Gambito #394

Gambito Open #394  November Super Gambito  11/01/08

31 players today, slightly less than expected, but enough to cover the Guaranteed prize fund of $700. Some players may have taken the week off in anticipation of next week's big two day Super Double Gambito. A few others may have been playing at the LA Open this weekend. (Ariel Gerardo won his first four games at the LA Open, but lost in the last round to the winner of the Amateur Section. Giovanno Carreto scored 3 points in the tough Open Section). 

This Gambito is now rated, new ratings are posted on the USCF website.

Here are the prize winners for this event:

Open Section (19 players)

 This was taken before the first round began and just by coincidence we have the two winners NM Peter Graves and IM Cyrus Lakdawala who is clowning around and wearing a particularly "obnoxious" ( hehe) T-Shirt.

First/Second Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (3 1/2) and Peter Graves (3 1/2), $100 each

Cy and Peter won 3 in a row and then drew in the last round when Cyrus decided to "spread the wealth" rather than go all out for a last round win. 

U2400: Ron Bruno (3), $75     U2200: Dimitry Kishinevsky (3), $75

It was good to have SDCC Club Champion NM Ron Bruno and strong eXpert Dimitry Kishinevsky back into the Gambito competition after a very long absence.  Both are exceptional talents and add to the style and strength of the field which is one of the attractions in playing the Gambitos - top rated players to test your chess prowess on!

2nd U2400: Leonard Sussman (2 1/2), $25

U2000/2nd U2000: Paul Agron (2 1/2) and Kyron Griffith (2 1/2), $50 each

These two players, Paul and Kyron, have both come on like gangbusters lately. Kyron is approaching an Expert level rating  after just a few months of playing again in the Gambito after a long layoff. Paul is new to the club, but he brought his New York smarts with him and has been playing very solid chess. Today he beat Expert Leonard Sussman and lost only to Ron Bruno in the last round. He trounced me in Round 2 with a nice positional exchange sacrifice.   

2nd U2200: Rick Aeria (2), Raoul Crisologo (2), Jason Qu (2), Marlon Icban (2), $6 each 

Reserve Section  (13 players)

First Place: Ken Hopper (4), $75

Second Place: Anthony Harbone (3) and Nestor Dagamat (3), $12 each

Book Prize: Robb Roy Partisala (3), he is unrated, and so therefore ineligible for a cash prize. Welcome to your first Gambito Open, Robb, you did well! 

 

U1600: Aaron Householder (2 1/2), $50

There is a cute story behind this picture of Aaron Householder, all of 7-years old and winner of the Under 1600 Section.  During the lunch break after Round Two earlier, we ran into Aaron and his dad, Scott at the local deli.  The conversation turned to the Halloween "Trick-or-treating" the night before.  Scott mentioned that his other two kids were most enthusiastic about trick-or-treating but that Aaron would much rather stay at home and prepare for his chess tournament!  "That is the mark of a truly dedicated chessplayer!"  Later after the tournament was over, we were thrilled to see little Aaron win the Under 1600 Section.  It was like Caissa, the muse of chess, taking care and blessing her own!  Aaron is no stranger to winning. See the July Super Gambito!

Here is one of Aaron Householder's wins from the event.  Click here for game with annotations from IM Cyrus Lakdawala.

2nd U1600: Orrin Olgart (2) and Jim Krooskos (2), $10 each

Best Game Reserve Section ($15): Aaron Householder for win over John Huey (see above)

Best Game Open Section ($15):  Peter Graves for win over Ron Bruno (see Cyrus Annotates)    

Biggest rating points gainers Reserve Section: Jim Krooskos +231, 773>1004 provisional based om 13 games ; Aaron Householder +71, 1445>1516; Orrin Olgart +73, 1349>1422

Biggest gainers Open Section: Paul Agron +104, 1841>1945 provisional based on 18 games 

Let's take a look at the Top Prize Winners at the Gambito Open as we approach the end of the year: 1. Cyrus Lakdawala 2. Bruce Baker 3. Carey Milton 4. Leonard Sussman 5. Ron Bruno 6. Peter Graves 7. Tom Kuhn 8. Rick Aeria 9. Chuck Ensey 10. John Bryant 11. Roberto Aiello 12. Daniel Grazian 13. Varun Krishnan 14. Kyron Griffith 15. Pejman Sagart

So far this year 100 different players have won money at the Gambito Open and $20,950 in prizes has been paid out so far.      

Next week: Super Double Gambito Open