'06 SCO report

THE 28th ANNUAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OPEN 

6 rounds, all at 40/2, SD/1, no re-entries or "fast" schedule, 1 bye allowed (Rds 1-4 only)  

At The Pechanga Hotel/Casino in Temecula   9/02 - 9/04/2006

Open Section

IM Valentin Iotov Wins First Place, $3,000, with 5 points

2nd/3rd/4th/BU2400: GM Varuzhan Akobian, IM Enrico Sevillano, GM Melikset Khachiyan and Joel Banawa with 4 1/2 points each, $1,150 each

5th/6th/2nd U2400: Jouaquin Banawa (4), IM Tim Taylor (4), and Alexandre Kretchetov (4), $433 each 

Gregg Small (4) won BU2300, $1,000 and Mikhail Ginzburg (4) won the BU2200, $1,200

NMs Jeff Arnold, Alaa-Addin Moussa and Julian Landaw all scored 3 1/2 and tied for 2nd U2300, $166 each    

Experts Takashi Kurosaki, John Bryant and Chris Slupik also scored 3 1/2 points and pooled the 2nd-4th BU2200 prizes, $566 each

Premier Section (U2000)

Carey Milton (5 1/2) won First Place, $1,200

2nd-4th Steven Morford, Dingchao Lu, Vincent Huang, all with 4 1/2 points, won $566 each

Amateur Section (U1800) 

Norlino Tagalog (5) 1st Place, $1,200

Chuck Ensey (4 1/2) and Raul Bugnosen (4 1/2), 2nd-3rd, $700 each

Liz Taylor (4) 4th place, $300 

Reserve Section (U1600)

Naollin Olguin (5 1/2) 1st Place, $1,200

Wen Wu (4 1/2) 2nd Place, $800

Scott Slupik, Aram Kavoukjian, Harold Valery and Alan Hourmand all scored 4 to tie for 3rd-4th, $225 each

Booster Section (U1400) 

Richard Yang (6) 1st Place, $1,000

Daniel Gong (5) 2nd Place, $750

Cleofas Rojas (4) 3rd Place, $250

Bienvenido Uy (4) won BU1200, $400

Jeffrey Ding (2 1/2) & Jesus Hourmand, 2nd U1200 tie, $50 each 

James Russell (3 1/2) is Best Unrated, $300

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The First Place winners also received very nice trophies, see below

See full wallchart at http://westernchess.com

 

Bruce Baker tried mightily to draw a Rook and Pawn ending down one pawn on Saturday night in Round 2, but IM Valentin Iotov of Bulgaria ground out the win in a grueling 5 1/2 hour game. Valentine won $3,000 for his superb performance against many top players in Southern California. He drew with Akobian in Round 4 and defeated Sevillano in Round 5.

   

Carey Milton won his first 5 games in a row and then drew his last round game with Andrew Bell to win a handsome trophy and $1,200 in the tough Premier Section. Carey's 5th round win exemplifies the "Miltonian" style of chess.  See game here

   

Norlino Tagalog with a winning smile worth $1,200 and a nice trophy for First Amateur

   

The National City Chess Club was out in force, here Richard Gimeno takes on Alexandre Kretchetov in Round 2. Gimeno upset IM Tim Taylor in Round 1. Next to them are BU2300 winner and Angels fan Gregg Small playing against Takashi Kurosaki. Gregg drew this game and also earned a draw with GM Melikset Khachiyan in Round 5. Takashi also drew with Melikset and with NM Jouaquin Banawa.          

  

San Diegans Dimitry Kishinevsky and Brad Salz played a long endgame in Round 2 that Dimitry finally won. Next to them are Expert Vanessa West of Gardena and IM Tim Taylor from L.A.   

  

Expert Takashi Kurosaki lost a close one to IM Tim Taylor in this last round game. All players with a plus score in the Open Section (3 1/2 or better) won at least enough money to cover the $130 entry fee, and most of them won a lot more. No prize winners took any byes in any section, with only one exception - Cleofas Rojas in the Booster Section took a 4th round bye, won his 5th round game, but then withdrew and didn't play the last round, yet he still won clear Third Place for $250.

   

NM Alaa-Addin Moussa as White plays GM Varuzhan Akobian in Round 6. Akobian gave a simul to the San Diego Chess Club a few days before this event. See GM Simul.           

Also see lots of games from this event at the http://westernchess.com  website. And Jennifer Shahade was nice enough to include a write up I sent in on her USCF online site.