Chicago Open (1)

After mediocre results in three previous tries, I finally finished in the money at the Chicago Open. Four wins, one loss, and two draws put me in a fifteen-way tie for 9th and 10th place in the U2100 section and a fat check for $40. WooHoo! I was actually tied for 1st after five rounds with 4 1/2 points, but the competition was stiffer on the last day.

I was expecting my typical mediocre Chicago Open result since I had not practiced or studied much recently, but there were a couple of good omens. First was the fact that my wife suggested that I play. Years ago, I made the imprudent decision to get married on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend so the Chicago Open usually coincides with our anniversary. Theresa is really quite tolerant of my obsession with chess, but I try to pick tournaments that don't try her patience any more than necessary. The second good omen was the lousy weather. My disappointment at past Chicago Opens had been compounded by the feeling that I had wasted the first nice weekend of the summer indoors, but rain on Friday and Saturday made me good about playing chess regardless of the result.

I did not feel like I was playing all that well, but things seemed to break my way. In the second round, my opponent outplayed me in the middlegame but misjudged my counterplay and dropped a rook in the ending. In the third round, I had the better middlegame and misjudged my opponent's counterplay, but he overplayed his attack and I hung on to win. In the fifth round, my opponent resigned in a position that I was not sure how to win. I was probably luckiest in that only one opponent punished my poor opening preparation by playing a theoretical line.

The game I am happiest about is one that only netted me a half point. Despite being down two pawns in the last round, I did everything I could to make my opponent's life difficult and I pulled out a draw after eighty moves. Once I have analysed it, I hope that game will be able to provide my students some lessons in fighting for a draw from a bad position.