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On to round 3, and merging with the 3 day schedule. My first game with the long time control of 80 + 30 sec SD 30 minutes. I got paired against a young player who was currently in first place in the Doubles Standings (along with his partner of course). Beating him would help out me and Becca who were going for our own doubles prize. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! A very fun, interesting game. Even with 2 queens winning wasn't easy lol. In the end I got the win, and I'm glad.

Here is my round 2 game from the Indy Open over the weekend. I lost this game, and my opponent actually went on to win my section. This was the highest rated opponent I played during the event. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! Overall a pretty interesting game and I think I learned from it. I'll know how to handle this opening better next tournament.

Last weekend I traveled to Indiana for the 2022 Indianapolis Open. I played in the 2 day schedule of the U2100 section. I had to play the first two rounds with G60 d/10 in order to catch up to the 3-Day schedule, which started Friday night and played all 5 games with 80 + 30 seconds with an additional 30 minutes added at move 40. Here is my round 1 game, which is probably going to be one of my all time favorite games. I hope you enjoy it! Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below. I don't get games like that very often. Was a lot of fun to sacrifice material for an attack like that. In case you were wondering, it was all completely sound, and Stockfish gave me 95% accuracy for the game.

I go into the final round of the tournament with 1 loss and 2 wins. I need a draw to come away with any prize money. I got paired against the1900 player, and I was excited to have the White pieces against him. Much to my surprise, and honestly to my disappointment, this was an incredibly easy game...... Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to get a win against a 1900, but I didn't improve or learn anything from this game. He was moving really quickly; not taking any time at all. He fell for a very basic tactic and the game was over in less than 30 minutes. Why would he play like this? He got to 1900, he must be better than this. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below.

After working at my company for almost 10 months, I finally get a chance to play against Rob Sax, who works in our Accounting department. He was playing chess a ton when he was younger, and has a rating floor of 2000. Unfortunately he took about 20 years off from chess, returning a couple years ago after a divorce. We have played plenty of casual rapid games and some blitz, but this is our first official, USCF rated game. Long time controls are where he is the strongest, so I was very eager to see how I would do against him after typically dominating in the faster time controls. I played Black and won. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! Turns out his sacrifice idea was decent, but unfortunately for him, he missed his chance to play for the win. A very fun, exciting game as expected.

In round 2, I got paired against a 9 year-old kid (yes 9!) who I've already played against 3 times this year. Once in February when he was in the 1200s, again in May when he was in the 1600s, once a couple weeks ago when he was in the 1700s, and now again today with a new rating of 1819 (yeah he's grown ridiculously fast). The first three games against him were all with the Black pieces, and all draws. I nearly beat him a couple weeks ago, but he escaped with a draw. As the title implies, I finally managed to get him! I got the White pieces against him at last. Hope you enjoy the game; leave any questions, comments, or analysis below. I need to enjoy this while I can. Soon this kid will be an Expert/Master and I'll never be able to beat him again lol.

This round I got paired against a student at New Trier high school who I played against in St. Louis. I played the Wing Gambit against his French Defense and went wrong somewhere, losing the game. This round I decided not to go the same route, as I'm sure he's studied it since that game. What I chose ended up being a bad decision, as he had some strong prep against it. He got a better position out of the opening, then messed up a little bit and we agreed to a draw after move 19. I regret my opening choice. I should have played against his French and just chosen a normal line like the Tarrasch. I'll come back stronger for rounds 4 and 5.

After a nice start with round 1, I was eager to keep things going in round 2. I won with the Black pieces, and this was another pretty short game. On move 18, see if you can spot the game-winning tactic (took me a matter of seconds to realize I was winning). Moral of the story is: Develop your pieces.

This weekend I'm playing in the A-Section (1700-1999) of the 2022 Chicago Class. Here is my first round game, which I won very quickly, actually under 20 moves. I played White. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below, and please pay attention to all of the annotations, analysis, and variations that I put in. Here are some of my thoughts on the game: The attack was pretty brutal and impressive; I'm kind of proud of the idea with Nf3-h2-g4-f6, but in reality I didn't do anything amazing in this game. In fact, my play in the opening was almost disappointing with the moves like Rb1 and a3, which were just fearful moves, stopping threats that weren't really all that important. The only reason my attack even happened was because my opponent castled right into it. I'm not sure why he decided to do that. I didn't get a chance to talk to him after the game. I played h4 thinking that I would get some sort of long-term benefit from it, gaining space on the Kingside by pushing up to h6 possibly. Pawn to h4 is technically a sacrifice since he was attacking it three times and I'm only defending twice, but I figured if he took it then I would end up winning h7. I think the lesson to learn here is: Don't castle right into your opponent's attack. At that point in the game, castling no longer made sense for him (not sure if it made sense at any point tbh). The center was closed and his King was safer there at that time. He had made progress on the Queenside and I think he should have continued to do so with moves like Nb6-c4 and Rc8. At the end of the day, I was happy to get a quick game and get home early. Hoping to continue to play well in the next four rounds!

