February Gambito Opens #505-507

Gambito Open #507

Another light turnout today, the rain storm and the San Diego State basketball game are probably to blame. 16 players, including 5 Masters (Lakdawala, Jeff Arnold, Ken Arnold, Morshedi and Griffith), 2 Experts (Sussman and Vajapeyam), 4 Class A (Wonnell, Paz, Ensey and Ramanujam), 2 Class B (Kuhn and Harbone) 2 Class C (Choi and Cleveland), plus two house players (Whitten and Bornhoft, a new player who won his first rated game). We used a 2 point McMahon where M/E=2, A=1, B/C=0. Here were the prize winners:

Cyrus gave up draws to Ali and the Arnold brothers, and won against Lenny Sussman. Ken Arnold drew with Morshedi. Kyron lost to Jeff and Ali. A new player today was Jorge Gilberto Paz, a Class A player who came with the Arnold bothers. Thanks, guys!  

First Place: Jeff Arnold (5 1/2), $80   Second Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (4 1/2), $20 

BU2400: Ali Morshedi (4), Ken Arnold (4) and Kyron Griffith (4), $17 each

BU2200: Sridhar Ramanujam (4), $40  BU2000: Chuck Ensey (3 1/2), $40

BU1800: Anthony Harbone (2), $35   BU1600: Jay Choi (2), $35

Total Prizes: $300         

Gambito Open #506   2/19/11

22 players today, including 3 Masters (Lakdawala, Baker and Morshedi), 8 Experts (Tsang, Agron, Sussman, Barquin, Wong, Wonnell, Polka and Pryor), 3 Class A (Iyer, Morris, Ensey), 2 Class B (Kuhn and Harbone), 3 Class C (Siddiqi, Ancheta, Pimentel), and 3 Class D (Cleveland, Edwards and Liu). We used a 2 point McMahon with M/E=2, A/B=1, C/D=0. It was raining on and off all day, but quite clear and sunny for lunch which was nice. The roof still leaks badly of course.

Bruce looked like he had a draw with Cyrus in round 2, with a Rook and two pawns versus 2 Knights, and apparently Cyrus was about to accept his draw offer, except Bruce's last move put his King into a fork from the Knight, winning a Rook. Bruce was down to 1 minute. With a little more time he surely wouldn't have made this blunder. Cyrus continues his march up the rating list, headed towards 2600 (+11 today to 2575).    

Here were the prize winners:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (6), $100      BU2400: Bruce Baker (5), $50

BU2200/2000: Ben Barquin (4 1/2) and Buddy Morris (4 1/2), $50 each

2nd Place: Ali Morshedi (4), Hin Tsang (4), Richard Wong (4), Paul Agron (4), $10 each

BU1800: Anthony Harbone (2 1/2) and Tom Kuhn (2 1/2), $25 each

BU1600: Fred Cleveland (2 1/2) and Rex Pimentel (2 1/2), $25 each

Total Prize Fund: $390

Gambito #505  2/12/11

14 players, light turnout after the big Special Super Gambito the previous week with 37 players.  It was a mini-Mcmahon with M/E =1, A/B/C = 0. Bruce Baker (5) won First Place ($75), Ali Morshedi (4) was BU2400 ($40), he lost only to Bruce. Alan Tsoi (3 1/2) was BU2200 ($40), he lost to Bruce and drew with Sussman. Jamieson Pryor (3) beat NM Kyron Griffith (3) in the first round and won BU2000 ($40). Jay Choi (3) was BU1800 ($40), he lost only to Matt Souza. Fred Cleveland (1) won BU1600 ($25) with a win over Rex Pimentel (0). Total Prizes = $260.