Gambito #445 and #446

Gambito #446   11/28/09

Yes, there was a Gambito Open today, as always. The only day we ever miss is the Saturday after Christmas, but other than that we are here pretty much every Saturday of the year, unless we are hosting a weekend event here like the Senior/Junior Open (April 17-18th, 2010) or the San Diego County Championships (August 14 -15, 2010). 

22 players today, pretty good considering we lost quite a few to the American Open in Los Angeles this weekend. We played in two sections of 11 players each. Here were the prize winners:

Open Section:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (4), $100    Second Place: Nikolay Arutyunov (3), $50 

BU2400: Raoul Crisologo (2 1/2), $50       BU2200: Lennart Mathe (2 1/2), $50

BU2000: Aaron Householder (2), $50

Reserve Section:

BU1800: Charlie Berkman (3 1/2) and Matt Souza (3 1/2), $25 each

BU1600: Scott Householder (3), $50

Total Prizes: $400

Next week is the December Super Gambito. 

Gambito #445   11/21/09

24 players, good turnout. A heartfelt Welcome Back to long time Gambito player James "Mitch" Mitchell, he missed the last 200 Gambito Opens, but he's back! Mitch was one of the original players; his second rated event was Gambito #24 and he was very active in the first 200 Gambito Opens. It appears he studied a bit while he was away, he beat Charlie Berkman (1783) and Chris Wonnell (1906) plus he earned a draw with near Expert Jamieson Pryor (1968), while losing only to Eric Smith (1969). Very impressive for a player rated 1648, but now after this event he is 1730!    

McMahon pairings with M/E=2, A/B=1, C/D=0

Here are the prize winners:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (6), $100         BU2400: Bruce Baker (5), $60

BU2200: Leonard Sussman (4 1/2), $60       2nd Place: Carey Milton (4), $50

BU2000: Charlie Berkman (4), $60               BU1800: James Mitchell (3 1/2), $50

BU1600: Michael Ferguson (2 1/2), $50

Total Prizes: $430