For many years, my mother worked in the Lake Grove, Oregon Post Office. One of her regular customers was the mother of Carl Haessler, a graduate of Dartmouth College and avid chess player. In fact, he is a Chess Master and five-time Oregon Chess Champion (1991, 1995, 1996, 2009, 2016). When I played in the 1987 National Open (March 13-15, 1987), we were paired against one another in round four. Before the game started, he was conversing with an acquaintance sitting next to him about his dismay that he only had one win. After that conversation ended, I introduced myself and informed him that our mothers knew each other. He played a Reti Opening and we fought back and forth, both making mistakes. It was equal at move 24. I made a mistake on my 26th move that gave him the advantage. It was equal at move 31. He blundered on his 36th move and I found the mate in four to claim a Master scalp. Haessler quite understandably withdrew from the tournament after this game, his third loss in four rounds.
Haessler, Carl (2210) – Green, Thomas A (2046) [A06] National Open (4), 14.03.1987
1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.Bb5 Rc8 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5 f6 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.f4 d4 12.Na3 Qd5! 13.Rh2 Nh6 14.Qe2 Nf7 15.0-0-0 e5 16.Qd3 e4 17.Qa6 Rc7 18.d3 g5 19.exd4? e3! 20.fxg5 Qxg5? 21.Kb1 Qf4 22.Re2 23.Qc4 Ng5? 24.c3 Rxh3= 25.Nc2 c5 26.Rde1 Bd6? 27.cxd4 cxd4 28.Qg8+Bf8? 29.Bxd4 Rxc2 30.Rxe3+ Rxe3 31.Bxe3? Qe5!= 32.Kxc2 Qxe2+ 35.Kc3 Qe1+ 36.Kc4? Qb4+ 37.Kd5 Qb7+ 38.Kc4 Qc6+ 0-1
I lost in the first round against Master John Milton in a Sicilian Maroczy Bind in 23 moves. I won my second round against the lower rated Robert Sprague with a Dutch Defence after he erred on his 24th move.
Sprague, Robert Jr (1600) – Green, Thomas A (2046) [A80] National Open (2), 13.03.1987
1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 g6 3.e4 d6 4.e5 Bg7 5.f4 c6 6.Nf3 Qc7 7.Be3 Nh6 8.h3 0-0 9.Bc4+ d5 10.Be2 e6 11.Qd2 Re8 12.0-0 Bf8 13.Nd1 a5 14.a3 Nd7 15.c4 dxc4 16.Bxc4 Nb6 17.Ba2 Nd5 18.Bf2 Bd7 19.Bh4 Rac8 20.Nc3 Qb6 21.Na4 Qa7 22.Rac1 b6 23.Rc2 c5 24.dxc5? Bxa4 25.Bxd5 exd5 26.Qxd5+ Qf7 27.Qxf7+ Nxf7 0-1
In the third round, Candidate Master David Fletcher’s Caro-Kann claimed the full point in 43 moves. In my fifth-round game against Candidate Master Richard Glass, an opposite-colored Bishop ending, a draw resulted from a King’s Gambit Declined opening.
Green, Thomas A (2046) – Glass, Richard (2125) [C30] National Open (5), 15.03.1987
1.e4 e5 2.f4 Nf6 3.fxe5 Nxe4 4.Nf3 Ng5 5.d4 Nxf3+ 6.Qxf3 Qh4+ 7.Qf2 Qxf2+! 8.Kxf2 d6 9.Bf4 dxe5 10.Bxe5 c6 11.Bc4 Nd7 12.Re1 Nxe5 13.Rxe5+ Be7 14.Nd2 f6 15.Re3 Kd8 16.Rae1 Bd6 17.g3 Bf5 18.Ne4 Bxe4 19.Rxe4 f5 20.Re6 Kd7 21.d5 Rae8= 22.dxc6+ bxc6 23.Rxe8 Rxe8 24.Rxe8 Kxe8= 25.Kf3 Ke7 26.h4 g6 27.g4 h6 28.g5 h5 29.c3 a5 30.a3 c5 31.Bd5 Be5 32.Ba2 Bd6 33.Bd5 Be5 34.Bg8 Bd6 ½-½
In the final round my Sicilian Defence lost to then Candidate Master (by the end of the year Master) Leandro Moguel in 40 moves. Even though I finished 2.5-3.5, I only lost a couple of rating points.