I stopped blogging on here a couple of years ago because I decided it was just too much extra work for very little viewership. However, I just got back from playing in Dallas and had a few gems to share. I gained about 45 ELO and this is the best ...
This past weekend I finished in a two-way tie for first at the 89th MT Open in Bozeman, MT! I won this tournament one other time in 2020, a COVID-era tourney with just 16 players. This year 48 players showed up to compete. I was the 9th seed. The ...
Today, I overcame the 2000 rating level on Chess.com for the first time! I constantly hear about how we shouldn't focus on rating, and just focus on improving the quality of chess, but it is nice to see improvement and rating is likely the only ta...
I scored a 3.5/5 at the annual Turkey Open in Missoula, MT a few weekends ago. My only loss was to a co-winner of the event in which, upon review, I played a pretty bad game. Saturday night is always tough for me, so I might need to start taking b...
I recently executed the exact same attraction tactic in 3 straight games. How unusual, and how fun! Okay, I am not sure why the puzzles aren't working, but I'll add some pics for now. I know these look easy, but to execute these in slow games agai...
This past weekend I was happy to be able to attend the inaugural Sheridan Open, held at Sheridan College's Whitney Center for the Arts. This was a well attended tournament with a large prize fund that attracted 9 players over a 2000 rating, to inc...
The MT Open was held in Missoula this year on April 1st and 2nd this year. For the second year in a row, I tied for 2nd place, and secured a spot in the MT Closed by this performance or the Grand Prix standings. I played all rounds this year becau...
This year our January Thaw was moved to February, so became the "Winter Thaw". It was quite a low rated tournament with an average rating of 1309! This isn't all bad because it means we have more newbies joining the chess scene all the time, and m...
It's been awhile since I've blogged. The reason is likely multifactorial. For one, obviously the more I post the more my opponents can scout my games. This isn't a big deal, unless you are trying to win the state championship! I don't think prepar...
I want to share my game from the T4545 league I played yesterday. The game lasted 2:20, so no hasty moves here. I am embarrassed to have dropped a knight out of the opening, but this goes into my favorites bin because of the tiger that came to fig...
This past weekend the annual 2021 Turkey Open was held in Missoula at the Best Western. This is always a tough tournament with a good turnout. Last years event was cancelled due to Covid, and in 2019 I scored 3/5. Forty-Three players showed up thi...
This past weekend I traveled to sunny Dallas, Texas, Grapevine actually, to play in the 62nd Annual Armed Forces Open. It is normally for active duty and retirees only, but this is the first year that it included a veterans section. I was super ex...
This past weekend the Montana Chess Association kicked off it's 2021-22 season in Butte, MT. The Big Sky Country Open has been held in Butte for the past few years. I had a nice tournament tying for 1st place, but was also the technical winner on ...
This past weekend I travelled to Helena to take a shot at the MT Chess Championship for the 4th time. I came close to winning in my first appearance 5 years ago, but my next two appearances were less then stellar. I continue to work on my game, an...
This last season I was able to win 5 of my 6 games in the ICC T4545 league. I was on Board 3 most of the season, with my only loss coming on Board 1. I want to share with you my game from the first round of the playoffs. It is also the first time ...
This past weekend I had the opportunity to compete in the 86th MT Open. This tournament is an anniversary for me as it marks my return to tournament chess in 2016, after a 10 year hiatus! I was able to win this tournament last year, beating a smal...
I want to share this game with my friends, because after playing it I immediately dropped it into my favorites bin! It will be included in my "60 Memorable Games" when published The Ponziani is an incredibly aggressive (foolish? negligent?) attemp...
I hosted the 3rd annual St. Patrick Open on March 13 & 14. The event was won by visiting IM Justin Sarkar from NY! He also defeated 17 players in a Simul on Saturday night. I had one bye during the tournament. I always wonder what it will be l...
In January I hosted my 4th annual Magic City New Year's Invitational, a 4 round Swiss taking place on Friday evening and all day Saturday. This year we had 10 players, but had it not been for Covid I think we would have had over 15. It's taken me ...
This past weekend I had the opportunity to play in the Texas Winter Championship. There were lots of kids there, and fortunately I didn't have to play any of them. I scored a 2.5/5, and I continue to learn that on any given game or position a play...
This past weekend I had the opportunity to play in the Wyoming open in Cheyenne. This was my first OTB tournament since the MT Championship in August. The downside was that there were only 8 people in the Open section, rated from 1700-2300. The lo...
I was recently privileged to play in the Montana Championship, which consists of 6 qualifying players in a Round Robin format. I have now played 3 of the last 4, with my best result coming in my 1st attempt. Spoiler Alert: I was not crowned Champi...
I am in my second season in playing in the Team 45/45 league on the Internet Chess Club. These games are a good simulation of tournament length games. In fact, I always set up my wood board and make my moves in order to further simulate over-the b...
I hosted our 2nd annual St. Patrick Open on 3/14-15, just before the lock-down closures due to Covid-19. We had a total of 18 adults and 4 juniors, as well as 6 players in our Saturday morning scholastic. 15 of the 22 players in the main event tra...
