Phillips sweeps, Sam, Chandler, Azarshahri score!

NM Jeff Phillips scored a perfect 4/4 claiming the 4-point prize. Junior Gabriel Sam took the 3.5-point prize, as Zach Chandler and Pouyan Azarshahi take the 3-point prize. The Super 2x event, held every second Saturday of the month, hands out guaranteed cash prizes based on points instead of place finish. 04.13.13

 

Aaron Chang sweeps, Chu wins too!

The day saw numerous Rook and Pawn(s) endgame. At least two games in each of the three rounds ending in that endgame. Chang won his first game with one. He scored 3/3 to pick up 42 rating points! Chris Keefe finished 2nd/U1900 and David Portwood finished 3rd. Alan Chu swept the second group with 3/3 and picked up ten more points than Chang. Yale Warsaw and Richard Martin finished 2nd/3rd with 2.0/3. Rating report HERE. 04.06.13

 

Young Junior Expert Tameez Latib sweeps the Amateur Open

Latib picked up 51 rating points. The event was renamed, Not-so-Amateur Open as the shortage of players requested for the participation of a national master. Normally, Amateur Open is U2200 with a second section of U1500 if enough players can constitute a group with four rounds. Second place went to David Portwood with 3.0/4, his second 2nd-place finish in two days picking up 35 rating points for a weekend's work.

 

NM Phillips, Karadayi, and Adams top their Sections

With a first round bye NM Jeff Phillips won his other two games to top the first group with 2.5/3 including a last round win again junior expert Craig Hilby who tied for second with Class A, David Portwood with 2.0/3. Eren Karadayi also finished with 2.5/3 in the second group with a second round draw against eventual second place winner Timothy Chou, 2.0/3. In the third group, Mark Adams swept his section with a perfect score while second place went to Michael Lane who broke through 1500 for the first time.

 

NM Wright, Gandhi, and Ong tie in Blitz Championship

Top-seed NM John Wright was nicked half of the match points in the last three rounds to finish with 7.0/10. Shyam Gandhi and Aaron Ong also finished with 7.0/10.

 

Noah Daniels takes ChessPalace Junior Crown

Daniels finished with 3.5/4 collecting 61 rating points to be the Junior Champion. In addition to regular participants, all 2012 ChessPalace scholastic section winners where given free entries to the prestigious event. Daniels qualified with his younger brother, Keith from the Scholastic Team event held last year in April. Keith had another stellar performace to peak at 1223 after picking up 108 rating points. He entered the Championship section as one of the lowest seed to share second place with Gabriel Sam and Jean Azcunaga who all finished with 2.5/4. Sepehr Khosravi topped another Booster section with a perfect 4/4, followed by Roshan Mandayam and Jared Hsu with 3.0/4 and 2.5/4, respectively. Rohan Nair topped the Primary section with 4/4 to cross the 700 mark. He was followed by Denny Lee and Leo Vu with 3.0/4.

 

Shuben crosses 1900, Chu and Henri tie in Group B

Matthew Spencer Shuben picked up 53 rating points as he swept the top group of Class A to peak at 1912. In Group B, Alan Chu and Richard Henri tied for first with 2.0/3. The Saturday Open is a regular ChessPalace tournament held weekly and breaks sections based on ratings. It's held every Saturday except the second of each month when it's replaced with the Saturday Super Double Saturday.

 

Junior squad top the first Action Swiss of the year

Expert Nicky Korba topped a strong section with 2.5/3 edging out a master and Class A before giving away half a point in the last round against a Class A. Tied for second and U1950 are juniors Matthew Shuben and Aaron Chang. There was also a tie with in the next group with juniors Ethan Pau and Caleb Huang with 2.0/3. The scholastic groups consisted of eight players.