The 89th Montana Open in Bozeman last weekend attracted 48 players from 6 states, which included 8 new unrated players.
Sunday’s games on the top boards included 3 games that went down to the wire as the players blitzed the ending. Dan Mattson won both his games on Sunday in blitz endings while Ben Vogel, who entered round 5 in sole possession of first place, was stalemated by John Julian after John had made a dozen moves with only 3 seconds left on his clock.
Ben and Dan were co-winners of the Open with 4.5 points each. Matteo Nero, John Julian, and Declan Pham finished with 4 points. Matteo officially finishes third by tie breaker and earns a spot in the Closed along with Dan & Ben.
Overall 15 players earned part of the nearly $1,500 prize pool while 7 Montana players gained at least 80 rating points.