The Chess Engineer: 2026

I learned of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park from comedian Ariel Elias last year, & did not regret making the sightseeing visit one bit. Located a little more than an hour driving south of Louisville, I drove to Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park & then the actual location of the cabin he lived in for parts of his early life, the Boyhood Home at Knob Creek Unit.

When they built the main national historic park site in the early 1900s, they placed inside the memorial building the symbolic birth cabin. While they thought it was the actual cabin, researchers eventually were able to prove it was not the actual log cabin he was born in.

Note: 56 steps, his age when he was assassinated.

Sinking Spring, where Lincoln probably took his first water.

The cabin originally thought to be the boyhood home.

There's a game younger visitors can play (seen at the visitor center) as they learn more about Lincoln's path to the presidency.

From Ages 2 - 8, he lived in a log cabin near Knob Creek. I actually made the drive up to the Knob Creek Tavern Visitor Center (15 minutes). Hattie Howell Howard along with her husband Chester purchased the Knob Creek Farm in 1928 & wanted to preserve the land & share stories of Lincoln's early years. They built the tavern in 1933 to serve the growing number of tourists.

Knob Creek Tavern Visitor Center

A Cabin constructed from logs of the original Gollaher cabin. It is believed that Austin Gollaher once saved Abraham Lincoln from drowining in his youth.

Two Abraham Lincoln Headbust statues. I drove over to a nearby town to see the full statues.

Abraham Lincoln Statue, Lincoln Square, Hodgenville, Kentucky

Younger Abraham Lincoln Statue, Lincoln Square, Hodgenville, Kentucky

After taking some time to address a potential medical issue, I eventually made my way the Big Four Bridge connecting Indiana & Kentucky.

Looking east of the Big Four Bridge

Looking west of the Big Four Bridge

During my trip, I ate Burgoo (A hearty stew of at least 2 varying meats & various vegetables) multiple times & pulled pork. I loved them both!

Burgoo, Rubbies Southside Grill & Bar

Burgoo & Pulled Pork Sandwich, Feast BBQ

My chess playing was random. I had 3 draws, a 4th round loss, & a last round win. I fought hard, but overall my opponents had significant winning chances in each of the first 4 rounds.

I have decided to show my last two rounds because it featured me playing an opening setup I do not believe I have ever played over the board in my career (a double queen pawn opening without c4) as White. I am still trying to work out the kinks in this setup, but going 1 out of 2 versus higher rated opponents can't be too bad. To switch between the two games, just click on games within the chessbase window.

[Event "Kentucky Open"] [Site "Louisville, KY"] [Date "2026.06.07"] [Round "4"] [White "Chen, Kevin E."] [Black "Herschler, Brad A."] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Chen,Kevin E."] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "1857"] [BlackElo "1877"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2026.06.06"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceVersionDate "2026.02.28"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. c3 Qb6 ({My Round 5 game was a miniature} 5... e6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. O-O O-O 9. Nbd2 cxd4 10. exd4 b6 11. Re1 Nd7 12. Qe2 f6 13. Qxe6+ {1-0.}) 6. Qb3 c4 {I didn't see this variation much in the online blitz experimentations I tried & was caught unaware.} 7. Qxb6 axb6 8. Nbd2 Bf5 9. Be2 {this position is terribly cramping & I have to do a better job of opening up the middle to stop this.} h6 10. O-O b5 11. a3 e6 12. h3 Be7 13. Ne5 O-O 14. Rfe1 g5 15. Bh2 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Nd7 17. Bg3 Nb6 18. f3 ({Stockfish 18:} 18. Bf3 Na4 19. Ra2 f6 20. e4 dxe4 21. Nxe4 Rfd8 22. Bh2 Bg6 23. Ng3 e5 24. Bxb7 Ra7 25. Bc6 exd4 26. Bxb5 dxc3 27. Bxc4+ Kg7 28. bxc3 Nxc3 29. Raa1 Bc5 30. Kh1 Bxf2 31. Rf1 Bd4 32. Bg1 Re7 33. Bxd4 Rxd4 34. Ba6 Ra4 35. Bc8 h5 36. Rf3 {-0.11/29}) 18... Ra6 19. e4 Bg6 20. exd5 {I considered the first few moves of the Sotckfish 18 Variation below, but I thought I was very passive & didn't explore further.} ({Stockfish 18:} 20. Rab1 f5 21. Bd1 f4 22. Bf2 Na4 23. Bc2 h5 24. g3 Rf7 25. Re2 Rg7 26. Be1 Ra8 27. Nf1 Kf7 28. b3 Nb6 29. bxc4 dxe4 30. Bxe4 Bxe4 31. fxe4 Nxc4 32. Rxb5 Rxa3 33. Rxb7 f3 34. Rc2 g4 35. hxg4 hxg4 36. Rc7 Nd6 {-0.35/29}) 20... Nxd5 (20... exd5 21. Bxc4 {wins a pawn due to the discovery on the unguarded Bishop.} dxc4 (21... Nxc4 22. Nxc4 {is even better for me as I eliminate his Knight.}) 22. Rxe7) 21. Rac1 f5 {My opponent admitted he thought this move was risky, but we both agreed that the e6 pawn is only truly weak if I can get to it, which I ended up failing to do.} 22. Be5 g4 23. Nf1 (23. g3 gxh3 24. Kh2 {was probably better, trying to keep my pawns connected & control of key squares.}) 23... gxh3 24. gxh3 f4 25. Bd1 Bd3 26. Bc2 Bh4 {I realized that I was dropping an exchange & tried to make the best of it.} 27. Re4 Bxe4 28. Bxe4 Bf6 29. Bxd5 exd5 30. Bxf6 Rfxf6 31. Nh2 Rg6+ 32. Kf2 h5 {this superb prophylactic move prevents my knight from ever entering this game.} 33. Nf1 Kf7 34. Re1 Rae6 35. Rxe6 Kxe6 36. h4 Kd6 {Zugzwang. The Rook eventually penetrates to g3 or g2.} 0-1

[Event "Kentucky Open"] [Site "Louisville, KY"] [Date "2026.06.07"] [Round "5"] [White "Chen, Kevin E."] [Black "Johnson, Michael C."] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Chen,Kevin E."] [ECO "B13"] [WhiteElo "1857"] [BlackElo "1900"] [PlyCount "25"] [EventDate "2026.06.06"] [EventType "team-swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "USA"] [SourceVersionDate "2026.02.28"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. O-O O-O 9. Nbd2 cxd4 10. exd4 b6 11. Re1 Nd7 12. Qe2 f6 $2 13. Qxe6+ {I actually looked for three minutes before taking the e6 pawn as I was shocked. I was even more shocked when he resigned.} (13. Qxe6+ Qxe6 14. Rxe6 Nde5 {was what I expected.}) 1-0

The tournament was run pretty well. Daro Mott picked a pretty good site with free parking & a pretty good building. The air conditioning on the playing room unfortunately was broken on Sunday, so the room was pretty hot and I know I spent more time outside the playing room than in it. I did think the room was a bit cramped & there could have been more room in between the chess playing tables. I do definitely want to come back if get a chance.

In a refreshing throwback, there were two people on site selling chess items - books, clocks, special chess items, shirts, etc. You rarely see that nowadays as there aren't a lot of people buying chess stuff at tournaments any more, so I made sure to buy two things - a tournament t-shirt & a new chess tie.