Gambito #355

Gambito #355    1/19/07   Bobby Fischer Memorial Gambito Open

18 players, plus 3 house players, we used our usual McMahon pairing system, where M/E =2, A=1, B/C=0

We are very happy with the new U2400 prize, it seems to have brought some extra competitive spirit back to the Gambito. Before we had this prize, some masters might drop out after 1 loss, or even a draw, figuring that they were "out of the money" with Cyrus likely to win the top prize and them being ineligilbe for the Expert prize. Now they can still win a decent U2400 prize. Over time I believe we will attract more masters to play more frequently, and already we have seen David Hart and Romeo Ignacio play more often than before. Even Cyrus, who can't win it due to his 2500+ rating, says it is "brilliant" idea. It is not only good for the Masters, it opens up possibilities for the lower rated players too. For instance, today Leonard Sussman had a great day, drawing with Cyrus Lakdawala and defeating Bruce Baker, thereby winning the U2400 prize. This opened up the U2200 prize for Haochi Shi, a strong Class A player who also had a fine day. Haochi defeated Chris Wonnell, then Expert Carey Milton and slightly higher rated Class A player Roberto Aiello before finally losing to Cyrus in the last round. 

All the younger players had a great day. Here are the biggest rating point winners: Michael Chen +51, 1457>1508; Haochi Shi +50, 1862>1912; Leonard Sussman +17, 2108>2125; Fred Clevland +18, 1225>1243; Alan Tsoi +16, 1914>1930, Daniel Grazian +12, 1920>1932. Of course rating points are not the main focus, it is the quality of the games that matter, and I can say that I saw many very good contests today. Still it is nice to see the younger players rewarded for their efforts via rating point gains. Congrats to Daniel Grazian, who went over 1900 for the first time last week and even added to his rating today. And Haochi Shi officially went over 1900 today too for the first time! Alan Tsoi is already there, and of course Varun Krishnan broke that barrier, a long time ago, although he has slipped back below 1900 recently. In the week of June 23-27th 2008, we hope some of these young players will be able to join with Varun in a Grandmaster Chess School class taught by GM Gregory Kaidinov right here in San Diego.  

Because of Bobby Fischer's recent passing away, we had a Memorial Best Game Prize to honor this great World Champion, who unfortunately fell from grace in his later years. Regardless of his later indefensible insanities, nothing can change the fact that in the 1960's and 70's he energized chess in the United States, creating the "Fischer Boom" that doubled USCF membership and inspired countless players with his amazing feats against the Russian monopoly that held an iron grip on the chess world at the time.

 

The Best Game Prize of $20 was split between Cyrus Lakdawala and Bruce Baker for a game that went down to the wire, and finally won by Cy by the closest of margins, but he wanted to split the prize with Bruce, see Cyrus Annotates for this game and some of the other runner-ups.

Wall Chart                                   event is rated

	Name/Rtng/ID	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6
1	IM Cyrus Lakdawala	bye	bye	W 3	B 2	W 4	B 12
	2538 2536  1st Place $100	1	2	3	4	4쩍	5쩍
4	Leonard Sussman	bye	bye	bye	W 6	B 1	B 2
	2108 2125 BU2400 $50	1	2	2쩍	3	3쩍	4쩍
3	David Hart	bye	bye	B 1	W 9	W 2	B 8
	2204 2201	1	2	2	3	3쩍	4
12	Haochi Shi	bye	bye	B 13	W 5	B 10	W 1
	1862 1912  BU2200 $40	쩍	1	2	3	4	4
2	Bruce Baker	bye	bye	B 5	W 1	B 3	W 4
	2285 2273	1	2	3	3	3쩍	3쩍
5	Carey Milton	bye	bye	W 2	B 12	W 9	B 10
	2082 2067	1	2	2	2	2쩍	3쩍
8	Daniel Grazian	bye	bye	B 10	W 7	B 17	W 3
	1920 1932  BU2000* $20	쩍	1	1쩍	2	3	3쩍
9	Alan Tsoi	bye	bye	W 11	B 3	B 5	W 13
	1914 1930 BU2000* $20	쩍	1	2	2	2쩍	3쩍
6	Alan Sebeckis	bye	bye	W 7	B 4	----	----
	2031 2041   (house)	1	2	3	3쩍	3쩍	3쩍
11	Richard Jensen	bye	bye	B 9	W 10	B 16	W 17
	1866 1859	쩍	1	1	1	2	3
10	Roberto Aiello	bye	bye	W 8	B 11	W 12	W 5
	1889 1884	쩍	1	1쩍	2쩍	2쩍	2쩍
7	Ben Barquin	bye	bye	B 6	B 8	W 19	----
	1994 1985	쩍	1	1	1쩍	2쩍	2쩍
19	Michael Chen	bye	----	----	W 15	B 7	B 20
	1457 1508   BU1800 $40	쩍	쩍	쩍	1쩍	1쩍	2쩍
13	Chris Wonnell	----	----	W 12	B 18	W 20	B 9
	1785 1777	0	0	0	1	2	2
17	William Delaney	----	----	W 21	B 16	W 8	B 11
	1684 1691	0	0	1	2	2	2
16	Chuck Ensey	----	----	B 20	W 17	W 11	B 21
	1742 1723	0	0	1	1	1	2
18	Anthony Harbone	----	----	B 15	W 13	B 21	W 14
	1600 1600	0	0	쩍	쩍	쩍	1쩍
20	Fred Cleveland	----	----	W 16	B 21	B 13	W 19
	1225 1243  BU1600 $40	0	0	0	1	1	1
21	Eric Pihl	----	----	B 17	W 20	W 18	W 16
	unr 1363 (ineligible for prize)	0	0	0	0	1	1
15	Jason Arbeiter	----	----	W 18	B 19	----	----
	1750 1713  (house)	0	0	쩍	쩍	쩍	쩍
14	Pejman Sagart	----	----	----	----	----	B 18
	1774 1754  (house)	0	0	0	0	0	0

Total Prizes $330                *tied