The 3rd Annual Magic City New Year’s Invitational took place in Billings, January 10-11, 202. There were a total of 13 players (12 adults and 1 junior). The event was held at BCC member Adam Grill’s Legacy Trucking business, where there is a classroom with projector, a lunch room, and a large German Shepherd (Caesar) keeping watch over the proceedings. Round 1 of a 4 round Swiss was played Friday night at 6PM. The following 3 rounds were all played on Saturday, finishing up around 8PM.
Despite not playing each other and being held to one draw each, Tim Schoessler (WY), and David Duke (Bil) split first place. They were the top two seeds. David was slowed out of the gate by a draw with Chad Robinson, who took home the top prize under 1600 as well as the biggest upset over Bill Lynch (293 pts). Tim was held to a draw by the ever tough Dan McCourt. The 2nd prize under 1600 went to Carl Ritterpusch, a regular at chess club meetings but playing in his first rated classical event.
