by Randy Merrell

Blitz

It really began Friday night. We had a blitz (my first) and a lecture presented by Master Ken Jones. The lecture was about a position that falls outside the normal evaluation process. Something I confess I had never considered. I hope Ken will present the position on the website. Maybe all those position I misevaluated were really like this. Probably just my bad skills, but I’m blaming it on this anyway.

We had 8 entries in the blitz. Martin Stahl was nice enough to play the first round to even out the roster until Tim Blaco arrived for round 2. Tied for first and second were Ron Luther and Jason Wawrzaszek with 4.0. Wawrzaszek’s only loss was to Luther and Luther’s was to Kevin Swartz who finished in a tie for third with CJ Armenta. Everything went  smoothly.

Crosstable: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201806298082

Class

We were almost an hour late starting the first round. Some of which (20 min) was due to the bulk of walk in registration. A lot had to do with errors, and players last minute decision to move up a class. Now my feelings about early registration discounts. Everyone benefits from early and accurate registration. Not just the tournament director. Not everyone can register early but if you can you should. I know of no tournament organizer or director that would not refund your entry fee if you notify them that you wish to withdraw the day before the tournament. Also accuracy is important. Please supply your
USCF ID number with your entry. This way identity mistakes are not likely to happen. Finally if your registering a child give the child’s name as the player with their USCF ID.
We had 74 entries about half were on site. This is a big success in a market that had been thought to max out at around 35. Many interesting and exciting games were played. The championship plaques went to the following.

In the Master Expert Section Michael Brooks and Ron Luther tied with 4.5. Brooks won the tie breaks but deferred the plaque to Luther.

Aaron Z Lin was the top Missouri class A player and took home the plaque.

 

Class B had a clear first place and it was Missouri resident Matthew J Pratt.

Martin Stahl was the top class C finisher from the state.

Class D also had a clear first from Missouri. Joshua Gollapudi won the plaque and the class.

In the U1200 section Benjamin Wenlo Xu had the only perfect 5 score of the tournament and took first and the plaque.

Crosstable: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201807018072

Novice

This tournament was also a success with 10 entries. A four way tie was settled on tie breaks in favor of Max Yang who took home the plaque and a gold medal, Silver went to Sachin D Kesarkar. Bronze was won by Felix Zhang. Just out of the medals but tied for first was Ramkumar Krishnan.

 

Crosstable: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201806308122