News
Youth Score Big at National Open!
Monday, June 09, 2008
12:00:00 AM
Three Austin-area youth played at the National Open held at the Las Vegas International Chess Festival, June 5-8th, 2008. Not only did they bring home rating points, but money as well!
Three Austin-area youth played at the National Open held at the Las Vegas International Chess Festival, June 5-8th, 2008.
The National Open is one of America's longest running, premier Open tournaments, first established by Ed Edmondson in the 1960's. The main tournament is 6 rounds of slow, grueling chess. Austin is represented yearly, and often 'brings home money”!
This year, Dylan James and Sean Li both finished in the top of their section. Scoring 5.0, Dylan tied for 4th place, and scoring 4.5 Sean tied for 7th place. Both players began the tournament with 1700+ ratings and played in the U1800 section. They both left those old B ratings far behind. Both Dylan and Sean are A players now! Alexander Balkum narrowly missed out on money in the U2200 section, his only loss being his last game. But being the underdog even as an expert in 5 out of 6 games, he's glad to have held his own! “There's always next year. We'll be back next year.”
In addition to the 'main' event, Alexander and Sean enjoyed the G/10 tournament on Thursday afternoon. Both had the opportunity to play a rated game against GM Akobian, and even had to play each other. Sean continued his chess fun on Thursday, tieing for 2nd in the Amateur blitz tournament. Sean says he wanted to make the most of his time in Vegas, so he played “in as many events as possible”. Choosing the 2-day schedule for the main event, he was also able to squeeze a scholastic tournament on Friday, winning the U1800 outright.
All 3 Austin youth brought home rating points as an additional prize. It makes the victories even that much sweeter. We're proud of our youth!
For the results to this year's National Open click here.
A number of Austin adults participated as well. Next year's information will be coming out shortly. The 2009 National Open is scheduled for July 5-7th. We hope to see you there!