A draw against Jonathan Homidan (more on his breakout result below) and an uneventful last round contest with Matikozyan followed, assuring Gareev a tie for first.  

Bryant, 22 (Sevillano's stepson) also played in the fast schedule but followed a different course, losing to 2195-rated Leonid Furman in the first round and needing five straight wins to land in the winner's circle. His fifth round win over the talented young Texas Master Jonathan Chiang set the stage.

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8...Nb4 is an unusual move in the Alapin Sicilian, and the recapture on move ten with the queen rather than bishop does not inspire confidence. Chiang delayed castling, giving Bryant the chance to uncork some tactics on the e-file. A better alternative for Black was 16...exd5 17.Bxd5+ Be7, but White has a small but clear edge after 18.Bxc4.

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In yet another Alapin Sicilian, Black left his e6 pawn weak with the aggressive 13...f5, but defended and counterattacked well...until after time pressure, when 41...e5! would have virtually equalized. Instead, 41...Ba3? forced White's rook to the optimal e-file, and the ...e5 break came too late as White's attack crashed through, leaving Bryant tied for first place.

The PCO also marked a big splash by 16-year-old Jonathan Homidan, who broke Master only recently (his certificate was presented during the tournament) but made 85-point rating gains in both the Pacific Southwest Open two weeks before and in the PCO. After upsetting GM Vadim Milov in the "fast" (Game/45) schedule, Jonathan downed IM Roman Yankovsky in the fourth (merged) round.

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The IM's offbeat line against the French left him with better pawn structure but Black with more dynamic piece play, which Jonathan utilized well. A time pressure blunder (34.Qf6 wins the e-pawn and maintains virtual equality) cost White the game.

Top seed Gareev was next in line for Homidan. He appeared somewhat distracted during the game and made some second best moves (for instance, either capture on d4 improves on move 12) that left White with an edge because of the two bishops and protected past pawn that must be blockaded. Jonathan was content to take a draw. And Coach Jay Stallings, organizer of the Superstate scholastic championship and the Master-Junior simul, fulfilled his possibly rash promise to shave off his mustache and beard (nine-year fixtures) if Jonathan didn't lose.

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And in the final round came GM Enrico Sevillano, who trailed Gareev and Homidan by a half point.

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The GM's pawn sac is speculative but requires careful defense, which Jonathan provided, though 24...Bc2 probably improves. At that point Enrico could have restored the balance with 25.f5, one idea being 25...gxf5 26.Rg3+ Kh8 27.Bxf5 exf5 28.Rxf5 Rc4 29.Rgf3 with dynamic equality. Instead, after 25.g4 Qg7! Black would have had a definite edge (if 26.f5 gxf5 27.Kh1, both 27...f4 and 27...Bc2 appear good), but after the game moves Black's advantage is minimal and both players avoided tempting fate.

Thus Homidan finished at 4½ - 1½,  a half point out of first but a full point ahead of the other Under 2300 players. He will be a senior at The Webb School in Claremont, California this fall. Jonathan now has an undefeated streak of 36 games, many against masters, going back to the American Open in November 2011. Despite his relatively infrequent tournament play, he studies and takes weekly lessons from IM Andranik Matikozyan.

Homidan and Matikozyan were joined the third place tie by Iranian GM Ehsam Gahem Maghami (who won three straight after losing to Homidan in the last round of the fast schedule) and FM Luis Carlos De Arco of Colombia (winner of four straight after a bye and a loss to young Albert Lu). 

Class winners included Kevin Moy of Northern California, who recently turned 13 (Under 2100; a recent high school grad from the Bay Area who spent the weekend on crutches, Ojas Chinchwadkar (Under 1900 and rated 1898 - sometimes the favorites come through); and local players James Gould (Under 1700) and Chris Lane (Under 1500). The Under 1200s were divided into adult and junior sections (it's true, sometimes the older players would rather not play young kids), with David Fujii winning the former and Alex Shaham and Albert  Xu tying in the latter.

As for the Mixed Doubles, the lady carried most of the load for the winning team, from the bay Area. Seventh grader Trina Chatterjee scored 5-1 (and gained 204 points) in Under 1500, while Cal McCarty-Snead, a third grader, earned 2½ in Under 1700. Trailing a half-point behind at 7 points were Arizonans Liulia Cardona in Open (3) and Cardona's student Justin Frielander in Under 1500 (4). The West's appetite has been whetted!

Steve Immitt, Quan Luong, and this writer directed for CCA. We'll be back at the Sheraton for the Los Angeles Open in October.

All results can be viewed on MSA.