New Hampshire Open

This past weekend was the New Hampshire Open chess tournament. Held in Manchester, NH and open to players from all states, the tournament doubles as the New Hampshire state chess championship. Grandmaster Alex Ivanov and International Master Jonathan Yedidia, both from Massachusetts, shared first place; the top NH finishers were International Master Joe Fang and FIDE Master Brad Bournival. Except for 2009, either Fang or Bournival has at least tied for the NH state champion title every year since 1998 (ties are not broken; players who finish with the same score are considered co-state champions). Congratulations to New Hampshire's new champions for a hard-earned victory!

My own performance was disappointing. I got off to a good start, defeating Class A player (and 2004 co-state champion) Erin Dame and drawing against National Master Hal Terrie (who was the NH Amateur Champion in 1974 and 1976). Going into the final day of play, I was half a point off of the lead. Unfortunately, I lost a topsy-turvy game against Vermont's #2-rated player, Haizhou Xu and then made a series of mistakes against NH expert Sherif Khater to lose despite being a piece up. I finished with 2/5 points, good only for a tie for twelfth place. Poor result or not, I had a lot of fun playing, I enjoyed my games, and I particularly enjoyed catching up with the cadre of NH, VT, and MA chess players that I only get to see at tournaments.

My next tournament is the Nashua Open in July, and I may play another match against my friend Dave Carter, the state champion and top-rated player in Vermont. After that, I will have to start looking for chess tournaments in Colorado!