Round 9 US Open

  The last round finally came after 9 days of chess. I would either finish with an even score, my current minus 1 or even a disastrous -2 score. My opponent was 3rd grader Adream Liang, who was so short he had to get his knees on the chair in order to reach the pieces when he made his moves. His dad and younger brother were also playing.

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  I was pretty happy with this game. My opponent played poorly, but I punished him severely. And best of all, I had an even score for the tournament. A soft even score to be sure (losing 27 of the precious rating points), but I had accomplished my goal.

  Final score +2 -2 =5 Total 4.5 for 9 Games

  I was generally pleased with the way I played. I only made 3 game changing blunders, but I was unhappy with my lost opportunities that could have turned draws to wins in 3 of my draws. My next tournament is CyChess on 27-Sep-2009 which is a 3 round game in 45 minutes afternoon tournament.

  Postscript: Adream's brother is Awonder Liang who was a child prodigy that broke a host of 'youngest ever' records and is currently a grandmaster. If I had known at the time I would have asked for an autograph...

Round 8 US Open

  After my disheartening loss, I was paired against Keith Sommers from Texas. Keith was rated 1004, BUT he had beaten a 1600 and a 1880 rated player. He was an all-american looking junior high school player that hadn't played in a year, so obviously he was underrated. He was playing this round right next to his father who was rated slightly above me.

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  A lucky escape. I felt real good to have gotten a draw after being in such a bad position. Keith ended up winning $230 for 4th place rated under 1200. So with 1 round to go, I would have one last chance to get to an even score

After 8 rounds +1 -2 =5 Total 3.5

Round 7 US Open

  With 3 rounds left in the tournament, there were only a handful of players in my class with an even score. If I could somehow get 2 or 2 and a half points, I'd have a great chance at some money. My opponent was 87 year old Dan Mayers.

Dan Myers - Pictures courtesy of 2009 US Open CD www.uschess.org/torunaments/2009/usopen

  Dan had a giant magnifying glass to see the clock and the pieces and was very hard of hearing so you couldn't talk with him in the tournament room. I found out later that Dan had worked on the Manhattan Project in the 1940's (http://www.shakuhachi.com/K-Mayers.html) and had a rating of 2121 in 1994. Not knowing all this, I was ready for battle...

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  When I got to the room and played over the game, I was disgusted that I missed the simple Kh1 and sacrificed the exchange for my second loss of the tournament. There was no reason to lose this game except I lost my head when it mattered most. Now I was likely out of the money and back in negative territory to boot, There was nothing to do but forget this game and move on...

After 7 rounds +1 -2 =4 Total 3.0

Round 6 US Open

  Having finally gotten to an even score, I played Bernard Parham, a slightly built balding man in his 30's. Bernard moved very fast and was constantly attacking. It took me a long time to make a safe position. I counterattacked, won the exchange, but...

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  Draw on Parham's offer. After losing the exchange, the draw offer came and I had less than 20 minutes left for the remaining 17 moves to get an extra hour at move 40. Most of the my very painful losses have come from this exact position, most recently in the 2008 US G/60 championships when I walked into a mate in one ahead the exchange,so I took the draw. My son Matt was incensed. He thought I should have tried to sit on the position till move 40 when I'd have had an hour to win. I couldn't blame him, but these are personal decisions. After not outplaying anyone over 5 days, this game gave me a lot of confidence going into the home stretch.

After 6 rounds +1 -1 =4 Total 3.0

Round 5 US Open

  After discussing my woes with my wife, she told me to make sure I took a nap before the game. So I got a nap from 2 to 4 before the 7pm start. My opponent was 1400 rated Randy Parschall, a 60ish gray haired bearded minister from Alaska. Randy's came to play with his son, the Alsaka High School chess champion. So we had a parents match Iowa vs. Alaska. Well rested, and on to battle....

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  As my brother Ed would say, YAY!!! I missed more moves in this game than all the others combined, but a win is a win is a win. And more than halfway through the tournament, I have an even score.

After 5 rounds +1 -1 =3 Total 2.5

Round 4 US Open

  This was a long day. I was watching Matt's last Denker game and then had to sit through the 75 minute closing ceremony. This left 30 minutes for dinner before round 4. My round 4 opponent was 1437 rated Marke Robinson. Marke is a slight 50ish man with gray hair and glasses. His son Evan, finished first in the U1200 section and won $725.

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  Draw on Marke's offer. I now wish I had kept playing since he had just solved my bad bishop problem. I reacted poorly to the change of circumstances.  As poorly as I've been playing, I took heart in being only -1. Still looking for a win, though...

After 4 rounds +0 -1 =3 Total 1.5

Round 3 US Open

  In round 3, I played Tom Byers, rated 1288. Tom is a 50ish fellow who was short but resembled a large block of granite, complete with a giant face and jaw. I thought I should have a good chance to win this game, and was going to follow my normal plan of keeping complications to a minimum and pouncing on his mistakes. Sadly, I missed my pounce and the game dribbled to a draw.

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  On Tom's offer. This was a big blow to my confidence. I left this game wondering if I had lost the will to win or maybe the knack to win, but was encouraged that I was never in any danger of losing and at -1 for the tournament, I still had a chance to better my -2 score of 3 years ago.

  Tom did have a fine tournament. He drew a 1763 and 1842 and beat a 1561 gaining over 100 rating points.

After 3 rounds : +0 -1 =2 Total 1.0

Round 2 US Open

In this round, I played Sarah Shelby, a teenage girl with frosted hair and a nose ring. Normally during a game, the player gets up after their move, but Sarah kept getting up after my move. Then some other kids would look at the board and they would all get together in the back of the hall. I'm sure they were all talking about frosted hair, nose rings and other teenage stuff, but it sure got in my head. I felt I was playing 3 or 4 people and was liking my position less and less. I missed a tactical shot and locked the pawns in a double rook endgame so I had no break through. After the lastest discussion, Sarah came back to the board, I offered a draw, it was accepted, and I suffered my first half upset of the tournament.

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I was pleased that I was never in danger of losing, but I should have been in more of a grinding mode against the next generation instead of the lackluster draw.

After 2 rounds +0 -1 =1 Total 0.5

Round 1 US Open

  I played in the 2009 US Open from August 1 to 9. I was accompanying my son Matt, who represented Iowa in the Denker tournament of high school chess champions held at the same time as the open in Indianapolis. I played in the leisurely 9 day schedule ~ 1 game a day for 9 days. The time control was 40 moves in 2 hours and another hour to finish the game as needed. When I last played in the Open in 2006 (Chicago), I was rated 1564 and went +2 -4 =3 for 3.5/9 points. I was hoping to have a better score this year.

  In round 1, I played a master, John Stopa. John looked to be in his mid 50's with big head of hair and a Wilford Brimley mustache.

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  I thought it was a good start. Except for a few bad moves and a silly exchange sacrifice, I hung in there nicely and did my best.

But, after 1 round +0 -1 =0 Total 0.0