On April 6, 2024, I played in my third Columbus Plus Score tournament, and this time I scored 3/4 after scoring 2.5/4 in each of my first two appearances. My rating (1971) did not change. I tied for first place with Manoj Ramachandran, who beat me in round two after I misplayed a winning position and then blundered away a chance to maintain equality. I ended my first round game with promising junior player Andrew Zhu (1698) by delivering an uncommon mate on an open board:
I scored 3.5/4 in the April 7, 2024 East Market Swiss, tying for first-second place and gaining 14 rating points to improve my rating to 1985. I took a bumpy road to the top, drawing in the first round versus Arman Abassi (rated 1485 after eight games, but rated 1643 after scoring 3/4 in this event) despite obtaining a two pawn advantage in the opening. I recovered to win my next two games, capping off my round three win against Keya Jha (the fourth ranked nine year old girl in the country) with a pretty checkmate:
In the last round, I faced Expert Bill Turner. I dropped an Exchange and a pawn by move 14. It is unusual for me to have a lost position out of the opening, but I steadied myself by recalling various winning positions that I have squandered recently: if I can lose from a winning position then why can't I win from a losing position? By move 24 I equalized, but at that point my pieces were more active than his and my position was easier to play. I created a passed pawn that ultimately decided the game in my favor. Near the end of the game, Turner had five pawns for a Rook, but I was able to promote my lone pawn while blockading his rampaging pawn armada.
I have known Turner for more than 30 years. Alex Zelner introduced us to each other, and I played my first rated game against Turner in the November 20, 1993 Wittenberg Tornado. Turner and I drew our fifth round game in the 2012 Kings Island Open to share first-fourth place in the U2100 section, and we also played each other at Kings Island in 2005 (I won) and 2013 (Turner won).
I first played in the Cincinnati Open in 1994, and it has become one of my favorite (nearly) annual events. There have been a few years that it has not been held, and a few other years that I was not able to participate for various reasons, but this year marked my 14th appearance--and the sixth time that I won a prize (including a tie for first place in the U2100 section in 2013). I scored three wins and a draw in the first four rounds of the April 13-14, 2024 Cincinnati Open to set up a last round board one game versus Gajanan Jayade with a chance to clinch clear first place with a win, and to share first place with a draw. This was a rematch of our board one encounter in the final round of the March 30, 2024 Cincinnati Tornado, and--unfortunately for me--I got the same result: a loss. Instead of obtaining at least a share of first place, my score of 3.5/5 tied me for fourth-seventh place in the FIDE Expert section. I gained 20 rating points to improve my rating to 2005. This is the first time my rating has been over 2000 in 2024, preserving my streak of having a 2000 rating at some point in every year since 1995, the first year that I broke through the 2000 rating barrier. While it is great to reestablish an Expert level rating, my goal remains unchanged--2200--and the next step is the same next step that I used to recommend to my students: surpass the next 100 point level, which in this case is 2100. My rating has not been over 2100 since October 2016, but I reached 2080 as recently as October 2022.
I scored 2.5/4 in the April 27, 2024 Cincinnati Tornado, matching my score in the March 30, 2024 Cincinnati Tornado--and I also mirrored my March 2024 Cincinnati Tornado performance by obtaining a winning position on board one in the last round with first place on the line only to blunder and lose. Despite the missed opportunity in the last round, I gained eight rating points to increase my rating to 2013, and I tied for first-second place among players rated under 2001 (even though my unofficial live rating for this event was over 2000, my official published April 2024 rating was 1954)
On May 4, 2024, I played in my fourth Columbus Plus Score tournament, and this was the first time that I did not obtain a plus score. I blundered a piece in the first round and lost to a player rated below 1800 for the third time this year. I bounced back by winning two nice games, and then played poorly before blundering in the last round when a win on board two versus the top seeded Brett Passen would have earned a first place tie. My rating dropped 18 points to 1995.
In seven tournaments from March 23 through May 4, I notched three first place finishes, one fourth place finish, and one tie for first place in my rating class; in all seven tournaments, I played a last round game with an opportunity to finish in first place, and that is very important: no one wins every last round game with first place on the line, but if you put yourself in that position frequently and are well-prepared then you will win your fair share of those big games.
