UCCC Intercity Mismatch Open
Submitted by Bill McBroom on 07/12/2008

The State Co-champions, David Duke and Jim Skovron, had to admit Thad Suits among those tied for 1-3 in the UCCC Inter-City Mismatch Open in Helena on July 12. Each of the three scored three of the four possible points. Romie Carpenter and Bill McBroom followed with plus scores: 2 ½ each.

True to the conception of the tournament, no player was paired with an opponent from the same city. With nine in attendance, the tournament did not qualify as an MCA grand prix event. Bill Spencer demonstrated his T.D. skills by ably steering the players through the four rounds without incident or complaint. Way to go, Bill!

Montana Closed Championship and Barto Memorial Open
Submitted by Steve Scarff on 06/26/2008

We didn't expect cold and wet weather for a June tournament, but that was the case when Bozeman hosted the Montana MT Closed Championship and John Barto Memorial Open on June 7-8. There was even a little snow overnight for good measure. The conference room at the Days Inn was comfortable enough for the small turnout, but would have felt crowded if several more had attended. Circumstances conspired to keep the numbers down. Dan McCourt had decided weeks before to give up his seat in the Closed, and was replaced by Ed McLaughlin. Then Romie Carpenter cancelled and was replaced by Eric Eklund. Dan had planned to play in at least part of the Barto, but he and Brett Thomas-DeJongh were about 20 miles out of Missoula early Saturday morning when they had a close encounter with a deer. Fortunately, no injuries were reported (other than the deer), and Dan was able to drive slowly back to town with a smashed windshield.

Closed: For the second year in a row David Duke won a share of the State Champion title. A 10-player Swiss was avoided this year only because co-champ Jens Lundell moved to California. Jim Skovron is the other co-champ this year, and since we don't expect either of these guys to leave Montana, be ready for a 10-player Closed next year. Duke started with 3 straight draws on Saturday, including one with Skovron. Meanwhile, Jim had 2 wins to go with his draw, leaving him a full point ahead. David bounced back with 2 wins on Sunday, while Jim lost to Ed McLaughlin in round 4. That loss and Duke's second win put Skovron into a must-win situation in the last game to end, and he pulled out a win in an unbalanced position against Dustin Thompson. Eric Eklund turned in a strong third-place performance with 3 wins, losing only to the new co-champs.

Barto Open: Only 6 players made it to the Barto, including Javier Piñedo all the way from Salt Lake City. Bob Martin tore up the field on Saturday, but didn't feel well enough to play on Sunday. This allowed Piñedo and Muhammedin Deliorman to finish in a tie with Bob for first place with 3 points each. The winning trio earned $25 apiece for their efforts.

2008 Montana State Open
Submitted by Bill McBroom on 04/08/2008

David Duke, with four points, was the top Montana finisher at the 73rd Montana Open. Robert Feldstein, of Brooklyn, was tied for best score with his own four points. They split the 1st/2nd prize and received $93 each. While short of the 30 players required to pay the advertized prize fund, MCA was able to pay our approximately 85% of the listed prizes.

Of the 25 players participating, several were from out of state including our old friend, Arman Goplen, now from North Dakota. Jerry Triggs was an out-of-state expert and Alan Kobernat–another expert and the only player to best David Duke–was from California. Like Feldstein before him, Kobernat has set himself the goal of playing in a tournament in all 50 states. There were some Montana players playing in their first rated tournament: Kip Farnum and Keith Hall. Welcome, fellows.

Five players had 3 ½ points. Timothy Schoessler of North Dakota did better by taking the $33 class prize for A players. This left Alan Kobernat, Jim Skovron, Sherwood Moore, and Dustin Thompson to share ($16.75 apiece) the B prize combined with the overall third prize.

Sherwood Moore won the best senior trophy. Ed Tarter victimized Ed McLaughlin for the biggest upset: an impressive 438 rating point difference.

Dan McCourt’s success over the year earned him enough grand prix points to land him along with the other grand prix leader, Jim Skovron, a spot in the State Closed Championship coming this June in Bozeman. As current champion, David Duke is the first seed. Sherwood Moore, Dustin Thompson, and Romie Carpenter earned the right to play for the crown with their performances in the Open. A number of these players multiply qualified.