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Chess Life Online 2010 August Favorites Prevail in Denker & TOC; Six-Day US Open Schedule Begins
Chess Life Online 2010 August Favorites Prevail in Denker & TOC; Six-Day US Open Schedule Begins | Favorites Prevail in Denker & TOC; Six-Day US Open Schedule Begins |
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| By Randy Hough | |
| August 4, 2010 | |
2010 Denker Champion Steven Zierk, Photo courtesy Monroi.com
A round four draw with Matt Anzis of Iowa actually left Steven behind the leader, Colorado's Richard Herbst. 4682 Steven came back from an admittedly dubious position to down Richard in the fifth round, and finished with what he considers his best game, a win (necessary for clear first) over NM Kevin Zhang of Arizona. 4684 Steven's victory earned him a full scholarship to University of Texas at Dallas, which he expects to accept. Alex Guo of Washington state, rated "only" 2116, achieved something of a trifecta: clear second place with 5-1, losing only to Zierk and earning $1500 in scholarship money from the Chess Trust; one of the best game prizes (judged by NM Tom Brownscombe) for his win over Quentin Moore in Round Five; and the Ursula Foster Memorial scholarship prize for players under age 16. 4685 The other best game prize went to James Smith for his win over Adam Jiang in the fourth round. 4683 NM Deepak Aaron (New York) and Kevin Mo (Pennsylvania) tied for third with 4 ½ points, each receiving $300 in scholarship money. A "logjam" at four points split fifth place among Zhang, Herbst, Anzis, Andrew Shvartsman, Christian Tanaka, Bob Shao, Prashantha Amarasinghe, Albert Zhou, and Peter Suich. Austin Battles of North Dakota earned a special prize donated by organizer Dewain Barber's American Chess Equipment for a 422 point upset. Both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Denker were marked by tributes to Barber, who is preparing to turn the reins over to Matt Lodge of Saint Louis. The opening also featured an inspirational talk by Ali Ellington of the local Chess Tutors, and a well thought out speech by former Denker participant Tyler Hughes, now a UTD student, about the importance of chess and the Denker tournament in particular in his life, as an example to others. (Tyler's remarks can be found on his Facebook page.) 
GM Timur Gareyev with a bright new hairstyle, Photo courtesy Monroi.com
4680 The inaugural U.S. Girls Junior Open had a more encouraging 25 players show up. Second seed Emily Tallo of Indiana defeated favorite WFM Simone Liao enroute to clear first place with 5 ½ - ½. 4681 
Emily Tallo's critical game against Simone Liao,
Photo courtesy Monroi.com
Margaret Hua of Missouri was second with 5, and Virginia's Ashley Xue took third with 4 ½. Many of the Denker, College, and Girls players are remaining for the six-day U.S. Open schedule. Speaking of which - about 160 players are entered in the six-day Open, which began Tuesday night. (The total turnout for the Open stands at 440, and with more four-day entries on the way, will likely break Indianapolis's 455 players in 2009, without coming close to this writer's hope that an Open in Southern California would draw at least 500.) GM Mark Paragua is joined by IMs Enrico Sevillano, Julio Sadorra, Salvijius Bercys, Max Cornejo, Mark Ginsburg, and Tim Taylor in that group. All won in Round One, along with such luminaries as FMs John Bryant and Daniel Naroditsky, and WFM (one of the most "under-titled players in the U.S.") Tatev Abrahamyan. 
Tatev Abrahamyan, Moira Kamgar and GM Alejandro Ramirez, Photo courtesy Monroi.com
The only perfect 4-0 scores atop the Traditional schedule belong to GM Alejandro Ramirez, IM Michael Mulyar and FMs Michael Casella and Jim Dean. GMs Melik Khachiyan and Larry Kaufman were held to draws by Alexander Balkum and Walter Shipman respectively. 4686 4687 4688 4689 4690 You can watch the top boards of the Denker, the Tournament of College Champions and the US Open live on Monroi.com. See complete standings for the Denker, the TOC and the Girls Juniors as well as side events and the US Open itself |