April Gambito Opens #513 - 515

Gambito Open #515  4/30/11

$20 ENTRY FEE, the best deal in town! All entry fees are returned in prizes, minus a nomimal club/rating fee of $20 to $30 depending on attendance. Play top rated players if you are a Class A or Expert, and gain valuable tournament experience and knowledge. If you are a Class B or below, not to worry, you will mostly be paired with players of your own rating strength, thanks to the magic of the McMahon pairings. Everyone has fun and it's a great way to learn and improve your game, no matter what level of skill you are playing at. 

4 games of G/45, or more popularly, G/40 with 5 second delay. Registration 10 AM to 10:25, rounds at 10:30, 12:15, 2:45 and 4:30; it's all over by 6 PM. Free parking close to club if you arrive early. Lunch break from 1:45 to 2:45, grab a sandwich from the local deli a few blocks away and then play blitz while you relax between rounds. Often rated by the next day, so you get timely results for your efforts (dual rated, quick and regular).

The Gambito Open has been a launching pad for many great young players who have rocketed up through the ranks from Class C to Expert level and sometimes all the way to Master level (see Varun Krishnan and Kyron Griffith). Come see why it is so popular, now in it's 11th year of operation!     

Only 20 players today, but still a strong tournament with 6 Masters: Jeff Arnold, Ken Arnold, Bruce Baker, Peter Graves, Varun Krishnan and Kyron Griffith; 5 Experts: Hin Tsang, Peter Hodges, Alan Sebeckis, Leonard Sussman and Aaron Wooten; 2 Class A: Jason Ma and Joel Batchelor; 3 Class B: Alexander Blank, Anthony Harbone, Jay Choi; 4 Class C and below: Jonathan Centers, Ben Keltner, Patrick Edwards and Andrew Zhang. 

Bruce directed and used a 2 point McMahon with M=2, Exp/A=1, B/C=0. Here were the prize winners:

First Place: Bruce Baker (5), $100

Bruce won a great game over Peter Graves in the last round, playing a deep combo at the end

Second Place: Jeff Arnold (4 1/2), $20

Jeff is over 2400...

BU2400: Ken Arnold (4 1/2), $50

BU2200: Hin Tsang (3), Peter Hodges (3), Leonard Sussman (3) and Aaron Wooten (3), $12 each

BU2000: Joel Batchelor (3), $33

BU1800/2000: Alexander Blank (3) and Jay Choi (3), $33 each

BU1600: Ben Keltner (1 1/2), $40

Total Prizes: $360         

Gambito Open #514

Only 15 players today, funny I was expecting a big turnout due to the 3-day weekend, but I guess people are off visiting family and whatnot. Used a mini-McMahon today with Class A and above starting with 1 point: Baker; Hodges, Sussman, Agron, Wooten; Vajapeyam, Morris, A. Householder, Karadayi, Batchelor, Sagart, all others with 0: Ensey, S. Householder, Choi, Cleveland. 

Bruce Baker drew with Aaron Householder in round 1, then beat Sussman, Morris and Vajapeyam. Buddy bounced back from last week and beat Sagart, Hodges and Sussman. Sagart beat Choi, Karadayi (visiting from LA!) and Agron. Paul had a bad day, losing on time  to Madhavan (he punched the clock, but the button didn't fully depress and his time ran out; these things happen when you are living on the 5 second delay) and to Sagart, but he did beat Wooten in round 2. Hodges only played the first two games and blundered when low on time versus Buddy.   

Prize winners were:

First Place: Bruce Baker (4 1/2), $80

BU2400/2200: Buddy Morris (4) and Pejman Sagart (4), $40 each

BU2000: Madhavan Vajapeyam (3 1/2), $40

BU1800: Chuck Ensey (3), $40   BU1600: Fred Cleveland (1), $20

Total Prizes: $360 

         

Gambito Open #513  4/16/11

19 players, including 4 Masters: Lakdawala, Baker, Graves, Griffith; 4 Experts: Sussman, Barquin, Wooten, Morris; 4 Class A: Pryor, Iyer, A. Householder, Ensey; 4 Class B: S. Householder, Harbone, Kuhn, Choi; 3 Class C: B. Keltner, C. Negus, Cleveland. John Keltner and Mark Negus filled in as house players when needed. We used our standard McMahon with M/E=3, A=2, B=1, C=0.

Cyrus beat Peter Graves (great to see him back again), Kyron Griffith and Ben Barquin before a last round draw with Bruce Baker. Peter beat Aaron Householder, Kyron and Ben. Bruce lost to Kyron and beat Wooten and Pryor. Wooten beat Ben in the last round. Iyer won 3 in a row over Ensey, Morris and Sussman before falling to Graves. Bud Morris had a rough day, losing the first 3 games to Pryor, Iyer and Wooten before edging out a win over Aaron Householder in the last round.

Here were the Prize winners:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (6 1/2), $100

BU2400: Peter Graves (6), $50  Second Place: Bruce Baker (5 1/2), $20 

BU2200: Aaron Wooten (5 1/2), $50   BU2000: Venkat Iyer (5), $50

BU1800: Scott Householder (4), $40    BU1600: Ben Keltner (2 1/2), $30

Total Prizes: $340