53rd Iowa Open

New Rating: 2218
Games Played: 197
Games left: 103

The 53rd Iowa Open was held last weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was directed by Hank Anzis and Shawn Kmetz and organized by Jim Hodina. The Open section drew 32 players while the Reserve and Beginner sections saw a combined attendance of 47.

I tied for first with 4.0/5 having 3 wins and 2 draws. Jim Hodina and Ryan Butros also had 3 wins and 2 draws, while Andy Applebaum joined the group with one loss. I was able to get first on tiebreaks, playing both the 2, 3, and 4 seed, though the tournament was closely contested throughout.

After a very narrow 2nd round victory, I was paired with expert Robert Keating (2021 rated, the 4th-seed). He repeated the same variation I had played againt Crouse (1800) in round 1, all the way to move 15! Afraid of preparation, I deviated, using an improvement I had found against Crouse. Later, I learned Robert had not seen my round one game, but the improvement worked as he dropped a piece due to a miscalculation soon thereafter. Meanwhile, Applebaum knocked off the other master, Tim McEntee, due to a one-move oversight while Butros beat A-player Don Bloomquist to leave 3 perfect scores going into the second day.

I will try to post a game or two, but have been busy!