Thank You, One and All!
When we started this endeavor last November, we (Peter Kappler, Mike Simpson, Josh Newsham and Drew Sarkisian) weren't really certain what kind of turnout we'd have for the Club's opening night. We did our best to publicize the event through the Austin Yahoo! newsgroup and by our direct mailout to area USCF members. We also had a pre-opening-night meeting with some of the people who have been instrumental in organizing Ausitn area chess events over the past 15 years (who did a great job of using word of mouth (and email) to tell their friends and colleagues). After all that, we still didn't have a good feel for the actual numbers. The Club opening conflicted with the Texas Team Championship in San Antonio (often a popular event with Austin area players), so we figured the turnout might be relatively low. We thought that bringing in 30 people would be a "home run".
Boy, were we pleasantly surprised!
While we don't have a precise count, I am certain that we were host to a number closer to 55 or 60 people. The 9-round G/5 Swiss attracted 40 players. Many fond memories were rekindled when old friends came back to see the club, and we've started to make new friends of the many people who attended.
I think we all may be onto something here.
Austin has a large pool of players, many of whom have been away from over-the-board (OTB) play for years. I personally cannot remember the last serious USCF-rated event we have had in the Austin area. It seems that people have less free time nowadays vs. ten to fifteen years ago, and most don't have the time to travel to Dallas or Houston for a large weekend tournament. Many people satisfy themselves with offhand speed chess play on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) or the ChessBase servers, where they can find opponents 24 hours a day from the comfort of their own home. This doesn't even include the large pool of juniors who are flocking to the game in record numbers.
Things are not going to change overnight, but I'd like to think that we're on our way. We will do our best to provide a steady venue for serious USCF-rated play. Austin has the popular G/10 events at the Dobie Mall on Monday nights (run by Jeff Sneden and Gary Gaiffe), various forms of play at Great Hall Games on Wednesday nights (run by Eugene Kohnitz), and now Sunday night USCF-rated play at the Bridge Center of Austin.
Special thanks to William Tompkins and Michael Simpson for helping me run my first event in a very long time, and to all of the parents who patiently waited for their children to finish their games.
Thanks to everyone for making our Opening Night a success and a very special event. The Austin Chess Club looks forward to serving you.
Sincerely,
Drew Sarkisian
Opening Night G/5 Swiss
The event was a runaway victory for Jim Michalski, who reeled off 7 wins in a row before being stopped by Michael Simpson in Round 8. Even after that late loss, Jim was guaranteed a tie for first going into the last round. A fighting draw against William Molina gave Jim first place.
Gary Gaiffe, Peter Kappler and Michael Simpson were tied for for second going into the final round. Gaiffe defeated Kappler to claim sole second, while Simpson lost to Christial Carvajal to create a logjam of six players with 6 points.
Robert Radmer won the 1200-1799 prize with 6 points, and David Bian took the under-1200 prize.
Kudos to John Bell for his good sportsmanship in Round 7. He was mated on the board, but his opponent was out of time...the question was whether or not his opponent completed his move before his flag fell. Rather than force the TD to come up with a (possibly controversial) ruling, John graciously relinquished his claim to allow the event to proceed along schedule. I'll guarantee to remove all ambiguity from this situation before the next G/5 event.
| No. | Name | Rate | Pts | Rnd1 | Rnd2 | Rnd3 | Rnd4 | Rnd5 | Rnd6 | Rnd7 | Rnd8 | Rnd9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michalski, Jim | 1880 | 7.5 | W30 | W3 | W5 | W4 | W14 | W2 | W7 | L6 | D9 |
