|
Open Section Final Standings
Amateur Section Final Standings
Games
|
by Michael Atkins,
NTD
The 37th Annual Virginia Open was the largest Virginia Open
since 1998 and a return to the days of 130-150 player Opens.
No one could ever make a living trying to predict tournament
turnouts. I've seen the advance registration double to
triple in size at site and I've seen it raise by 50%. With
95 advance entries and space for 166 people, there was a
worry that people would have to be turned away at the door -
something I've never done in 31 years of directing.
Fortunately, only 41 registered at the door, both avoiding
the crisis and making it a grand turnout!
Virginia Expert (soon to be master for sure!) Andrew
Samuelson went 5-0, a rare perfect slate for a non-GM in an
Open tournament. He played a super tough field to earn his
2570 performance rating. In the final four rounds he played
3-time Virginia State Champ FM Macon Shibut, Young NM Alex
Barnett (2004 ACC Blitz Champ), IM Oladapo Adu and several
time Maryland State Champion NM Stan Fink. Quite a
performance from Andy, who always seems a good sport about
both his wins and losses. Check out several of his games in
this issue.
Five players finished with 4-1 scores: NM Stan Fink (always
tough in time pressure - one opponent who didn't know Stan
thought he had a time advantage when Stan had a couple
minutes to make 15+ moves - That's almost too much time!) FM
Ilye Figler (always tough and playing well this tournament),
IM Oladapo Adu (who christened Samuelson "The Assassin"
during the tournament), Ray Kaufman (still playing well
after barely missing an IM norm at Hastings and an
undefeated result at the Baltimore Open several weeks
earlier) and Larry Larkins. Larry has improved his rating
over 200 points in the past year. Several weeks prior to the
Virginia Open Larry won the u2000 section at the Liberty
Bell Open. A long series of lessons from a 3-time State
Champ (Daniel Miller) seem to have lit Larry's chess fire.
Speaking of Miller, the pair of 3-time State Champs, Dan
Miller and Macon Shibut were back in the pack with 3-2
scores, in this tough section. Larkins took the A prize into
the 2nd-4th money. Four FIDE unrated players had
FIDE-ratable performances: Tim Hamilton - 2218/3, Edward Lu
- 1999/3, Tyler Cook - 2086/3 and Wilfredo Acevedo 2030/3.
The Amateur section of the Virginia Open is usually a
logjam, especially with it being 5 rounds. It used to be six
rounds, but the section was on a different playing schedule
than the Open - either section was bothering each other when
they came and went at round times so it seemed better a few
years ago to put them all on the same schedule to decrease
the distractions. This year three players wound up on top
with 4.5 scores. The sections highest rated player, William
"Jack" Barrow ( a former Virginia State Amateur Champ),
trailing by half a point, knocked off previously undefeated
W. Robert Harrison in the final round (check out the game!)
to join the winners. Ted Udelson and Jim Cope, both 4-0 in
the final round, decided it safer to play a quick "GM/B
player draw" to join Barrow at the top. Udelson had the
better tiebreaks so he took home the plaque and 2005
Virginia Open Amateur Champ laurels.
Bill Carroll, reigning Virginia State Amateur Champ Nick
Halgren and Harrison finished with 4 points and took the
Class B money. Class C went to NC's Bernice Bullock, Jesse
Lie and Joan Schlich. Top Class D went to Lolita Harris, who
had scared some higher players in the Virginia Closed Open
with her tough play. Raymond Wang, Daniel Arico and Danille
Campbell took the U1200 honors with 2.5 while Jarrod Rotch
was winning the U1000 money. Jarrod had quite a tournament
as he also picked up the Top Upset prize (790 points!), had
a performance rating over twice his rating and should gain
200+ points. Top Unrated was split by Kwanh Ho and Phillip
Cacurak.
We decided to do a special scholastic entry this year with a
reduced fee for teams who entered from the same school. We
had three trophies and rather appropriately three teams
signed up. Top team honors went to Longfellow Middle School,
followed by Ballou High School and Colesville School.
Snow returned to the Virginia Open as it started snowing
Saturday evening and snowed right through noon on Sunday, a
good 4 inches. Luckily, as forecasted, the sun broke through
and dried the roads making it easier for chess players to
return safely home.
Thanks to Catherine Clark for providing lots of time picking
up delicious pastries and Crispy Cream Doughnuts! The VCF
board/Officers met during the tournament and will be sending
out requests for future volunteers and potential officers.
We need some new blood, new ideas and fresh energy -think
about helping the Virginia Chess Federation!
The Springfield Holiday Inn will be the site, June 17-19th,
of the Richard Delaune Memorial, in honor of the many time
Virginia and Maryland State Champ who passed away last May.
We hope to see a lot of you there! Details in Chess Life and
the next Virginia Newsletter.
|