don't fully understand yet, but I am looking forward to what the future holds! 

Thank you for reading this post! I would encourage you to read my Improvers Journey blog series if you're interested in what else I've been doing as well as follow me so you get notified when I next post blogs. Until then, have a blessed day!

--Ethan Harrison, @theeldest1

[EDIT 9 May 2025: There won't be a playoff between myself and Michael. The MSCA doesn't require a playoff unless a single winner has to occur (Denker playoffs or Open section for State Champion).]