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41st Annual Virginia Open |
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Feb 27-Mar 1, Crowne Plaza Tysons Corner |
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Open Standings
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What goes into making a really successful tournament. Many factors
add into the formula and the result was the largest Virginia Open, at 165
players, since at least the beginning of the USCF's MSA site in 1992. A
great quality site in a convenient location that has a good room rate
($79), nice playing conditions and good food that doesn't crack your
budget create the venue. Players eager for competition coming from various
places up and down the east coast and from as far away as California fill
the playing room. A lucky break in timing as the morning after the
tournament finds the area in the midst of the biggest snow storm in
several years, one that would have destroyed the tournament if it came
three days earlier. GM Eugene Perelshteyn came down from Massachusetts to take clear first in the Open. After defeating fellow-GM Larry Kaufman in Rd 4, FM Daniel Yeager pushed Eugene to the max in a game that ended in a draw after 5 2/3 hours. Eugene picked up a couple rating points on his quest to qualify for the US Championship and took home the plaque and $600 for his effort. Six players finished a half-point behind. Previously mentioned Dan Yeager gave up an earlier draw to 4-time Virginia State Champ Geoff McKenna. FM Dov Gorman and IM Oladapo Adu drew in the 5th round to join the 4-point club. Earlier Adu had been held to a draw by Ali Almuktawakel, a regular at US Chess Center and Arlington Chess Club. Ali also beat Stan Fink in Rd 1 for a FIDE performance and a rating gain of 50 points. IM Ray Kaufman finished with 4 after drawing with Gil Guo and Geoff McKenna. Expert Eddie Mark defeated McKenna in final round to join the six pointers and bring the Expert money into the 2nd-4th place pot. Harry Cohen won the Class A prize. This had the feel on an older style event with the traditional 1/3 Open and 2/3 Amateur fields. 47 players came from outside Virginia. The majority were from chess-starved Maryland, but also from Texas, California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, DC and Ontario! A number of players turned in FIDE performances: Goran Zalar, Ali Almuktawakel, Ed Pabalan, Charles Yang, Ramen Sreenivasan, and Geoff McKenna (but he should have an old FIDE rating from years ago) Three people tied for the Amateur Section, which was directed by Don MIllican. Raghu Rajaram won the plaque and Virginia Open Amateur champ on tiebreaks over Deodato Obregon and JinSeok Kim with 4.5 out of five. Multiple ties happened for every class section and can best be seen on the Amateur final standings page. Scholastic players have been making a larger and larger proportion at
Open tournaments. The chance to play adults helps the rapid gains they
often make. A full 33% of the field in 2008 were scholastic players and it
went up to 39% this year. The dates were changed to late February mainly
because Kasparov Chess Foundation chose to conflict with the traditional
dates and scheduled a big scholastic event at UMBC, later to be held in
Pikesville.
Past Virginia Opens
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