Gambito #414 3/28/09
17 players today, no McMahon used because there were only ten players present for the first round. Cyrus took the day off. Bruce drew with Peter Graves, but still tied for first with Paul Agron, who took a first round bye and then won 3 in a row, including a last round win over Peter Graves. There was a 3-way tie for BU2200/2000, but Fred Cleveland won the U1800 prize all for himself with a big upset win over Norlino Tagalog (it is good to see Norlino back in action, but I guess he is a little rusty, not to take anything away from Fred's win). Fred also beat Mike Herzog for the second week in a row. Here are the prizes winners:
First Place: Bruce Baker (3 1/2), $70 U2400/1st Place: Paul Agron (3 1/2), $70
2nd Place: Peter Graves (2 1/2), $10
U2200/U2000 tie: Raoul Crisologo (2 1/2), Varun Krishan (2 1/2) and Pejman Sagart (2 1/2), $30 each
U1800: Fred Cleveland (2), $40 U1600: Michael Herzog (1/2), $30
Total Prizes: $300 Next week: April Super Gambito, don't miss it!!
Gambito #413 3/21/09
Twenty players today. We used a "mini" McMahon where Masters, Experts and Class A players started with 1 point, Class B and C with zero. Welcome to 3 new players: Mark Cass (1857), Jorge Gonzalez (1399) and Mike Herzog (unrated house player). Mark Cass (3) is a solid Class A player, but hasn't played since 1985. He is a fan of Fischer Random chess, as is Paul Agron. Mike Herzog has been hanging around the club for months and has been thinking about playing, but we pushed him into action today when we needed a house player. So he joined the USCF and lost his first rated game to Fred Cleveland (1), although I think he was winning at one point. Fred was low on time as usual, but managed to checkmate with about a minute left on his clock. Mike then won his 2nd game against newcomer Jorge Gonzalez, who unfortunately went 0-4. But cheer up Jorge, it is a learning curve and you will soon be climbing up that gentle slope (it only gets steep around 2000). It was also nice to see Ali Morshedi (2284), back in action at the Gambito Open, we haven't seen this very strong player for a while. Also back pushing pawns was Daniel Grazian, who tells us that he was recently accepted to the college of his choice, MIT. Congratulations, Daniel! Now Daniel will be able to play more frequently, at least until college starts. Finally, we should take note that Class C players can now rejoice, Mike Friedel, who has won most of the U1600 money this year, has finally crossed that fine line and is now, yes, officially a Class B player!
Here are the prize winners:
First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (4 1/2), $75 U24000: Ali Morshedi (4 1/2), $75
U2200: Daniel Grazian (4), $50
2nd Place: Paul Agron (3 1/2) and Raoul Crisologo (3 1/2), $10 each
U2000: Roberto Aiello (3 1/2), $50
U1800: Nestor Dagamat (3), $45 U1600: Mike Friedel (3), $45
Total Prizes: $360
Gambito #412 3/14/09
The St Patricks Day Parade and festivities made parking difficult and only a few brave souls ventured forth to fight the crowds and the noise. I have heard from several players who tried to find parking, but couldn't and just gave up. Getting someone to drive and drop you off seems to be the best solution, but not everyone can do that... Seven players in all - I think that might be a record for low attendance! Congrats to Ken Hopper whose rating went over 1800 for the first time, thanks to his stellar performance in this event. I almost went 0-4, but managed a nice lucky win against Leonard Sussman in the last round.
Here are the prize winners;
First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (4), $40
Second Place: Ken Hopper (2), $30
Third Place: Leonard Sussman (1 1/2), Chris Wonnell (1 1/2), Paul Agron (1 1/2), $7 each
BU1800: Chuck Ensey (1), $20
Total Prizes: $110
Gambito #411 3/07/09 March Super Gambito
This was one of those rare Super Gambito Opens that I had to miss. I try to plan things so I am there for my favorite event, but I just couldn't make it this time. Bruce Baker did a fine job as usual and the turnout was pretty good at 32 players, plus a few house players. Congrats to Madhavan Vajapeyam who went over 1800 for the first time.
The prize winners were:
First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (3 1/2), $125
2nd Place/U2400/2nd U2400/U2200: Alan Tsoi (3), Ron Bruno (3), Bruce Baker (3) and Leonard Sussman (3), $62 each
2nd U2200: Rick Aeria (2 1/2), $25
U2000: Nikolay Arutyunov (2), $75
2nd U2000: Jesse Orlowski (1 1/2), Madhavan Vajapeyam (1 1/2) and Jason Qu (1 1/2), $8 each
Reserve Section
First Place/2nd Place: Aaron Ibarra (3), Anthony Harbone (3), Kimberly Ogden (3), $33 each
U1600/2nd U1600: Scott Householder (2 1/2) and Mike Friedel (2 1/2), $35 each
Best Game Prize Open Section: Cyrus Lakdawala, $20
Best Game Prize Reserve Section: Aaron Householder, $20
Total Prizes: $700
Congrats Fred on not only a couple of big upsets, but on winning the 1800 bracket as well. I knew it was only a matter of time until you started to get the best of that pesky clock.
ReplyDeleteI had the honor of playing my first Master this Sat as well, thank you for the "lesson" Peter.