June Gambito Opens

Gambito #523  6/25/11

32 players, once again a nice showing. 3 point McMahon pairing system used.   

3 Masters: Baker, Graves, Griffith

9 Experts: Arutyunov, Navabi, Crisologo, Sussman, Tsoi, Wooten, Grazian, Barquin and Pryor

9 Class A: Vajapeyam, Morris, Wonnell, Fries, Zhao, Ensey, A. Householder, Rivera and Blank. 

3 Class B: Xu, S. Householder and Harbone   

8 Class C/D: Green, Cleveland, Talcott, Rivas, J. Wang, Blandin, Zhang and M. Wang

Bruce drew with WFM Shirin Navabi and Kryon Griffith. Kyron drew with Peter Graves and Bruce. Leonard Sussman had a 1st round bye and also drew with Shirin. Nicolas Zhao appears to be quite under-rated as he beat Nikolay Arutyunov in the last round. Alan Tsoi lost to Kyron but beat Raoul Crisologo and Peter Graves in the last round. Shirin drew all four of her games, she is a modern day Schlechter, as she also drew 3 out of 4 of her last Gambito games two weeks ago.     

Here are the Prize Winners:

First/Second Place/BU2400: Bruce Baker (6), Kyron Griffith (6) and Leonard Sussman (6), $90 each  

BU2200: Alan Tsoi (5 1/2), $75     BU2000: Nicolas Zhao (5 1/2), $75

2nd U2200: Shirin Navabi (5), Jamieson Pryor (5), Daniel Grazian (5) and Aaron Wooten (5), $2 each

2nd U2000: Madhavan Vajapeyam (5), $10

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

BU1600: Stuart Green (3) and Andrew Zhang (3), $37 each 

Total Prizes: $590    Next week: July Super Gambito Open   7/01/11

Gambito #522  6/18/11

Great turnout today, another nice sunny summer day in Balboa Park. 32 players, we used a 3 point McMahon, could have used a 5 point, but I got busy as everyone showed up at once, I just left it as I set it up yesterday. Here are the players in pre-event rating order: 

3 bye points (5 Masters & 6 Experts): Cyrus Lakdawala, Ali Morshedi, Bruce Baker, Peter Graves, Kyron Griffith; Hin Tsang, Nikolay Arutyunov, Leonard Sussman, Gil Damasco, Jamieson Pryor and Ben Barquin.

2 bye points (12 Class A): Madhavan Vajapeyam, Chris Wonnell, Roberto Aiello, Buddy Morris, Mario Vinoya, Pejman Sagart, Matt Souza, Elkaei Rivera, Chuck Ensey, Aaron Householder, Tom Kuhn and Nicolas Zhao

1 bye point (5 Class B): Jason Arbeiter, Jim Krooskos, Scott Householder, Jay Choi and  Anthony Harbone      

0 points (5 Class D and below - no Class C!): Fred Cleveland, Jesse Wang, Patrick Edwards, Matthew Wang, Arnel Rivera    

Cy lost to Peter Graves, Graves lost to Morshedi, Morshedi lost to Baker and Griffith lost to Cy. Bruce lost to Graves and Griffith (killer G's?). Nikolay is now close to being a master, just a few points away now. Roberto Aiello was visiting us, great to see him again. Gil Damasco put in a rare appearance and brought lots of players with him, including Nicolas Zhao who is visting from France and was FIDE rated 1692, we put him at 1800, but his performance rating was over 2000. Patrick Edwards cleaned up in the U1600 as there were no Class C players today.   

And the prize winners were:

First/Second Place/BU2400: Ali Morshedi (6), Cyrus Lakdawala (6), Peter Graves (6) and Kyron Griffith (6), $69 each

BU2200: Nikolay Arutyunov (5 1/2), $75 

BU2000: Roberto Aiello (5) and Buddy Morris (5), $50 each

BU1800: Jason Arbeiter (3 1/2), Jay Choi (3 1/2) and Scott Householder (3 1/2), $25 

BU1600: Patrick Edwards (3), $75

Total Prizes: $600   

Gambito #521  6/11/11

20 players. 2 point McMahon (M/Exp=2, A=1, B/C=0). Kyron Griffith (5) took clear First Place for $100. He lost only to FWM Shirin Navabi (4 1/2), who won BU2400 for $50. Shirin drew with Bruce Baker, Aaron Wooten and Jamieson Pryor (4 1/2). Mr. Pryor took BU2200/2400 for $50, beating Paul Agron in Rd 3 and drawing Shirin in the last round. Leonard Sussman (4) and Jim Humphrey (4) tied for 2nd place, $10 each. Tom Kuhn (3 1/2) was BU2000 for $50. Tom beat Patrick Edwards, Buddy Morris, drew with Aaron Householder and beat Alexander Blank, a stellar day for Tom. Jim Krooskos (2), Scott Householder (2), Haziq Siddiqi (2) and Patrick Edwards (2) tied for BU1800/1600 for $22 each. Total prize fund was $360.     

