I scored 3/4 in the July 25, 2026 Cincinnati Tornado, gaining 12 rating points to lift my rating to 1944 while tying for first-third U2000. My daughter Rachel also played; she did not win a tournament game, but she had fun playing a lot of casual games in between rounds, and she won some of those.
Rachel and I went to Grand Rapids to experience the whole week of the U.S. Open (August 3-9) plus the various invitational tournaments. I scored 4/8 in the Weeramantry National Tournament of State Champions speed chess (3+2) event. My first two wins were by forfeit, and my other opponents all had higher regular ratings than I do. I split my two game mini-match with Charlie Creswell, who tied for second-fourth in this event with 7/8. I drew a game with Landon Meadors, a 10 year old who went on to score 7/9 in the U.S. Open to earn the National Master title in style. My overall performance was solid, resulting in just a three point blitz rating loss to 1808.
I defeated FM Peter Bereolos in the first round of the Irwin National Tournament of Senior State Champions, and then I earned the second round upset prize for my win versus IM Tim Taylor, a 1977 U.S. Open co-champion. Chess Life Online mentioned my second round win in their U.S. Open coverage. In my game versus Taylor, my K boldly marched up the board, munching pawns along the way. Objectively, I was lost, but in time pressure he faltered by playing ...Bc5+??:
After Kc3, my K safely completed a tour from g1-g2-f2-f3-f4-f5-e4-d4, dodging enemy fire along the way! White is up three pawns, and now Black's K is exposed while White's K is safe behind a pawn armada. Taylor resigned 14 moves later.
I played very strong players in the remaining four rounds, losing to FM Steve Van Enk, GM Alonso Zapata, Expert Leonid Gavrysh, and NM Randy Canney, whose peak USCF rating was over 2400. My score of 2/6 is very respectable considering the opposition that I faced, and I gained 23 rating points to lift my rating to 1967.
Rachel and I played in the four day U.S. Open schedule, and we each took byes for the first two rounds. Our first four games were contested with a G/60 time control plus five second time delay. I scored 2/4 in those games. Our final three games were contested with a 40/100, G/30 time control plus 30 second increment. I scored 2/3 in those games to finish with 4/7 (5/9 overall including the two half point byes), losing 32 points to drop my rating to 1935. Overall, for the U.S. Open week I lost nine regular rating points, lost three blitz rating points, and created memories with Rachel that will last a lifetime. Rachel gained 16 rating points. The only down note is that for the first time in 2026 I lost to a player rated below 1800; my fifth round U.S. Open loss to a player rated 1587 is the main reason that I lost points instead of gaining points during an otherwise most enjoyable week of nearly nonstop chess. The week was not all about chess, though. Rachel and I went to several bookstores, and we toured the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Here is a picture of us in a room modeled after the White House Cabinet Room:
On August 22-23, 2026, I scored 3.5/5 in the U2100 section of the Indianapolis Open, gaining nine points to push my rating back to 1944. I won my first three games, drew in the fourth round, and turned down a draw in the fifth round before losing to end my bid for back to back Indianapolis Open U2100 titles (I won the 2025 event with 4.5/5). When my fifth round opponent offered a draw on move 16, I stood slightly better:
I declined the draw offer by playing ...Nxd5. Eight moves later, I was clearly winning:
The best move is 24...d5, when 25. Rxd5 loses to ...e3 followed by ...Rxd5 and ...Bxa3, winning the Exchange with a dominant position.
Black wins after 25. cxd5 by playing ...Rxb5. If White plays Qxb6 then ...Rxb6 leaves Black up an Exchange.
If in response to 24...d5 White plays 25. Qd4 (the move that concerned me during the game when I analyzed this position) then Black wins after 25...Rxb5 because of the threat of ...Bc5 pinning White's Q to his K on the long diagonal. I think that when I tried to calculate these lines during the game, I played two moves in a row for White and did not "see" that ...Bc5 wins in this line. Thus, instead of playing 24...d5, I played 24...e3, and after 25. Qe2 (the only move) Black is still clearly better but does not have an immediate forced win. On move 29, I blundered, and after a long fight I resigned on move 93.
On Saturday night, I scored 4/8 in the Indianapolis Open Blitz; two of my losses in the four round, double round format (i.e., you play one game with white and one game with black versus each opponent) were to Aidan Baker, a 13 year old National Master who scored 7.5/8 to take clear first before scoring 4.5/5 in the Major section to finish equal first with Grandmaster Semen Khanin.
