On July 17, 2025, my daughter Rachel and I played in the Cincinnati Chess Club's G/24 Swiss. This event only affected our USCF Quick ratings. I scored 3/4, tied for second-third, and gained 12 points to lift my USCF Quick rating to 1929. Rachel lost all four of her games, but she had a great time, and she played unrated casual games before and after the tournament.
The July 26, 2025 Cincinnati "Emotional Chess" Tornado had a record 88 players in three sections. I scored 3/4 to finish fourth-ninth in the Open section, gaining 14 points to push my rating to 1950, and splitting the U2001 prize with one other player. Rachel scored 1/4, including a bye for the first round; she played an extra rated game during the first round, and drew with a player rated 1400. Robert Chenault does a superb job organizing and directing these monthly events, and the way that he organized this particular event reminded me very much of the way that Martha Adams used to organize the Roosevelt Open. Adams made a point of honoring players for a variety of reasons, including youngest player, oldest player, player who traveled the farthest, and more; similarly, Chenault provided certificates, gift certificates, and other prizes to various players. I was honored to receive a Chess Earth Player Appreciation Award certificate plus $30 in Chess Earth merchandise gift certificates.
Rachel and me before the first round of the Cincinnati "Emotional Chess" Tornado
My Chess Earth Player Appreciation Award
Unfortunately, in my next tournament I gave away all 29 rating points that I gained in my previous two tournaments. I scored just 2/5 in the U2200 section of the Joe Yun Memorial, and my rating plummeted back down to 1921. Last year in the Joe Yun Memorial, I played the two day schedule of the U2000 section with a first round bye, and I finished with 4/5 to tie for first-third while gaining 23 points to lift my rating to 2004. This year, I began poorly with a draw from a winning position in the second round (after taking a first round bye), and after I won my third round game versus a much lower rated player I lost both of my Sunday games. On Saturday night, I scored 3/7 in the Joe Yun Memorial Open Blitz; there were 14 players in the Open section and 10 players in the U1600 section.
On August 23-24, 2025, I scored 4.5/5 to claim clear first in the U2100 section of the Indianapolis Open. I gained 38 rating points to push my rating up to 1959. I won my first four games before a fighting draw in round five clinched first (though I had to wait for a favorable board two result to make sure that I had clear first and not a tie for first-second). Each of my wins lasted 40 moves or less, but my fourth round game was unusual because the tournament director stopped play after I made my 16th move; after a delay lasting more than 20 minutes, the tournament director forfeited my opponent, who apparently had been caught using his laptop during the game. My fourth round opponent was not ejected from the tournament, and he received a prize after winning his fifth round game. I believe that any player caught using an electronic device during a tournament should not only forfeit the game in progress but should be ejected from the tournament and ruled ineligible for a prize; that is the best way to not only ensure a fair outcome for the other participants but also to make it clear that there is no tolerance for cheating.
Here is the position after my second round opponent played 27.Kg1:
I played 27...Bxf3 and my opponent resigned because of an unstoppable mate in three, but I had an even faster mate using just the minor pieces: 27...Nd3+ 28.Kf1 Bh3#. I don't recall ever seeing that mating pattern before, which is probably why I went for the more familiar mating pattern starting with my Q infiltrating the back rank after I eliminated the Bf3.
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 versus black versus each opponent) were to Justin Lee, a young Expert who scored 8/8 to finish clear first.
I scored 2.5/5 in the Open Section of the August 30-August 31, 2025 Ohio Chess Congress, gaining 26 rating points to lift my rating to 1985. In the second round, I lost to FM Dalton Perrine, who tied for first-third with GM Alex Shabalov and IM Erick Zhao with 4.5/5. Perrine is the 2025 Ohio Chess Champion because Shabalov and Zhao are not from Ohio. In the third round, I beat 2024 Ohio Chess Champion Arjun Soni; here is the position after I played 45.Nec2:
Black's Q is imprisoned far away from the exposed Black K. My opponent had less than 30 seconds remaining (G/90 time control with 30 second increment) when he played 45...b5, a desperate attempt to create complications/distractions away from his K. The game concluded with 46.Qe3 f5 A draw offer accompanied this move, but my opponent was down to 15 seconds in a totally lost position, so I just kept playing. 47.exf5 bxc4?? A blunder in a lost position. 48.Qxe5+ Facing mate on the next move, my opponent resigned. After round three on Saturday August 30, I scored 3/7 in the Ohio Chess Congress Blitz.