June Super Gambito  6/04/11  (Gambito #520)

$700 in guaranteed prizes, $920 actually paid.

4 rounds at G/40 w/ 5 second delay. Two sections, over 1800 and under 1800 rating. $25 entry fee. Free entry for players who have never played in a Gambito Open. 1 bye available in round 1 thru 3, no last round byes. Must be current USCF member, but we can sign you up on the spot ($42) or renew you if you are expired. No other memberships required to play. But if you win over $20, we do make you join the SCCF ($18, or $10 for juniors). Also if you win over $100 during the year we make you join the San Diego Chess Club ($60).   

Registration from 10 AM to 10:25, rounds at 10:30 AM, 12:15, 2:45 and 4:30. Lunch break from 1:45 to 2:45. All over by 6 PM.

Great turnout of 40 players, we love summertime!! Here are all the players in pre-tournament rating order:

Open Section (18 players):

4 Masters: Cyrus Lakdawala, Bruce Baker, Peter Graves and Kyron Griffith

6 Experts: Hin Tsang, Nikolay Arutyunov, Leonard Sussman, Aaron Wooten, Daniel Grazian, and Paul Agron.

8 Class A: Chris Wonnell, Buddy Morris, Jamieson Pryor, Fawsi Murra Jr, Robert Dolan, Jason Ma, Aaron Householder and Chuck Ensey.   

Reserve Section (22 players):

9 Class B: Edgar Lopez, Jason Arbeiter, Scott Householder, Philip Skiba, Jerry Qu, Tom Kuhn, Jay Choi, Jerry Beck and Anthony Harbone.

7 Class C: Haziq Siddiqi, David Narevsky, Isaac Vega, Andrew Negus, Ben Keltner, Mayra Murra and Fred Cleveland 

6 Class D/E: Claire Negus, Dustin Movius, Davey Jones, Thomas Diem, Andrew Zhang, and Patrick Edwards 

Glenn Rich, John Keltner and Mark Negus filled in as house players when needed. 

Bruce Baker earned a draw with Cyrus in Round 3. Cy beat Chris Wonnell, Peter Graves and Kyron Griffith. Bruce beat Jamieson Pryor, Hin Tsang and Aaron Wooten. Nikolay lost to Peter Graves but beat Aaron Householder, Jason Ma and Chuck Ensey. Fawsi Murra also lost to Peter Graves, but beat Aaron Householder, drew with Hin Tsang and beat Daniel Grazian.

In the Reserve Section, there were really too many players (we could have had a third section for U1400 players), so 2 players ended up with perfect scores: Tom Kuhn and Jerry Qu. Claire Negus won BU1600 with a win over Isaac Vega in the last round. Thomas Diem put in another great performance and won BU1400 with wins over Jerry Beck and Isaac Vega.        

Here are the prize winners:

Open Section:

First Place/Second Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (3 1/2) and Bruce Baker (3 1/2), $105 each

BU2400: Nikolay Arutyunov (3), $80  

2nd U2400: Peter Graves (2 1/2) and Kyron Griffith (2 1/2), $15 each

BU2200: Hin Tsang (2 1/2), Aaron Wooten (2 1/2) and Leonard Sussman (2 1/2), $37 each

BU2000: Fawsi Murra Jr (2 1/2), $80  

2nd U2200: Chuck Ensey (2) and Jamieson Pryor (2), $15 each

Best Game Open Section: Nikolay Arutyunov, $20, for win over Jason Ma

Reserve Section (U1800):

First Place/Second Place: Tom Kuhn (4) and Jerry Qu (4), $65 each

3rd Place: Jason Arbeiter (3), Philip Skiba (3) and Edgar Lopez (3), $8 each

BU1600: Claire Negus (2 1/2), $80  

2nd U1600: David Narevsky (2), Ben Keltner (2) and Mayra Murra (2), $10 each

BU1400: Thomas Diem (2), $50  2nd U1400: Davey Jones (1 1/2), $25 

Best Game Reserve Section: David Narevsky, $20, for win over Scott Householder

Total Prizes: $920