The winner of the 2009 San Diego County Championship is IM Dionoso Aldama, formerly of Cuba and now a resident in Mexico.
A very gratifying turnout thanks to a strong contingent from Mexico. It is ironic that the "county" championships bring in an inordinate number of non-residents (No! We are not complaining! Really!) After all, San Diego is really a great place to spend a weekend especially in the summer. In that vein, you don't want to miss the Southen California Championships on Labor Day weekend at the Crowne Plaza. Especially with reduced room rates!
What is this? Another 'bughouse' game? No it's a legitimate pairing at the San Diego County Championship! From the left, Kyron Griffith, Alan Tsoi, Daniel Grazian and Jason Qu. Future stars-all of them!
ReplyDeleteOne of the winners of the Reserve Section, Antonio Gonzalez who is really too strong to be playing in the reserve section!
ReplyDeleteThe presence of the eventual winner of IM Dionoso Aldama (formerly from Cuba) in Baja California, Mexico, has created a Renaissance of chess interest. This was evident when Aldama crossed the border with a strong contingent of Mexican chess players to participate in the 2009 San Diego County Championship.
ReplyDeleteIgnacio Sainz also known as 'El Formidable' was part of the Mexican contingent. In this picture, Sainz is in a difficult endgame with the presdigitador, Carey Milton. Carey Milton has a rare knack of weaving his magic around you and quietly overwhelming you.
ReplyDeleteThree friends...about to go into cerebral combat. From the left, Kyron Griffith, Alan Tsoi and Jason Qu.
ReplyDeleteYes, this list includes Giovanni Carreto, who tied for second place, Antonio Gonzlez, who tied for 1st place in the Reserves, Juan Nunez-Hilares, Fausto Robles, Ignacio Sainz, Armando Garcia and Cristhian Garcia (not related). We also had about 19 players from outside the county, not including the Mexicans. One player was visitng from Kansas (Andrew Ritter in the Booster section) and one young player came directly from MOSCOW!!, Semen Filatov, who was visiting from Russia (with love). He tied for 1st in the Reserves along with Antonio Gonzalez and Daniel Collins.
ReplyDeleteThis picture is from Round 4, where Antonio was Black against Bret Strunk. I can tell because that is Tom Kuhn playing Manny Abundo in the background and also Claire Negus playing Morgan Fox. Bret Strunk lost this game but went on to beat me, Chuck Ensey, in the last round.
ReplyDeleteCarey did win this round 4 game...but Carey lost in the last round to former master John Rinaldo.
ReplyDeleteJason Qu (1949) pulled off an upset in this Rd 4 game and beat his higher rated friend Kyron Griffith. (2106). But then Jason lost to Rick Aeria in the last round while Kyron upset master Craig Clawitter. Kyron has won quite a few game from masters, including Cyrus Lakdawala in a recent Gambito Open.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that all four players ended up with 2 1/2 points, although Daniel was unable to play the last round due to a previous committment (an MIT party of some sort, Daniel is headed to the famous school next month!) Daniel (2042) upset Alan (2132) in this game as did Jason over Kyron.
ReplyDeleteThe mysterious expert Peter Hodges. Peter is the scourge of grandmasters in simuls but can be quite vulnerable to relatively weaker players. In round two, Peter Hodges whupped the tar out of me (my only loss) in a rather innocuous, stodgy position. After the first day, Peter had 2 1/2 out of 3 (he started with a first round bye) and had to play Giovanni Carreto (2nd place finish at the 2008 American Open). It was a French Defence with Peter playing the black pieces and the McCutcheon Variation. In a grim struggle, Peter plays his knight to the d1 square effectively winning Carreto's rook. Somehow Giovanni counter attacked and won Peter's queen for his other rook and eventually won the game.
ReplyDeleteNM Giovanni Carreto makes his presence felt at this tournament. Giovanni finished tied for 2nd with 4-1. To date, Giovanni's most illustrous result was his second place finish at the American Open in 2008.
ReplyDeleteExpert Barry Lazarus of Los Angeles squares off with Nunez. Barry won the game.
ReplyDeleteBonus footage of NM Craig Clawitter playing two-on-two basketball in our courtyard.
ReplyDeleteBrett goes for the offensive rebound while Craig, Jesse Orlowski and Marty Lower look on.
ReplyDeleteCraig has ball possession. Marty is breathing heavily.
ReplyDeletethis guy is a COYOTE shame on you MEXICAN COYOTE
ReplyDeleteVIVA LA REVOLUCION CUBANA AJEDRECISTICA
ReplyDeleteI THINK THIS WAS A GOOD GAME AND ALSO I THINK MR MILTON IS ONE OF THE FEW PERSON WHO UNDESTEND THE CONCEPT OF CHEES BRAVO CAREY
ReplyDeleteselected players?
ReplyDeleteKyron Griffith, Alan Tsoi and Jason Qu are the vanguard of a new generation of future chess masters in San Diego. Along with Varun Krishnan, Aaron Householder and Jason Ma, the future of chess in San Diego looks bright!
ReplyDelete