October Gambito Opens (#438 - 442)

Gambito #442  10/31/09

Yes, it will be spooky, but we are playing today. 10:30  AM to 6 PM, done in plenty of time to get home and feed all those monsters and zombies.

27 players today, Helix Charter School was back again for a second visit. Here were the prize winners:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (4), $100 

BU2400/2200: Kyron Griffith (3) and Leonard Sussman (3), $70 each

2nd Place: Bruce Baker (2), Avram Zaydenberg (2), Varun Krishnan (2) and Ben Barquin (2), $15 each

BU2000: Jamieson Pyror (1 1/2), $60

Reserve Section

First Place: Aaron Householder (3 1/2) and Mayra Murra (3 1/2), $35 each

BU1600: Shane Orey (3), $70

Total Prizes : $500

Next week: 11/07/09 Super Gambito on 1st Saturday of the month as always  

Gambito #441  10/24/09

Rub shoulders with great players like Bruce Baker and Cyrus Lakdawala. You might even pick up a few tips just from listening to them chat and observing their play. Some players don't play because they are worried they will lose rating points from not being used to the faster style of play (G/45), but this is a misconception. Over time, you will actually gain rating points by learning to think a bit faster, but mainly from getting in many quality games from lots of good players. It really is one of the best ways to get better fast. Cyrus says he is amazed that more players don't take advantage of this great learning tool. He says it is really good for your chess skills and he ought to know - he is an International Master and a trainer of many very successful players.  

Well, after that intro, it turns out today was a rare day when neither Bruce or Cyrus was there, in fact no masters showed up today. And former master and current Expert Leonard Sussman, who is almost always there was also MIA. Not sure why, although Bruce said he just needed some time off and Cyrus does take off about once a month. While the cats are away the mice play!! 16 players today, in rating order (these rating reflect Gambito #440, which is finally rated after an unusual delay):

1. Kyron Griffith (2134) 2. Alan Sebeckis (2031) 3. Ben Barquin (2009) 4. Roberto Aiello (1995) 5. Jamieson Pryor (1962) 6. Chris Wonnell (1881) 7. Chuck Ensey (1855) 8. Jason Arbeiter (1774) 9. Aaron Householder (1771) 10. Edgardo Navera (1679) 11. Anthony Harbone (1626) 12. Matt Souza (1601) 13. Scott Householder (1590) 14. Eusy Ancheta (1562) 15. Fred Cleveland (1408) 16. Christopher Kuttruff (unr)   

Here are the prize winners. By the way, there was a mistake on the initial prize awards, this is the correct version. We used a McMahon Swiss where Experts = 2, A = 1, B/C = 0

First Place: Alan Sebeckis (6), $90

BU2400/2200/2000: Kyron Griffith (4), Ben Barquin (4) and Jamieson Pryor (4), $43 each

2nd Place: Chris Wonnell (3) and Roberto Aiello (3), $5 each

BU2000: Edgardo Navera (3), $40

BU1600: Scott Householder (2), $30 

Total Prizes $300   

Gambito #440  10/17/09

29 players today! Finally a good turnout! Cyrus won, but once again allowed a draw to Kyron Griffith. Bruce battled Cyrus to a fairly even position, but ran low on time very late in the game as so often happens when you play Cyrus, and Bruce made a mistake that cost him the game. Kyron also drew with Leonard Sussman, but Lenny lost to Bruce in the last round.   

Here were the prize winners:

Open Section (12 Players)

Players in rating order: 1. Cyrus Lakdawala (2528) 2. Bruce Baker (2309) 3. Kyron Griffith (2121) 4. Leonard Sussman (2111) 5. Hin Tsang (2060) 6. Alan Sebeckis (2026) 7. Roberto Aiello (2013) 8. Jamieson Pryor (1964) 9. Jeff Tellman (1858 provisional) 10. Chuck Ensey (1850) 11. Charlie Berkman (1809) 12. William Delaney (1756)

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (3 1/2), $100 

U2400: Bruce Baker (3), $75   U2200: Kryon Griffith (3), $75

2nd Place: Hin Tsang (2 1/2), $60

U2000: Jamieson Pryor (1 1/2), Chuck Ensey (1 1/2) and William Delaney (1 1/2), $25 each  

Reserve Section (17 players) 

Players in rating order: Anthony Harbone (1627) 2. Rocio Murra (1591) 3. Mayra Murra (1578) 4. Eusy Ancheta (1578) 5. Tom Kuhn (1535) 6. Jim Krooskos (1535) 7. Fred Cleveland (1420) 8. Jonathan Centers (1408) 9. Edgar Lopez (1000) Plus 8 unrated players from Helix Charter School: John Vanderpot (coach), Sam Deck, Matthew Doolittle, Earl Johnson, Shane Orey, Nick Oviedo, Keric Rivas and Ryan Valley. Thanks for coming guys and we look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks. You should have ratings in a day or two. Earl Johnson (2 1/2) did the best, his rating is estimated to be 1641.   

Only 1 Class B player, still a lot of players missing from our regular list of players. Is everyone on vacation?? Great to see the Murra sisters playing though, and it was cool that they both won money, and pretty good money too! Mayra won all four games, beating Ryan Valley, Jonathan Centers, Anthony Harbone and Jim Krooskos.  