This year, Robert Chenault organized the Ohio Chess Congress, which was held in Cincinnati for the first time since 2018. Chenault, Arbiter/TD Alan Hodge, and their team did an extraordinary job running this large event that had 279 players (including re-entries and house players) in six sections. My research about the history of the Ohio Chess Congress indicates that both the main event and the Ohio Chess Congress Blitz side event had a record number of participants. Attendance figures are not available for every year, but it is known that the 1972 Ohio Chess Congress--boosted by the "Fischer boom"--had a then-record 201 players, a mark surpassed in 1973 (209). The 1973 record stood until the 1987 OCC had 224 players. In most of the years since I started playing in the OCC in 1989, any number north of 150 was considered successful.
This tournament traditionally happens on Labor Day Weekend, but this year it took place a week before Labor Day Weekend. I scored 1/5 in the Open (top) section, losing 21 rating points to drop my rating to 1923, and tying my worst score ever in this event; I also scored 1/5 in 1996. This marked my 32nd appearance in the Ohio Chess Congress over the five decades from the 1980s through the 2020s. IM Evan Park took clear first with 4.5/5, but as a Pennsylvania resident he is not eligible to be the Ohio champion. Sharath Radhakrishnan and Dalton Perrine tied for second-sixth overall with 4/5 and are Ohio co-champions. This is Perrine's second Ohio title in a row, while Radhakrishnan is one of the youngest Ohio champions ever; he was born in 2013, and the only Ohio champion who I can confirm to be younger is Kasun Waidyaratne (2004 co-champion born in 1992). The only other Ohio champions 15 or younger who my research has uncovered are Arjun Soni (2024 champion born in 2010) and Elton Cao (2019 champion born in 2004).
On Saturday night after round three, I scored 6/10 in the Ohio Chess Congress Blitz. GM Jianchao Zhou won the Ohio Chess Congress Blitz with 9.5/10, while Radhakrishnan finished clear second (top Ohio scorer) with 8/10.
On September 26-27, 2026, I scored 4.5/5 to win the Ohio Senior Open for the second year in a row, joining Charles Diebert (2016-17, 2019) and Tom Britt (2021-22) as the only players to win the event more than once. This victory qualifies me to play in the 2027 Irwin National Tournament of Senior State Champions.
I gained 62 rating points to increase my rating to 1985. I won my first four games before a last round draw clinched clear first, which is the same route that I took to clear first in 2025. Here I am holding the 2026 Ohio Senior Open first place trophy while standing next to tournament organizer/tournament director Grant Neilley, who did his usual outstanding job making sure that everything ran smoothly:
The 2026 Ohio Senior Open continued the event's tradition of having a contest for the most interesting or unusual chess set, with the winners determined by anonymous polling of the tournament's participants. Steve Charles' display featuring a scoresheet signed by Bobby Fischer and Carlos Bielicki from their 1960 game at Mar del Plata won in the Staunton category. Here is a closeup of the signed scoresheet:
Here is a chessboard showing an opening position from that game:
Here is a closeup of the move list:
Richard Hayes' wood and bone set won in the Figurine/Theme category:
This year, my rating has taken a roller coaster ride, soaring as high as 2072 in April and as low as 1923 in August. The challenge that I face is not figuring out how to play Master-level chess; the challenge that I face is figuring out how to consistently play Master-level chess. Prior to the Ohio Senior Open, I started utilizing some different training/preparation techniques, but before I say more on that topic I must prove that my performance in the Ohio Senior Open was the first step toward sustained rating growth. I have won the Ohio Senior Open before, and I have even gained more than 60 rating points in a tournament before, so the only way to prove that my training/preparation is working is to string together a series of tournaments with consistently positive results.
In Journey to the National Master Title, Part 16, I listed four chess goals for 2026. Here are those goals, with notes about how I have performed so far this year:
1) Gain 25 rating points per quarter. I gained 83 rating points in the first quarter of 2026, improving my rating from 1980 to 2063; I lost 131 rating points in the second quarter of 2026, dropping my rating from 2063 to 1932; I gained 53 points in the third quarter of 2026, improving my rating from 1932 to 1985.
2) Do not lose more than eight games to players rated below 1800. I lost 0 games to players rated below 1800 in the first quarter of 2026; I lost 0 games to players rated below 1800 in the second quarter of 2026; I lost 1 game to players rated below 1800 in the third quarter of 2026.
3) Accumulate more draws than losses. I had eight draws and eight losses in the first quarter of 2026; I had 12 draws and 15 losses in the second quarter of 2026; I had four draws and 12 losses in the third quarter of 2026.
4) Maintain a winning percentage of at least .700. My winning percentage through the first three quarters of 2026 is .638.
In 2026, I have scored 71 wins, 24 draws, and 35 losses in regular rated tournament games with seven first place finishes in 29 events. I lost one game to players rated below 1800. My net rating gain for 2026 is +5, so I need to gain 215 points to reach my goal.
