I started the fourth quarter of 2025 the same way that I started the fourth quarter of 2024, playing in a four round tournament on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday October 4, I scored 2.5/4 in the Columbus Fall Open, losing to Alex Cretsos on board one in the last round with first place on the line. I gained four rating points to push my rating to 2005, marking the first time that I had a post-tournament rating of at least 2000 for three consecutive tournaments since November 2023. Unfortunately, I lost nine rating points in the Sunday October 5 East Market Swiss even though I scored 3/4 to tie for second-fifth; this was my ninth second place finish in 2025, tying my calendar year record for most second place finishes that I set in 2023--but of course my goal in each tournament is first place, not second place. My rating slid to 1996, ending my brief run of having a rating over 2000. Stanley Qiu (1742) knocked out the top two seeds, beating me in the second round and then taking down top-seeded Siddarth Kunapuli (2062) in the last round to finish clear first with 4/4. This is the first time I lost to a player rated below 2000 since the last round of the Chicago Open (May 26, 2025), though it should be noted that Qiu's post-tournament rating is 1870.
I scored 3/4 in the October 19, 2025 East Market Swiss, tying for third-fifth and gaining 11 rating points to lift my rating above 2000 (2007). In the second round, I avenged my loss to Stanley Qiu. Here is the position after Qiu played 19...Na6:
I replied 20. Nxg7!, and if Qiu had taken my N then I had a forced mate: 20...Kxg7?? 21. Bh6+! Kxh6 22. Qxf6+ Kh5 23. g4+ Kxg4 24. f3+ Kh5 (...Kh3 25. Qh6#) 25. Ng3#. Instead, Qiu took my B, and after the dust cleared I was up an Exchange and a Pawn with a winning attack. After losing more material and facing an imminent mate, Qiu resigned on move 39.
My only loss was to Jack Erskine-Pereira, who scored 3.5/4 to tie for first-second. This was his first U.S. Chess rated event, but he has a 1967 FIDE rating, and he earned a 2073 provisional U.S. rating after this tournament. U.S. ratings are typically about 100 points higher than FIDE ratings. I beat my long-time friend and rival John Miller (1900) in the last round.
I started 2/2 in the October 25, 2025 Cincinnati Tornado before losing my last two games to finish out of the money. That is an uncharacteristically poor result for me in an event where I usually score well, and it is frustrating to fall below 2000 again (1994) one tournament after cracking the 2000 barrier.
Just prior to my 54th birthday on November 3, 2025, I had a birthday weekend full of chess. I scored 1.5/3 in the Columbus G/60 Swiss on November 1, 2025, gaining seven rating points to improve my rating to 2001. In the first round, I defeated the top seeded player, Ashwin Kumar (2103), who is the current Cincinnati City Champion--the youngest ever at age 11--and Cincinnati Chess Club Champion. In the third round, I spurned two early draw offers from Alan Casden, obtained a lost position, and then created a drawing fortress:
Here, I had just played 49...h5. Casden spent 21 moves trying to break through before conceding the draw. Stockfish 17 says that White has a decisive advantage, but if you play the position out Stockfish 17 does not make any progress. The key points are (1) White's K is cut off, (2) Black cannot be forced to take on c7, and (3) White cannot force Black to abandon defense of the g6 pawn because whenever the Q attacks that pawn Black can always play ...Kh7 or ...Kg7. If necessary, Black can mark time by shuffling the R from f7 to f5. According to Stockfish 17, in an earlier position before playing g5 White could have won by constructing a position with his K on h4 and his Q on e5 while Black's K was on g7 and his R was on f6; there, g5 wins because if Black plays ...hxg5 then Kxg5 wins the pinned R.
Unfortunately, I squandered my small rating gain just one day later, losing 29 rating points to drop my rating to 1972 after scoring just 2/4 in the November 2, 2025 East Market Swiss; my birthday weekend of chess ended on a sour note.
On November 9, 2025, I went to Columbus to play in the G/30 Quads at Donatos, but only one other player showed up, and we played a two game match. I defeated Spand Mehta 2-0, playing White in the first game and Black in the second game. I gained 22 rating points to increase my rating to 1994.
I scored 3/5 in the U2100 section of the November 15-16, 2025 Kings Island Open, losing 24 rating points to drop my rating to 1970. I had a winning position on move 19 of my first round game, but I played a series of inaccurate moves followed by a blunder to transform what should have been a smooth victory into a very frustrating defeat. I did not lose another game the rest of the way, but draws to lower rated opponents in rounds two and three prevented me from gaining rating points overall. After round three, I played in the Kings Island Open Saturday Night Blitz, tying for fourth-sixth out of 46 players with a score of 6/8. I did not gain any blitz rating points, but I won the U2000 prize.
On November 23, 2025, my daughter Rachel and I played in Robert Chenault's Cincinnati Sunday Chess Tournament. The event consisted of four sections of six or eight players each. I scored 2/3 in the top section, gaining seven rating points to lift my rating to 1977 while finishing second-fifth out of eight. Rachel scored 0/3 in the fourth section. We had a great time in our first appearance at this event, and Rachel even played some casual, unrated chess in between rounds. The Carnegie Center is a nice, historic venue, and I look forward to playing there again in the January 17-18, 2026 Queen City Open. Here are three pictures from the Sunday Chess Tournament:
I scored 3/4 in the December 7, 2025 East Market Swiss, tying for second-fourth and gaining 14 rating points to lift my rating to 1991. I was the only player who started 3/3, but in the last round I lost to NM Deshawn Kelley, the top seeded player who was held to a draw in the second round.