During Memorial Day Weekend, I played in the U2100 section of the Chicago Open, and my streak of being in contention for first place in the last round crashed to an end. In the first round, I defeated Stella Xin, the eighth highest rated eight year old in the United States--and highest rated eight year old girl by over 100 points. Then, after drawing my second round game I defeated Ian Singh, the seventh highest rated eight year old in the United States. By the end of the Chicago Open, Xin gained 65 points to establish a new career-high rating of 1864, and Singh gained 45 points to set a new career-high rating of 1864 as well. Here is the pretty mate that I delivered versus Singh:
There are so many underrated junior players that this has a deflationary effect on the rating pool. I am playing a lot of these kids, and because their ratings have not caught up with their current skill level I am (1) not getting as many rating points as I should when I beat them and (2) I am losing more rating points than I should when I draw with them or lose to them. FIDE recognized this widespread deflationary effect, and calculated that it is particularly impactful to players rated below 2000 (for reasons that are beyond the scope of this article to explain); consequently, FIDE added rating points to the ratings of every player rated below 2000 to correct this deflationary effect. The USCF should take a similar step.
Looking at the quality of my games and my winning percentage in the past year or so, it is fair to say that I am playing around the 2100 level now, but my rating is mired around the low 2000s in no small part due to rating deflation. My peak rating so far is 2190, so I understand what it means to play at a 2100 level, and I think that I am objective enough to honestly say that circa 2016-2022 I was not playing at that level but that in the past two years I am playing at that level again.
The Chicago Open started to go sideways for me in rounds four and five; I drew both games despite having a decisive advantage in each one. That set up a round six game versus Ray Sun, a player who was playing in just his seventh rated over the board event since 2023. His rating jumped from 1410 to 1711 during that time. Sun outplayed me to deliver my only loss in the tournament, and then he drew his last round game to finish in the money with an undefeated 5/7. It may sound like an excuse to say that he is underrated, but in the 2024 Chicago Open he gained 164 points to set a new career-high rating of 1875. I have played more tournaments in the past two months than he has played in the past two years, so it is fair to say that if he keeps playing his rating will keep going up with a larger sample size of games. I concluded the tournament with a draw, finishing with 4/7, and losing eight rating points to slip back to 1987; I had pushed my rating back over 2000 for most of the tournament, but the loss to Sun was costly.
After the Chicago Open's fifth round, I played in the Chicago Open Blitz, scoring 4/10. I scored 3.5/6 versus non-Master opponents, and .5/4 versus Masters. This was a very large Blitz tournament, with 77 players in the Open section and 79 players in the U1900 section. In recent years when I played in the Chicago Open Blitz, there were between 42 and 49 players in the Open section.
On June 1, 2024, I played in my fifth Columbus Plus Score tournament, scoring 3/4, and gaining three rating points to inch up to 1990. In the third round, I avenged my April 6, 2024 Columbus Plus Score loss to Manoj Ramachandran, but we both shared first place with Siddarth Kunapuli, who defeated me in the last round. Kunapuli also beat me in the first round of the 2023 Kings Island Open, a loss that I discussed in Journey to the National Master Title, Part 8; in between those two games, I beat Kunapuli in the March 10, 2024 East Market Swiss to secure clear second place. My most recent loss to Kunapuli is particularly frustrating because I had just pushed my live rating above 2000 after winning my first three games, and because I obtained a winning position by move 19 only to soon not only squander my advantage but fall into a mating net. Here is the position prior to my 19th move:
I should have played ...Bc5, creating the dual threat of taking on b2 and taking on f2, which overworks the Q defending both f2 and the Ne2. Stockfish 16 gives Black a nearly +2 advantage after ...Bc5. Instead, I played ...Nxf2 followed by ...Bc5, when White is slightly better. However, my opponent erred, and we soon reached an unusual position where I had a R and four Ps in exchange for a B and a N:
Stockfish 16 evaluates this position as dynamically equal--but after my opponent blundered with Rg2 I could have obtained a nearly +2 advantage with the powerful centralizing move ...Qd4. Unfortunately, I played ...Re1 with the idea of ...Qd1 followed by a Q trade and advancing my Q-side pawns; in general, my plan made sense, but chess often requires calculation of specific tactical lines and that is where I fell short here. White refuted my idea by playing Nf5 after ...Re1. I could have still salvaged equality with ...Qe4, but instead I lost after ...Qd1 because my opponent hit me with Nh6+ followed by trading Qs and decisively invading with his R on the e file. I could not hold off the combined onslaught of his R, B, N, and his suddenly powerful f pawn. The game ended when he promoted his f pawn to a N with check and then checkmated me with his R after I took his new N with my R:
Instead of resigning, I let my opponent play this pretty checkmate on the board. As a lover of chess beauty, I appreciate the artistic finish, but from a competitive standpoint it is disappointing that I squandered two opportunities to obtain a decisive advantage and then missed a chance to maintain equality.