Here is my final game from the 2022 Chicago Open. Unfortunately, I was unable to win or draw this game and reach my goal of 3.5/7. I came very close. I'm pretty upset with myself over this game. I literally hallucinated in the endgame and blundered away a draw.... more explanation in the game analysis/comments. But it is what it is. Overall I finished 3/7 in the U2100 section, playing up one section higher than I could have. I shouldn't be too upset with myself. I'm come back to the next tournament and hopefully do better. My rating went down 5 points to 1860.

As it says in the title, this round I was playing against somebody who is apparently a Chicago Blitz legend. I was warned by my friend before the game to really take my time and try not to make the position to crazy...... but what fun is that? I ended up losing the game, but this one was so much fun and I enjoyed going over it with him afterwards. I actually had an opportunity to trade into a drawn endgame, which I missed during the game. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! A very fun, wild, and exciting game. I did pretty well against the Blitz Legend haha.

After winning rounds 3 and 4, I got paired against a much higher rated player, rated 1964. I had the White pieces and was excited for this round. I ended up getting a strong position early in the middlegame, but then let my advantage slip. It ended up being a crazy game that ended in a draw, though in the final position I am winning despite there being 3 Queens on the board! Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below. A crazy game, but very happy to get a draw against a higher rated opponent.

Here is my round 4 game from the 2022 Chicago Open. I played a long game that went for 77 moves, and pulled off a win with an endgame strategy that everybody should know- the Lucena Position. The game ended before I could play it out, so I will continue the game beyond the point of resignation to show why he resigned. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below!

Here is my round 3 game from the Chicago Open. This was my first win of the tournament, though it was a bit of a lucky win as I was much worse out of the opening after forgetting my prep. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! I was very lucky that he missed the winning idea, and also very lucky that he went for it a little too late. Nevertheless, I will take the win and try to play better chess going forward.

Yesterday I played rounds 2 and 3 of the Chicago Open. Round 2, I felt that I was better in the opening, but somehow my advantage slipped away and I ended up in a drawn endgame. I'm disappointed that I let this one slip, but hopefully any of you looking at this will find the endgame instructive, as it illustrates how to make a draw down a pawn in an opposite colored Bishop ending. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! A disappointing result, but I learned for next time. Hope you found the endgame instructive though!

Hello! This weekend I am playing in the Under 2100 section of the 2022 Chicago Open. I just played my first round last night and thought I would post it now since I have some time this morning. The game was fun and interesting. I started off well, but then made a couple of errors that made my position slowly crumble. Pay attention to the comments and alternate lines that I put in if you want more detail regarding my thought processes. I played White. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! I did my best to keep it fun, exciting, and humorous up until the very end. Was a fun game, and I'll hopefully do better in rounds 2 and 3 today.

The final round of the tournament. I feel that my opponent played well above his 1600 rating, and this game was a struggle from start to finish. Very exciting, challenging, and fun. He unfortunately blundered under time pressure at the end, missing a brutal tactic.... Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! A crazy tournament, but a fun, exciting day. I finished with 3.5/4, taking home $60 in prize money ($40 profit). A good warmup for the Chicago Open next week.

Here is my round 3 game from today's tournament. This one was very fun and interesting. My opponent had one of the most hilarious pawn structures that I have ever seen. I played White and won by resignation on move 18. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! A much better game for me after the mistakes in my first two rounds...

Here is my round 2 game. I had Black against the London, and was doing great until I got a big greedy..... I escaped with a draw. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! Just really poor play on my part, but I'm thankful to get away with the draw and have 1.5/2.

Today I played in the "Ain't No Stopping Us!" tournament in Romeoville. It was a fun tournament with a really fast time control of G45 with no delay. I finished the tournament with 3.5/4. Here is my round 1 game.... I played White and it was very bad play from both of us haha. Please leave any questions, comments, or analysis below! A very scuffed first round, but I escaped with a win.