Far West Open — Final Results

Let’s see if I can be the first person to post the results of the Far West Open on the Internet. Just as I predicted, Sergei Kudrin and Eric Sevillano played a super-quick draw to clinch a tie for first. On board two, Gergely Antal of Hungary (whose first name I forgot in my previous entry) defeated Ricardo de Guzman (whose first name I always get wrong anyway) to make it a three-way tie at 5-1. There was also a three-way tie for fourth at 4.5-1.5 between Jesse Kraai, David Pruess, and John Bryant. Finally, there was a six-way tie for seventh between (deep breath) Gurevich, Mezentsev, Kretchetov, de Guzman, Naroditsky, and Fuentes at 4-2.

I won my final game in a very nice knight-versus-bishop endgame (I had the knight). My opponent was a class A player named Mark Rand, who offered me a draw on move ten. No thanks! Typically for me, I had the second-to-last game to finish in the whole tournament. A similar thing happened last fall in the Western States Open, where I pulled off my miraculous win over Jennifer Acon with a rook and bishop versus rook and three pawns. No miracles were required this time, just a slow and steady squeeze.

With the win I joined either a four-way tie or a five-way tie for the under-2200 prize. The exact number depends on the last game in the tournament to finish. I’m sure that it’s over by now, but I am up in my room and so I can’t tell you how it came out. I think probably a draw, which will make it a four-way tie and a $326 prize for me.

This is the fifth tournament in a row where I have won a prize. It seems as if I’ve sort of hit a “comfort zone.” Of course, part of the reason is that I keep winning under-2200 prizes. Maybe that means I shouldn’t be rated under 2200 any more. Unfortunately, the USCF ratings calculator doesn’t agree.   :-<

Okay, I’m going to go downstairs now and wait for the prizes to be handed out. Also, of course, there will be a speed-chess playoff between Kudrin, Sevillano, and Antal for first place, but I don’t care very much about that (and indeed, I think that the three participants don’t care very much either.)