| 2 | Gaiffe, Gary | 2030 | 7.0 | W23 | W21 | W17 | L14 | W12 | L1 | W10 | W4 | W5 |
| 3 | Bell, John | 2189 | 6.0 | W27 | L1 | W19 | W13 | W6 | L7 | W12 | L8 | W14 |
| 4 | Carvajal, Christian | 2150 | 6.0 | W15 | W13 | W12 | L1 | L7 | W16 | W14 | L2 | W6 |
| 5 | Kappler, Peter | 2093 | 6.0 | W28 | W11 | L1 | W8 | W10 | L14 | W13 | W7 | L2 |
| 6 | Simpson, Michael | 1981 | 6.0 | W20 | L14 | W27 | W26 | L3 | W11 | W16 | W1 | L4 |
| 7 | Gucer, Vasfi | 1964 | 6.0 | W29 | W31 | L14 | W21 | W4 | W3 | L1 | L5 | W13 |
| 8 | Radmer, Robert | 1750 | 6.0 | L14 | W35 | W20 | L5 | L15 | W29 | W17 | W3 | W12 |
| 9 | Molina, William | 2029 | 5.5 | -H- | -H- | -H- | -H- | -U- | W22 | W19 | W16 | D1 |
| 10 | Belderol, Daniel | 1930 | 5.5 | W16 | L19 | W15 | W31 | L5 | W23 | L2 | D11 | W17 |
| 11 | French, David | 1750 | 5.5 | W36 | L5 | W23 | L12 | W22 | L6 | W15 | D10 | W19 |
| 12 | Clark, Robert | 1950 | 5.0 | W33 | W26 | L4 | W11 | L2 | W27 | L3 | W14 | L8 |
| 13 | Dotson, John | 1862 | 5.0 | W37 | L4 | W28 | L3 | W19 | W20 | L5 | W25 | L7 |
| 14 | Parker, David | 1701 | 5.0 | W8 | W6 | W7 | W2 | L1 | W5 | L4 | L12 | L3 |
| 15 | Guerra, Stan | 1230 | 5.0 | L4 | W37 | L10 | W24 | W8 | L17 | L11 | W28 | W23 |
| 16 | Bian, David | 1000 | 5.0 | L10 | W32 | W22 | W18 | W17 | L4 | L6 | L9 | W24 |
| 17 | Rubin, Dave | 1900 | 4.5 | W34 | W25 | L2 | D19 | L16 | W15 | L8 | W24 | L10 |
| 18 | Lu, Eric | 1610 | 4.5 | -H- | -H- | -H- | L16 | W30 | L19 | L24 | W29 | W25 |
| 19 | Zadoo, Serena | 1350 | 4.5 | W39 | W10 | L3 | D17 | L13 | W18 | L9 | W20 | L11 |
| 20 | Raina, Arin | 1200 | 4.5 | L6 | W36 | L8 | W25 | W31 | L13 | D26 | L19 | -X- |
| 21 | Yaroshevich, Michael | 1500 | 4.0 | W24 | L2 | W33 | L7 | L27 | W31 | W23 | -U- | -U- |
| 22 | Rodriguez, Baltazar | 1380 | 4.0 | L25 | W34 | L16 | W29 | L11 | L9 | L28 | W32 | W30 |
| 23 | Raina, Abe | 1200 | 4.0 | L2 | W24 | L11 | W34 | W26 | L10 | L21 | W30 | L15 |
| 24 | Zadoo, Sandhya | 600 | 4.0 | L21 | L23 | W40 | L15 | -B- | W34 | W18 | L17 | L16 |
| 25 | Henderson, Ralph | 4.0 | W22 | L17 | L31 | L20 | W28 | W33 | W27 | L13 | L18 | |
| 26 | King, Steven | 1458 | 3.5 | W38 | L12 | W29 | L6 | L23 | W30 | D20 | -U- | -U- |
| 27 | Harris, Buck | 1250 | 3.0 | L3 | W30 | L6 | W33 | W21 | L12 | L25 | -U- | -U- |
| 28 | Tornatore, Peter | 1200 | 3.0 | L5 | W38 | L13 | L30 | L25 | W32 | W22 | L15 | L29 |
| 29 | Xie, Kevin | 1077 | 3.0 | L7 | W39 | L26 | L22 | W32 | L8 | L30 | L18 | W28 |
| 30 | Presley, Kevin | 900 | 3.0 | L1 | L27 | W32 | W28 | L18 | L26 | W29 | L23 | L22 |
| 31 | Lu, Kevin | 1446 | 2.0 | W32 | L7 | W25 | L10 | L20 | L21 | -U- | -U- | -U- |
| 32 | Davis, Seth | 2.0 | L31 | L16 | L30 | -B- | L29 | L28 | -X- | L22 | -F- | |
| 33 | Anand, Advaith | 1010 | 1.5 | L12 | W40 | L21 | L27 | D34 | L25 | -U- | -U- | -U- |
| 34 | Makhani, Jb | 944 | 1.5 | L17 | L22 | W38 | L23 | D33 | L24 | -F- | -U- | -U- |
| 35 | Vara, Frank | 1300 | 1.0 | W40 | L8 | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- |
| 36 | Sequeria, Ian | 740 | 1.0 | L11 | L20 | W39 | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- |
| 37 | Maine, Alex | 800 | 0.0 | L13 | L15 | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- |
| 38 | Fernandes, Ernest | 500 | 0.0 | L26 | L28 | L34 | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- |
| 39 | Beckett, Jimmy | 0.0 | L19 | L29 | L36 | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | |
| 40 | Beckett, Ted | 0.0 | L35 | L33 | L24 | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- | -U- |
Photos
A wide-angle shot of the main playing hall. In the foreground we have Gary Gaiffe (seated on the left),
Mark Muecke (standing) and Peter Tornatore (seated on the right). William Tompkins is standing on the far right.
Club President Drew Sarkisian pores over the computer while National TD William Tompkins chats with David Parker.
Old friends Peter Kappler (left) and Dave Rubin analyze with Mark Muecke (partially obscured) and Steven King.