October Knights Open: Meet The Star

Recently the October Knights Open Tournament came to a close, having finished the night before Halloween. So how did it go? Well I have the results right here, though I will only list the top 5 finishers and have the games of the man in first.

But before I get into the games and placements, there is something you need to know. Rudy Tillmann played in the tournament. And as an unexpected twist, Ryder had made it to the finals, against predictions for him being eliminated in the 4th round against Hayden Morales (2168).

Ryder is now #2 in all of UNational after this tournament. The leaderboards changed once again. The top 3 have, as implied, also changed. Here are current UNational Top 3: Mason Wright (2341), Ryder Mako (2333), and Rudy Tillmann (2311). Mason did not play in the tournament.

Now that you know the new top 3, let's get into the games of the tournament.

Round 1 -  Ryder Mako vs. Julien Jasper

This game is one of Jasper's worst games played in a tournament. He blundered many times over and, overall, had a poor performance. Mako takes advantage of the chokes and ends it as quickly as he can. Jasper never stood a chance.

Aside from this, I have nothing else to say. Julien does not play like a 2100 UNational player, and he doesn't even have a performance UNE of 1600.

Round 2 - Ryder Mako vs. Caleb Morgan Johnson

This game honestly could have been better for Caleb. Had he not ignored a few things, he may have won the game. But alas, he did not. He was not playing all of the best moves, similar to how Ryder was doing.

However, it wasn't the worst game. But, arguably, this was still pretty bad. For Ryder, though, this was a relatively easy game, even if it lasted as long as it did.

Round 3 - Ryder Mako vs. Lucas Thompson

I have nothing to say about this game other than that Lucas played poorly. Ryder took advantage of this, and ended the game as quickly as he could. After Ryder gained his momentum, the game lasted only another 3 minutes (for a total of 47 minutes of playtime).

Quarterfinals (Round 4) - Ryder Mako vs. Hayden Morales

This game was by far one of the more interesting ones played at the tournament. This one was probably the shortest, too. By time, not moves. However, it was sad to see Hayden eliminated in this round. Most think he should have gone further.

Semifinals (Round 5) - Ryder Mako vs. Naomi Hayward

This one was certainly an interesting game. I feel like that Naomi could have performed better, and possibly even beaten Mako, but this is a fair result. The game was pretty balanced, aside from when Naomi made a few of the blunders she did.

If you put it into an engine like I did, then you'll understand what I mean. There are times the eval simply goes into Ryder's favor.

In the last two lines, even if Naomi moved her rook to block the diagonal, it still would have resulted in Ryder's win. Because after moving the rook to block the diagonal, the queen moves to the first rank, check. Then the rook is forced to move and Qxg1#. Or even fxg1=Q#. Regardless, Naomi would have lost.

Finals (Round 6) - Ryder Mako vs. Rudy Tillmann

This was the most anticipated game after Ryder beat Naomi. However, after Mako vs Hayward, Rudy was still playing his Semi Finals match, so Ryder got to watch both of their playstyles, so that no matter who he played, he would be prepared.

He ended up playing Rudy, of course. And this game was a pretty back and forth, but Rudy had one blunder that ruined the entire game for him. It's a poor move that he played, and Ryder had taken quick notice and used it.

The top 5 finishers are as follows:

1. Ryder Mako (6-0), 2. Rudy Tillmann (5-1), 3. Naomi Hayward (5-1), 4. Justin Kyren (4-2), 5. Hayden Morales (4-1)

And now for a personal note from Ryder Mako:

"Hello to everyone. I am Ryder Mako, and I have become victorious in the 2025 October Knights Open Tournament. I had this opportunity only since I had joined UNational five years ago. I wanted to thank my mother, for telling me to play chess and join UNational. I want to thank my father, for taking me to every far event when I was younger. I want to thank my younger brother and sister, for supporting me every step of the way and being the first to cheer when I came back with good news. And I want to thank my grandfather, for he was the first person to get me a chessboard."

Thank you all for reading the October Knights Open: Meet The Star! There was a bit of work and thought put into this, and it took me a few hours to type up and analyze each game in this post.

Thank you all for your support! I love y'all's support you give me! I wouldn't keep posting without it.

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