January Gambito Opens #548 - #551

Gambito #551 1/28/12  

4 rounds of G/45, d/5. Rounds are at 10:30 AM, 12:15, 2:45, and 4:30. Usually we have 20 to 30 players or so and Prizes for each rating category from First and Second Place, U2400, U2200, U2000, U1800 and U1600. If we have enough players we even throw in an U1400. Give it a try, I think you will like it! 

24 players today, here they are:

4 Masters: Bruce Baker, Varun Krishnan, Peter Graves and Avram Zaydenberg 

2 Experts: Leonard Sussman and Paul Agron

9 Class A: Ben Barquin, Elkaei Rivera, Madhavan Vajapeyam, Bud Stamper, Aaron Householder, Koji Louis, Jason Arbeiter, Jay Choi and Chuck Ensey

5 Class B: Scott Householder, Anthony Harbone, Boris Polonsky, David Whitten and Kenneth Carter

4 Class C/D: Fred Cleveland, Thomas Diem, Alex Householder and Benjamin Fellman

We used a 2 point McMahon pairing system with M/E=2, A=1 and B/C/D=0

No Cyrus for 2 weeks in a row?! He did come by for a visit near the end. Peter Graves won First Place - he beat Bruce, Avram, drew w/ Varun and  beat Paul. Varun lost to Avram, but then beat Madhavan, drew with Peter and beat Lenny. We haven't seen Avram for quite a while, it was good to have him back. He beat Varun, lost to Peter, beat Lenny and drew with Aaron Householder, who also had a good day by beating Bud Stamper, and myself (Chuck). Madhavan also impressed with a win over Jason, a loss to Varun, a very close win over Bud Stamper (both players down to a few seconds) and win over Ben Barquin. Boris Polonsky finished up his trip from Canada with a nice winning effort. Fred continues to restore his rating to his more normal 1460 rating.     

Here are the prize winners:

First Place: Peter Graves (5 1/2), $100

Second Place/BU2400: Varun Krishnan (4 1/2) and Avram Zaydenberg (4 1/2), $60 each

BU2200: Paul Agron (4), $40

BU2200/2000: Madhavan Vajapeyam (4) and Aaron Householder (4), $40 each

BU1800: Boris Polonsky (3), $50

BU1600: Fred Cleveland (2 1/2), $40

Total Prizes: $430

Gambito #550 1/21/12

21 players today, a little lighter than normal, was it the rain? Who knows? Here were the players in rating order:

2 Masters: Bruce Baker and Kyron Griffith

6 Experts: Alan Tsoi, Jamieson Pryor, Paul Agron, Venkat Iyer, Leonard Sussman and Esteban Escobedo

8 Class A: Madhavan Vajapeyam, Chris Wonnell, Bud Stamper, Jason Arbeiter, Pejman Sagart, Chuck Ensey, Datris Robinson and Koji Louis

4 Class B: Anthony Harbone, Tom Kuhn, David Whitten and Kenneth Carter

1 Class C: Jared Weiss

There were also a few house players: Vincent Broman, Phil Skiba and Matt Keith.

Bruce had a rare off day, losing to Venkat once again and then to Paul Agron. In the last round Alan Tsoi looked like he was losing to Kyron Griffith or least just barely hanging on, down to 7 seconds, but Alan played tenaciously while Kyron tried to rattle him and pressed too hard, and eventually Kyron lost in a time scramble. On the next board over, Venkat Iyer got lucky when Paul Agron allowed his flag to fall in a winning position. Paul's clock seemed to be somewhat defective in that the button wasn't responding to anything but a forceful press, but that was his problem...

There was a logjam at 4 points and 3 prizes were pooled and split between 5 players. Tom Kuhn upset Bud Stamper on his way to winning the U1800. Jared Weiss was the only Class C and so collected the prize without too much effort. He did draw with David Whitten and Kenneth Carter, two players who have upped their game recently and show good promise. New player Koji Louis of Hawaii is another one to watch out for, he plays a pretty solid game.

Biggest rating point winners (estimated): Pejman Sagart +59 to 1868, Venkat Iyer +38 to 2133, Kenneth Carter +35 to 1636, Tom Kuhn +30 to 1641.         

Here are the prize winners: We used a 2 point McMahon (M/E=2, A=1, B/C=0) 

First Place/U2400: Venkat Iyer (5) and Alan Tsoi (5), $75 each

2nd Place/BU2200: Kyron Griffith (4), Paul Agron (4) and Leonard Sussman (4), $28 each

U2000: Madhavan Vajapeyam (4) and Pejman Sagart (4), $28 each

BU1800: Tom Kuhn (3), $50

BU1600: Jared Weiss (1 1/2), $30

Total Prizes: $370

 Gambito #549 1/14/12

27 players, decent turnout considering competition from MLK tournament in LA. Here are the players in pre-event rating order:

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

5 Experts: Raoul Crisologo, Paul Agron, Leonard Sussman, Jamieson Pryor and Ben Barquin

6 Class A: Esteban Escobedo, Elkaei Rivera, Buddy Morris, Fernando Villa, Bud Stamper and Chuck Ensey

4 Class B: Boris Polonsky, Anthony Harbone, Zechariah Zhu and Tom Kuhn

2 Class C: David Whitten and Daniel Zhu

6 Class D: Keric Rivas, Jared Weiss, Jesse Wang, Fred Cleveland, Matthew Wang and Patrick Edwards

We used a 2 point McMahon with Masters =2, Experts and A's =1, B's and below =0.