U1800: Mayra Murra (4), $75   U1600: Rocio Murra (3), $75

Total Prizes: $535 

 

Gambito #439  10/10/09

Once again the turnout was rather low, not sure why this has been a trend lately, but these things go in cycles. There was the LA Open that drew away a few players, but still we usually run about 20 players and this time we only had 10. Bruce Baker (3 1/2) tied with Roberto Aiello (3 1/2) for First Place, $50 each, they drew in round 3. Newcomer Jeff Tellman (2) took BU2000 for $30 and Aaron Householder was once again BU1800, also for $30.      

October Super Gambito (#438)  10/03/09  

Entry Fee: $25  Guaranteed prize Fund $700.

25 players, still running a little light on the turnout these days. There was a lack of parking today due to some Octoberfesty thing in the park, maybe that discouraged a few players. I counted 12 "frequent players" (played 3 out of the last 10 Gambito Opens) who did not attend today. The Open Section had decent attendance with 17 players, but the Reserve Section was fairly small with only 8 players.

Bruce Baker took a first round bye, but drew with Cyrus in the last round. Cyrus beat Jason Qu, Kyron Griffith and Ron Bruno. Eric Montany drew with Varun Krishnan and Raoul Crisologo, but beat Hin Tsang in the last round. Kyron lost only to Cyrus and beat Raoul in the last round. Varun beat Ron Bruno in the last round. It's good to see Ron back after a long layoff. He beat Dimitry in round 2, but that game was very close. I believe Dimitry turned down a perpetual and later missed a mate in one, all with little or no time on his clock. His flag fell just before Ron's and Ron called it.      

Here are the players:

3 Masters: Cyrus Lakdawala (2527), Ronald Bruno (2301) and Bruce Baker (2294)

9 Experts: Dimitry Kishinevsky (2151), Eric Montany (2147), Alan Tsoi (2111), Leonard Sussman (2110), Kyron Griffith (2106), Varun Krishnan (2099), Raoul Crisologo (2071), Hin Tsang (2052) and Jason Qu (2032)

5 Class A: Roberto Aiello (1998), Madhavan Vajapeyam (1907), Pejman Sagart (1861), Chuck Ensey (1848) and Charlie Berkman (1815)

4 Class B: Jason Arbeiter (1783), Aaron Householder (1737), Kimberly Ogden (1708) and Anthony Harbone (1607)

4 Class C: Scott Householder (1596), Fred Cleveland (1441), Armando Garcia (1416) and Claire Negus (1331)     

Open Section

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (3 1/2), $125  

2nd Place/U2400/U2200: Eric Montany (3), Bruce Baker (3) and Kyron Griffith (3), $75 each

2nd U2400/2200: Varun Krishnan (2 1/2), Hin Tsang (2 1/2) and Dimitry Kishinevsky (2 1/2), $17 each

BU2000: Madhavan Vajapeyam (1 1/2) and Chuck Ensey (1 1/2), $50 each

Reserve Section

Aaron Householder continues to do well, soon he will be playing in the Open Section! He is now rated a 1775. His father, Scott, also scored well, so it was a good day for the Householders!  Aaron won 3 and drew only with #1 rated Jason Arbeiter. Jason also lost to Anthony Harbone. Kimberly Ogden made a rare appearance; he drew with Anthony and lost to Aaron (see best game below). Scott lost to Kimberly and Jason. Armando Garcia played his first Gambito Open and won money.     

BU1800: Aaron Householder (3 1/2), $75 

2nd U1800: Jason Arbeiter (2 1/2) and Kimberly Ogden (2 1/2), $12 each

BU1600: Scott Householder (2), $50 

2nd U1600: Fred Cleveland (1 1/2) and Armando Garcia (1 1/2), $10 each

Best Game Open Section: Cyrus Lakdawala ($15) for win over Ronald Bruno

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.c3 b6 4.Bf4 Bb7 5.e3 e6 6.Bd3 Be7 7.h3 0-0 8.0-0 d5 9.Nbd2 cxd4  10.cxd4 Ne4 11.Rc1 Bd6 12.Bxd6 Qxd6 13.Qc2 Nc6 14.Bxe4 dxe4 15.Qxe4 Rac8 16.Ng5 g6 17.Qh4 h5 18.Nge4 Qd8 19.Qf4 Nb4 20.Rxc8 Bxc8 21.Qh6 Re8? 22.Rc1 Nd5 23.Ng5 Nf6 24.Nde4 Bb7 25.Rc7!! 1-0   

Best Game Reserve Section: Aaron Householder ($15) for win over Kimberly Ogden. A really fine game by this young rising star.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Qg4 f5 8. exf6 Nxf6 9. Qh4 0-0 10. 0-0-0 Qb4 11. Bd3 c5 12. g4 cxd4 13. g5 Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Bxe4 g6 16. Nf3 Qd6?! 17. Nxd4 Rf4 (nice idea but it is too slow compared to White's attack) 18. Qh6 Rxe4 19. Nf5!! Qf4+ 20. Kb1 Qc7 21. Rd8+! 1-0