On June 15, 2024, my daughter Rachel and I played in the three round Columbus G/60 tournament. This was Rachel's third rated tournament in 2024 after playing four rated tournaments (plus two Quick rated tournaments) in 2023. I scored 2/3, gained one rating point to move my rating up to 1991, and tied for second-fourth place. I sandwiched two nice wins around a second round loss during which I squandered a +3 advantage and then missed a way to force a drawn endgame. Rachel lost her first two games, and then won her third round game despite arriving 40 minutes late because she did not realize that the round had started; the lower section rounds start as soon as possible as opposed to starting at a set time, and I was not aware that Rachel was not at her board because I was still finishing my second round game when Rachel's third round game began. In an odd twist, Rachel's opponent never came back after playing his first move, so Rachel played her first move, waited an hour, and claimed a win on time!
Rachel was not able to attend the Chicago Open this year, but we wore matching 2024 Chicago Open shirts to the June 15, 2024 Columbus G/60 tournament
Rachel and I played in the June 27, 2024 Cincinnati G/24 tournament. The tournament was scheduled to be USCF quick rated, but the usual tournament director was not able to show up due to a back injury, so instead the tournament was changed to unrated G/24 quads. I scored 2/3 in the top-rated quad, beating my former student Colin Gohmann (2005 regular/1885 quick), losing to top-seeded Sunav Adhikari (2068/1763), and beating Ido Ater Datz (1559/1520) in the last round. Rachel lost all three of her games in the lowest-rated quad, but she had a great time, and she played several extra games throughout the night, including an untimed game versus FM Hans Multhopp.
On June 29, 2024, Rachel and I played in the Cincinnati Tornado. Rachel scored 1/4 in the U1001 section, but she had a highlight moment in the second round when she delivered a checkmate for the first time in a rated game (her previous two wins were on time). After I congratulated Rachel, she told me that she had learned that checkmate from me; that will always be one of my favorite chess moments! I scored 3/4, losing 10 rating points to slide back to 1981. I was the fifth seeded player in the 27 player Open section, and I finished tied for third-eighth place, winning the prize for first-fourth U2001 (there was not a third place prize).
In my fourth round game versus Lucas Edwards, I did a pseudo-sacrifice of my Queen to reach a winning position. Instead of retreating my Q after my opponent played Nc3, I uncorked ...Qh1+:
My opponent took my Q, and then I regained the lost material plus more after ...Bxe3+.
Queen sacrifices inspire the imaginations of chess players from amateur level to Grandmaster level. There are two other Queen sacrifices from my chess career that stand out in my memory. In the first round of the September 2010 Ohio Chess Congress, I used a Queen sacrifice to defeat the reigning Ohio Chess Champion, NM Kris Meekins, forcing mate after 22.Qxh7+ Kxh7 23.Rh4+ Kg7 24.Bh6+:
In round eight of the April 2011 House of Chess FIDE Double Round Robin, I gave up my Queen to force a win versus NM William Wright. I had Black, and after my opponent played Nf3?? I played ...Qxf3!:
He replied Qxf3, and then resigned after I played ...Re1+ because after Kg2 I would have played ...h3++. Declining the Q sacrifice not only leaves White a piece down, but Black still has a forced mate after Qb1 Re3.
My sparkling win against Edwards was a nice way to cap off the first half of 2024. In Journey to the National Master Title, Part 8, I listed four chess goals for 2024. Here are those goals, with notes about my progress toward each one through the first six months of the year:
1) Gain 60 rating points per quarter. I gained three rating points in the first quarter of 2024, improving my rating from 1968 to 1971; I gained 10 rating points in the second quarter of 2024, improving my rating from 1971 to 1981.
2) Do not lose any games to players rated below 1800. I lost two games to players rated below 1800 in the first quarter of 2024, and I lost two games to players rated below 1800 in the second quarter of 2024.
3) Accumulate more draws than losses. I had 15 draws and eight losses in the first quarter of 2024; I had seven draws and nine losses in the second quarter of 2024.
4) Maintain a winning percentage of at least .750, to break my personal record of .740 set in 2014. My winning percentage through the first two quarters of 2024 is .696.
In 2024, I have scored 53 wins, 22 draws, and 17 losses in regular rated tournament games with seven place finishes in 23 events. I have lost four games to players rated below 1800. My net rating gain for 2024 is 13 points so I need to gain 219 points to reach my goal.
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