Rasul Nazriev edged out a youngster and a tournament newcomer to win the 4th Annual St. Patrick Open this past weekend in downtown Billings, MT. Rasul (Mis) finished with 4.5/5 ahead of Matteo Nero (Boz) and Jorell Snowden (Bil) with 4/5 pts each. He beat both the top seed and the 4th seed. The event took place this past weekend (3/12-13) on the 20th floor of the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Billings, MT. The field consisted of 33 players, 10 being under age 20. The cities represented included Billings, Bozeman, Casper, Cody, Columbus, Helena, Great Falls, Missoula, Hamilton, Sidney, and even a player from San Antonio (Smith) and San Francisco (Rex)! Only 2 players were playing in their first USCF tournament, but many were early in their careers and still provisionally rated. Claudia (Bil) was the only female player.
Twelve-year-old Matteo (Boz) continues to impress, scoring 4/5 to tie for 2nd place. His rating is now 1689. He managed to survive in a tough position with his French against Smith (TX) in round 3. His only loss was to the ever-consistent Strickland (Mis) in round 2. Jorell Snowden (Bil) was unrated coming in, but is now provisionally rated at 1750. What a nice start for him.
Third place was split between Wilton Strickland (Mis), Josh Brown (Bil), and Andrew Rankin (Hel) with 3.5/5. The top under-1600 prize was awarded to Peter Brooks, Dan Casey, Brian Keuhl (all from Sheridan), and Chad Robinson (Bil) with 3/5 each.
The Biggest Upset prize was awarded to young Jack Williams (Mis) for his 5th round win over Bernie Nelson (Bil), a spread of 594 points! Congrats Jack!
The largest ratings gains were seen by Jack Williams (Mis) 240 pts, Carl Ritterpusch (Bil) 135, Ted Hash (Bil) 122, and Dan Casey (Sher) 77. White won 37 games, Black 31, with 8 draws. The time control was game in 1:45 with a 5s delay.
Thanks to all the players who came and competed!