On December 20, 2025, I played in a tournament held very close to where I grew up, as the Kleptz YMCA in Englewood hosted a four round G/25+5 tournament directed by Rob Dennis of the Dayton Chess Society (the successor to the Dayton Chess Club). I scored 4/4 to take clear first, gaining five rating points to increase my rating to 1996. This was the first time that I scored 4/4 in a regular or dual rated tournament since the October 15, 2022 Cincinnati Tornado. The next day, I started 3/3 in the East Market Swiss--just like I did on December 7--before losing in the last round, this time to Joseph Kleban, an Expert who I beat in the third round on December 7. I gained one rating point to improve my rating to 1997.
On December 27, 2025, my daughter Rachel and I played in the Cincinnati Tornado. We did not have much sleep the previous night after a long travel day, and the results of that fatigue were evident in the way that we played. I scrapped my way to 2/3 in the first three rounds to put myself in position to finally get my rating back over 2000, but then I blundered a pawn early in the fourth round and was not able to save the game. I lost 17 rating points to drop my rating to 1980. Rachel received a first round bye and then lost an extra rated game. She lost her next three games as well. Despite neither of us being in peak form, we enjoyed our last chess day of 2025. Here is a picture of us before the first round:
In 2025, I set career highs with 47 regular rated events played, 187 regular rated games played, and 111 regular rated games won, breaking my previous personal records of 41, 167 and 98 respectively, all of which I set in 2024. Two highlights were finishing clear first in the U2100 section of the Indianapolis Open (4.5/5, gaining 38 rating points), and finishing clear first in the Ohio Senior Open (4.5/5, gaining 15 rating points).
In 2025, I had eight first place finishes, I set a career-high with 11 second place finishes (breaking my personal record of nine set in 2023), and I tied my personal best with 19 combined first place/second place finishes; in 2024, I also had 19 combined first place/second place finishes, but I reached that number with a career-high 13 first place finishes (breaking my record of 12 set in 2019) along with six second place finishes.
I lost 33 rating points in 2025 after gaining 45 rating points in 2024, but if I had not crashed and burned in the 2025 Chicago Open--dropping 52 points by scoring just 2.5/7 in the U2100 section--I would have gained 19 points for the year. This is another example of how in chess--as in life--"everything turns on a trifle"--with one bad move sometimes setting off a chain reaction resulting in loss of a game, followed by loss of another game, and a tournament going down the drain.
James Altucher earned the National Master title as a young man. As a man who is a few years older than I am, he is attempting to cross the 2200 rating barrier again. He writes about his journey in New in Chess magazine, and in a recent installment he stated--in a combination of resignation and relief--that he is transitioning from being an "adult improver" at chess to an "adult enjoyer." He is focusing more on enjoying chess as opposed to trying to improve his results.
Perhaps Altucher's shift is a rational and mature reaction to the realities of trying to gain rating points as a 50-plus year old facing talented kids with seemingly unlimited energy, and perhaps this shift is easier to make for someone who has been a National Master before, but I refuse to make that shift and I don't know if I will ever willingly make that shift. I enjoy chess, but I enjoy chess most when I win. Kobe Bryant once said that he could never have a mindset that it is good enough to just show up and do your best. I share his perspective that the point of competition is to win.
Winning is accomplished by setting goals and then achieving them. Goals should be realistic--and people may disagree about what is realistic--but goals are important. I have been within 10 points of 2200, I still win and draw games versus National Masters, and I believe that a reasonably healthy 50-plus year old with the right plan and the right mentality can surpass 2200; it is frustrating that my rating now is lower than it was when I began writing Journey to the National Master Title, but I am not giving up, and I have the same perspective now that I expressed on January 12, 2023:
The title of this series of articles is not meant to be presumptuous; although I am confident that I will obtain the National Master title, I understand that it is not 100% certain that I will obtain the National Master title, and that is the reason that "journey" is included in the title: whether or not I make it to the desired destination, I intend to chronicle my experiences during the journey.
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:
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; I lost 22 rating points in the fourth quarter, decreasing my rating from 2002 to 1980. Overall, I lost 33 rating points in 2025.
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; I lost one game to players rated below 1800 in the fourth quarter of 2025. Overall, I lost 10 games to players rated below 1800.
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; I had four draws and 14 losses in the fourth quarter of 2025. Overall, I had 27 draws and 49 losses.
4) Maintain a winning percentage of at least .750, to break my personal record of .740 set in 2014. My winning percentage was .666, the 10th best of my 39 year chess career.
Here are my chess goals for 2026:
1) Gain 25 rating points per quarter. My previous goal of gaining 50 rating points per quarter may have been too high, and this resulted in me "chasing" points after losses. As much as I would love to reach 2200 in 2026, it is more realistic to shoot for 2100, and then target 2200 in 2027. I used to tell my students to set a short term goal to reach the next 100 point level, so I am going to follow my own advice!
2) Do not lose more than eight games to players rated below 1800. I had 11 such losses in 2024 and 10 such losses in 2025, so this is an attainable goal.
3) Accumulate more draws than losses. My draw/loss ratio was 33/36 in 2024 and 27/49 in 2025, so last year was a major step backward in this regard, but my 2024 performance demonstrated that this is an attainable goal.
4) Maintain a winning percentage of at least .700. In the past four years, my winning percentage has fluctuated between .666 and .686. I have reached a .700 winning percentage in a calendar year twice, so this is an ambitious but attainable goal.
In 2025, I scored 111 wins, 27 draws, and 49 losses in regular rated tournament games with eight first place finishes in 47 events. I lost 10 games to players rated below 1800. My net rating gain for 2025 is -33, so I need to gain 220 points to reach my goal.
