The 4th Annual Magic City New Year’s Invitational took place this past Friday and Saturday at Legacy Trucking in Billings, MT. Eleven players came out to compete armed with face masks and hand sanitizer. Unfortunately, the odd number forced several players to accept a bye. Josh Brown (Billings) took home the first prize by winning his first 3 games (3.5/4) and then agreeing to a draw with Christian Fink in the final round. Mo Bain finished a close second with 3/4. After a shellacking from Fink with an ill-prepared French in round 3, he put the screws to Mattson in a very positional Vienna game in which white was better out of the opening.
The best under 1600 prize was split between Brian Murnion, Christian Fink, and Chad Robinson, all with 2.5/4. Fink also took home the biggest upset prize for his win over Bain (257 pts).
Michael Muller (Bozeman) was the only out-of-towner in the tourney. After bunking at the TD’s house Friday night, he wasn’t a very grateful guest, handing Mattson his first loss in 5 tries against him. Despite winning a knight on move 10, Mattson couldn’t bring home the point, allowing Muller to get another monkey off his back!
Jesse Ross (Billings) was the only newbie in the tourney. Mr. Ross has just recently taken up chess after watching the Netflix hit series The Queen’s Gambit! Isn’t that neat, from TV show inspiration to his first tourney in record time. He also managed to score his first win by tourney’s end.
Many thanks to Adam Grill for hosting this tourney at his trucking business. After fatherhood forced a 1-year chess break on him, he was gracious enough to host, play, and play some fine moves at that! Welcome back, Adam.
The time control for the tourney was 90 minutes with a 15 second increment. This time control is equivalent to the typical G/105 used in Montana tourneys (if 60 moves played), with a little bigger safety net for endgame play and time trouble. It seemed to work well without any games running too long. A few of the games may be posted soon.
Link to the final standings http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202101094272-12872818
Next up in Billings is the St. Patrick Open on 3/15-16. See you then!