Gambito #357 February Special 5 Round Super Gambito 2/02/08
Decent turnout of 33 players, we were hoping for 40 but several regulars could not make it today. The Projected Prize Fund of $1,600 (based on 40 players) was reduced by 20% to $1,275. Some of the "frequent" players (affectionately known as Gambito chess "freaks") missing today were: Bruce Baker, Dimitry Kishinevsky, Leonard Sussman, Alan Tsoi, Jesse Orlowski, Jason Qu, Fausto Robles, William Delaney and Michael Chen, that's 9 players, so you can see we could have made our goal with a little more luck. William Delaney did fill in as a house player for one game, as did Arsenio Caccam, Chris Wonnell and Antonio Gonzalez. Still, for 2 rounds we had no house player in the lower section which had an odd number of players. (I know, I know, and a number of odd players, but that is too easy...)
Seven players got in at a reduced rate of $25 because they were rated U1400, and two players got in for a $25 special rate because they had never played in a Gambito Open before (a hearty welcome to Wilfredo Lapurga and Jonathan Hecht). Once again out of towner John Bryant won the biggest prize, earning a draw with IM Cyrus Lakdawala, who was also nicked for a draw by Ron Bruno. There were 4 Masters, 4 Experts, 8 Class A players plus 2 B's playing up in the Open section. One of those B's was myself, Chuck Ensey, and I was lucky enough to win the U2000 prize, thanks to Class A player Mario Amodeo outperforming and winning the U2200 prize. Mario is rated 1970 so that is not a total surprise, but still, he said he can't remember ever winning so much money in a chess tournament. The Reserves had 5 Class B players, 3 Class C and 7 players U1400. In that section the prizes went more true to form as the highest rated Class B player, Jason Arbeiter, won the top prize and the highest rated Class C player, Gene Arnaiz, won the BU1600.
Nine players paid the "walk up fee" of $50, 15 paid the advanced entry fee of $40 and 9 paid $25, so 9x$50 + 15x$40 + 9x$25 = $1,275. Special thanks to Gene Arnaiz for chipping in $50 to cover the rating fees so we could still payout Best Game and Upset Prizes. And he did that BEFORE he won $120 for Best Under 1600!
Once this event is rated in a few days you can see the wallchart on the USCF site (it's a little too big to post here). In the meantime, here are the winners:
Open Section (18 players)
First Place: John Bryant (4 1/2) $240 Second Place: Cyrus Lakdawala (4) $120
Third Place: Ron Bruno (3 1/2) $56
BU2200: Mario Amodeo (3 1/2) $120 BU2000: Chuck Ensey (3) $120
2nd U2200: Raoul Crisologo (2 1/2), Carey Milton (2 1/2), Rick Aeria (2 1/2), $20 each
2nd U2000: Roberto Aiello (2 1/2), Daniel Grazian (2 1/2), Ben Barquin (2 1/2), $20 each
Biggest Upset: Roberto Aiello, for win over a player rated 202 points higher, $15
Best Game: John Bryant, for win over Romeo Ignacio $15, Check Cyrus Annotates to see this game and some of the other contenders, we will add games as time goes on...
Reserve Section (15 players)
First Place: Jason Arbeiter (4 1/2) $160
2nd/3rd Place: Aaron Ibarra (3 1/2) and Jonathan Hecht (3 1/2), $60 each
BU1600: Gene Arnaiz (3 1/2) $120
2nd U1600: Tom Kuhn (3), Eric Pihl (3) and Aaron Householder (3), $13 each
Biggest Upset: Aaron Chow, for win over a player rated 378 points higher, $15
Best Game: Jon Hecht for win over Wilfredo Lapurga, $15, see Cyrus Annotates
