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Chess Life Online 2009 August Labor Day Preview: From Albany to San Diego
Chess Life Online 2009 August Labor Day Preview: From Albany to San Diego | Labor Day Preview: From Albany to San Diego |
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| September 3, 2009 | |
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Labor Day is almost upon us, and with it comes many State Championships and major Grand Prixs, and this year, two National Championships. What if you could play in all of the events!? Check out some exciting players and events to look for. If you are participating in one of the tournaments listed below, feel free to send games, stories or thoughts to [email protected] for inclusion in a Labor Day round up story on CLO. Oklahoma In the center of all the action, we have two National Championships and one strong Open set for Tulsa, Oklahoma: the U.S. Senior Open (which will qualify a player into the 2009 U.S. Championship) and the 1st U.S. Women's Open. The U.S. Senior Open was first held in 1981 and is open to players born before Sept 5, 1959. Many stars have preregistered for the Senior including GMs Boris Gulko, John Fedorowicz, reigning World Senior champ GM Larry Kaufman and IMs Joe Bradford and Emory Tate. Iryna Zenyuk and Chouchanik Airapetian are both signed up for the Women's Open, which includes a $1600 guaranteed prize fund and a probable ticket into the 2010 U.S. Women's for the winner. For those who don't qualify into either by gender or age, there's the Okie Chess Festival. Signed up so far are many rising young stars including IM B. Smith (2520), IM R. Kaufman (2306), FM M. Langer (2319), FM Darwin Yang (2348), FM Conrad Holt (2339), A Chua (2288), M. Bantic (2268), and Nelson Lopez (2228). Tom Braunlich, who is organizing the event with International Arbiter Frank Berry, pointed out that USCF board member Ruth Haring could play in any of the three events. "It's interesting that Ruth wants to play in the Senior instead of the Women's." Look for coverage of the Oklahoma chess action on CLO by WIM Alexey Root. Dr. Root, who is playing in the Women's Open, will also be penning an article for Chess Life Magazine. Tom Braunlich, who is also playing in the U.S. Senior Open, also promised to send some thoughts on what he calls the attack of the "recently turned 50-Fischer Boomers." Southern California Open The 31st Southern California Open goes down Labor Day weekend in San Diego. The tournament will feature pre-tournament lectures by GM Melikset Khachiyan on Friday night, starting at 7 PM. "GM Melik" told CLO that his lecture will consist of two sessions, one for advanced players on Dynamic Thinking (similar to his lectures on chess.com) and one for beginners on endgames. New York State Championship The 131st (!) New York State Championship will take place this weekend in Albany, New York. Confirmed participants include GM-elect Alex Lenderman and CLO advice columnist GM Joel Benjamin. For more details, see chesstour.com Southwest Open The 75th Southwest Open will kick off in Dallas, Texas this weekend. Tournament director Francisco Guadalupe and Dallas Destiny captain IM John Bartholomew plan to send thoughts to CLO. For more details on the tournament, see the registration page. For more recent news on Dallas chess, check out Alexey Root's blog on Monroi.com. New Jersey Open Preregistered players for the New Jersey Open include IM Dean Ippolito, Cadet Champion Andrew Ng, and the Shen brothers, who both won medals at the recent Pan-American Youth in Argentina. Victor won a gold in the Under 18 while Arthur won silver in the Under 12. Tennessee Open Six-time Tennessee State Champion and TN Tempo player Todd Andrews will cover the 63rd Annual Tennessee Open for CLO, which will be held this year in Crossville, TN, USCF headquarters. Other State Championships include the Michigan Open, the Louisiana State Championship in Baton Rouge and the Illinois Open. Additional Grand Prixs include the Saint Louis District Championship in Missouri, the Labor Day Chess Festival in Northern California, the 65th Ohio Chess Congress in Dayton, the Region 6 Open Championship in Minnesota and the 69th New England Open in New Hampshire. See the complete TLA info on all Grand Prixs this weekend here. What if you could play in all of them?! Enjoy your Labor Day and if you are playing in one of the events below, feel free to send games, stories or thoughts to [email protected] for inclusion in a Labor Day round-up CLO. |