Bruce beat Peter Graves in Rd 1 and drew with Cyrus in Rd 2, but lost to Jamieson in Rd 3 and drew with Kyron in the last round. Jamieson also beat Kryon after beating Bruce, but then lost to Cyrus. 3 Masters in a row, that is tough duty, but scoring 2 is awesome. Bud Stamper also did well, beating Raoul and Ben and barely losing to Peter. Zechariah Zhu beat Expert Ben Barquin in the last round, nice going Zech!

Biggest estimated point gainers: Jared Weiss +62 to 1451, Bud Stamper +55 to 1934, Zechariah Zhu +53 to 1739, Jamieson Pryor +47 to 2130, Fred Cleveland +44 to 1414 and Jesse Wang +41 to 1422.

Here are the Prize Winners:

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (5 1/2), $100

Second Place/U2400: Peter Graves (4) and Bruce Baker (4), $65 each

BU2200: Jamieson Pryor (4): $65 BU2000: Bud Stamper (4): $65

BU1800: Zechariah Zhu (3), $60 BU1600: David Whitten (2 1/2): $40

BU1400: Jared Weiss (2), Keric Rivas (2), Fred Cleveland (2) and Jesse Wang (2), $5 each

Total Prizes: $480

Gambito #548 January Super Gambito 1/07/12

4 rounds of G/40, d/5. Rounds are at 10:30 AM, 12:15, 2:45 and 4:30 PM. Lunch break from 1:45 to 2:45. Some players use this time to play blitz. The Gambito is all over by 6 PM and is usually rated within a day or two.

$25 entry fee, with $700 in Guaranteed Prizes. 2 Sections, Open and Reserve. Possible Booster Section (U1400) if we have enough players. Registration: 10 AM to 10:25 or call 619-239-7166. 1 bye is available in rounds 1-3, no last round byes.

$18 SCCF membership (State organization) required if you win over $18. Players who win over $100 in the previous 12 months at the Gambito Open are required to join the San Diego Chess Club (local club dues are $60 a year). Of course you also need USCF membership (national organization, $46 a year) to play, but we can sign you up on the spot for any or all of these memberships. Cash or check only, no credit cards, sorry.

34 players, nice turnout. Here they were in pre-event rating order:

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

5 Experts: Peter Hodges, Raoul Crisologo, Jamieson Pryor, Leonard Sussman and Venkat Iyer.

9 Class A: Elkaei Rivera, Madhavan Vajapeyam, Sridhar Ramanujam, Bud Stamper, Jay Choi, Jerry Qu, Pejman Sagart, Datris Robinson and Chuck Ensey.

7 Class B: Rolando Ignacio, Sean McNeely, Boris Polonsky, Zechariah Zhu, Tom Kuhn, Sam Barboo and Anthony Harbone.

5 Class C: David Whitten, Kenneth Carter, Daniel Zhu, Fred Cleveland and Thomas Diem.

4 Class D: Keric Rivas, Patrick Edwards, Stephen Zhu and Andrew Liu.

Nice day for Venkat Iyer (+45 estimated rating points), he beat Bruce Baker for the 2nd week in a row and also beat Kyron Griffith. He lost only to Cyrus (+7 rating points to 2588). Anthony Harbone was a perfect 4-0 in the Reserve Section (+74 points to 1707), he says that was the first time he has done that. He beat an Expert on Wednesday night too, wow! Way to go Tony! Keric Rivas also gained 51 points, Stephen Zhu was +48 and Andrew Liu +67.

Here are the Prize winners:

Open Section (18 players):

First Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (4), $125 Second Place: Kyron Griffith (3), $75

BU2400: Peter Graves (3), $75 BU2200: Venkat Iyer (3), $75

2nd U2400/2nd U2200: Peter Hodges (2 1/2), Raoul Crisologo (2 1/2) and Leonard Sussman (2 1/2), $17 each

BU2000: Elkaei Rivera (2) and Madhavan Vajapeyam (2), $50 each

Best Game Open Section: Elkaei Rivera for win over Bruce Baker

Reserve Section (16 players):

BU1800: Anthony Harbone (4), $75 2nd U1800: Tom Kuhn (3), $25

BU1600: Kenneth Carter (2), David Whitten (2) and Daniel Zhu (2), $33 each

BU1400: Keric Rivas (2), $50

Best Game Prize Reserve Section: Stephen Zhu for win over Fred Cleveland

Total Prizes: $780

Plus Best Game Prizes in each Section: One of Cyrus's books, your choice