In my fourth round game versus Trey Modlin (rated 2182, but an NM because he has had a 2200 rating before), I achieved a winning position by move 22 before fumbling what should have been a simple conversion. Here is the position after my opponent played 23.Re1, a seemingly logical move that is a mistake:
I should have played 23...Ncxe4 (the other N capture also wins) 24.Nxe4 Nxe4 25.Bxe4 Bxd5 26.Bxd5 Rxd5. Black is up a clean pawn, all of the minor pieces have been traded, and White has no meaningful counterplay. Instead, I played 23...Bxd5?, which gives away some but not all of my advantage. After 24.exd5, I should have played 24...Re8 25.Bg2 f6 26.gxf6 gxf6 27.Kh1 Kh8 with a clear edge but no forced win. Instead, I played 24...e4?, giving away most of my lead while weakening my Rd4 and my e pawn. After 25.Bg2, Stockfish 17 recommends the odd-looking 25...Na4 to break up White's powerful N tandem; objectively, Black is slightly better but from a practical standpoint Black has turned a decisive advantage into a mess where all three results are possible. Unfortunately, I did something much worse: after 25...Re8??, my opponent played 26.Qe3 and stood clearly better. My best chance now was to play 26...Nd3, giving up a piece but maintaining my advanced passed pawn, but instead I collapsed with 26...Nd7?? 27.Ne2, when White is winning easily in all lines.
I bounced back to win my last round game, but a fourth round win followed by a draw or win versus a higher rated player in the fifth round would likely have pushed my rating back over 2000. The self-inflicted wounds I suffer while playing chess are the most painful and difficult to accept. After FM Perrine outplayed me, I looked at the game and learned some things that I can apply in the future; all I can learn from the fourth round collapse is "Stop collapsing," which is a lesson that I should have already learned. It is the nature of this sport that sometimes such things happen, but such things happen more often to me than they should, and have prevented me from obtaining the long sought NM title that I am still chasing 30 years after I first achieved an Expert rating.
I have played in the Ohio Chess Congress 31 times in five different decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s). The Columbus Trophy, which lists Ohio Chess Champions dating back to 1945, has been updated to include the names of the champions since 1995. John Lodger Hughes and I were co-Ohio Chess Champions in 2010, so my name is now on the trophy:
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I scored 2.5/3 in the September 6, 2025 Columbus G/60 "Adults Only" tournament, an event limited to players who are at least 18 years old. I finished first-second and gained one point to inch my rating up to 1986. I was the third seeded player but the two top players were both upset in the first round so I was paired down in all three rounds. In my previous Columbus G/60 "Adults Only" tournament (February 15, 2025), I scored 2/3, lost five rating points, and did not win a prize.
I scored 4.5/5 in the September 20-21, 2025 Ohio Senior Open, securing clear first by a full point over the rest of the field. This victory qualifies me to play in the 2026 Irwin National Tournament of Senior Champions. I gained 15 points to push my rating above 2000 (2001) for the first time since April 2025. In Journey to the National Master Title, Part 7, I recapped the 2023 Ohio Senior Open and described why this is a very meaningful tournament for me. I won a prize in each Ohio Senior Open from 2021-2023, and was poised to win a prize last year before squandering a winning advantage in my last round game, so winning this event for the first time was fitting redemption after my disappointing 2024 finish. Here I am posing with the 2025 Ohio Senior Open first place trophy:
Here is a picture of me with Grant Neilley, who has organized and directed the Ohio Senior Open since 2015:
The 2025 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. The "Middle East" and "Oriental" sets tied for first place.
This set features an Oriental design
I scored 3/4 in the September 27, 2025 Cincinnati Tornado. I tied for third-sixth, and I won the U2001 prize. I gained one rating point to improve my rating to 2002, and I maintained a rating above 2000 for two tournaments in a row for the first time since April 2025. My second round loss to Siddarth Kunapuli (2062) snapped my 10 game streak of no losses, which started after my fourth round disaster versus Trey Modlin in the Ohio Chess Congress, but I bounced back to win my last two games.
Losing 52 rating points in the May 2025 Chicago Open was a major setback, but--as I have done each time in my chess career after my rating dropped below 2000--I have regained all of the lost rating points and more, pushing my rating back into Expert territory. The next steps in this journey are (1) maintain my 2000-plus rating with no more setbacks and (2) lift my rating over 2100 for the first time since 2016.
In Journey to the National Master Title, Part 12, I listed four chess goals for 2025. Here are those goals, with notes about how I performed in the first three quarters of 2025:
1) Gain 50 rating points per quarter. I lost 18 rating points in the first quarter of 2025, decreasing my rating from 2013 to 1995; I lost 59 rating points in the second quarter of 2025, decreasing my rating from 1995 to 1936; I gained 66 rating points in the third quarter of 2025, improving my rating from 1936 to 2002.
2) Do not lose more than six games to players rated below 1800. I lost five games to players rated below 1800 in the first quarter of 2025; I lost four games to players rated below 1800 in the second quarter of 2025; I lost zero games to players rated below 1800 in the third quarter of 2025.
3) Accumulate more draws than losses. I had nine draws and 14 losses in the first quarter of 2025; I had nine draws and 15 losses in the second quarter of 2025; I had five draws and six losses in the third quarter of 2025.
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 three quarters of 2025 is .663.
In 2025, I have scored 80 wins, 23 draws, and 35 losses in regular rated tournament games with six first place finishes in 34 events. I have lost nine games to players rated below 1800. My net rating gain for 2025 is -11, so I need to gain 198 points to reach my goal.
