U2200
  Results
  Ratings

   U1600
   Results
   Ratings

  Rated online results

Richard K. Delaune, Jr

The Richard K. Delaune Memorial Tournament is mutually sponsored by the Virginia Chess Federation and from private contributions to the Richard K. Delaune Memorial Fund.

The tournament was a a fitting memorial to the memory of Rich. 123 people came to play in three sections over the 3-day chess weekend. It started with a Lecture and Simul by GM Joel Benjamin on Thursday, June 16. There was a nice opening ceremony on Friday evening and a touching reception on Saturday afternoon attended by Richard and Alicia's families. This was a tournament in which it would have been better had there been another name and no need for it to happen, but it was a nice beginning to what will hopefully become an annual tribute to Rich.

The Open section finished in a 4-way tie for first place, the three top players - GMs Alex Wojtkiewicz, Joel Benjamin and John Fedorowicz and local FM John Meyer, all finishing with 4-1. The tiebreaks finished in rating order with the three GMs taking home the Open section beautiful trophies (see abve). The top three in the U2200 section were Larry Larkins (4.5), Edward Pabalan (4) and Milo Nekvasil (4). Top three in the U1600 were Kyle Askine (5-0), Adam Chrisney (4-1) and Jerry Wu (4-1). 4th place in the Open section was split 4 ways among Rodion Rubenchik, Macon Shibut, Ray Kaufman and Steve Mayer. In the U2200 section 2nd and Top A money was split among Pabalan, Nekvasil, Harry Cohen, Chris Bush and Ray Fletcher.

The Open section began the way it should, with wins by the GMs, but a few other highly rated players were upset in Rd.1.
In round 2, NM Phil Collier nicked GM Fedorowicz for a draw with an unusual opening move that is more rare than a novelty. After GMs Benjamin and Wojtkiewicz drew in Rd 4, the three GMs were alone with 3.5 out of 4 points, which speaks to the predictive ability of the rating system. Fed and Wojo drew in blazing style while FM Rubenchip was holding Benjamin to a draw which created a four-way tie. FM John Meyer joined the winners circle with a final round defeat of FM Dov Gorman.

Download the photos for a larger image
photography by Michael Atkins

GM Alex Wojtkiewicz vs GM Joel Benjamin	GM Joel Benjamin
VCF Newsletter Editor Macon Shibut	NM Alex Barnett
GM John Fedorowicz	IM Larry Kaufman vs GM John Fedorowicz
FM John Meyer - NM Steve Mayer	A shot of the room