San Antonio Chess Club

2010: New Year Open (Jan 2-3)

Brad Sawyer of Houston won the New Year Open (San Antonio, Jan. 2-3) with 5-0, defeating Malazarte and Anderson in the last two rounds.
Five players tied for 2nd+U2200+ 2000 with 4-1:
James Rohrbaugh, Paul Haney, Gregg Stanley, William Molina and Matthew Liu.

Maik Gafert tied with Charles Allen for U1800 with 3.5. Jonathan Rea was top U1600 with 3.
Huy Van Nguyen and Cornelius Woodard tied for U1400 with 2.5.

Turnout was excellent, with 50 players competing at the Hornbeak Building in the Medical Center.
Martin Gordon directed for the San Antonio Chess Club, and Selby Anderson assisted.

To access the final standings, click here.

2009: Turkey Shoot (Nov 28-29)

Forty-three players attended the Turkey Shoot, held Nov. 28-29 at the Hornbeak Building. Ernesto Malazarte was clear first with 6-1 ($225), with his second clear victory in the G/60 format we tried out at the Summer Slammer. James Rohrbaugh was second with 5.5 ($135), holding Anderson to a last round draw in a tense game.

Four players shared the Class A money with 5 points: Matthew Liu, Martin Gordon, Jesse Buentello and Alok Kumar ($39.38 each).

In Class B, Andrew Istafanous and Dhurv Garg each scored 4.5 to win $78.75.
There was a three-way split for the Under 1600 prizes, with Anthony Nguyn, Rittik Verma and David Pacheco scoring 4 points for $52.50 each.
Emily Nguyen won first U1400 with 2.5 ($67.50) and Nathan Ray Lozano won second U1400 with 1.5 ($67.50).
Martin Gordon directed for SACC, and Selby Anderson assisted.

2009: Octoberfest Benefit Tournament (October 24-25)

The Octoberfest Benefit Tournament drew a somewhat disappointing 32 players. Thanks to some donations, the tournament tentatively made $120 for the Sponsors Benefit fund. The 14 player Open section of the tournament was won by Paul Haney with a perfect 4-0 score, defeating Titus Shanks in the last round. Ernesto Malazarte and Ju Hyuan Ahn shared 2nd and under 2100 prizes.

Jonathan Rea scored 2 upsets of 436 and 387 points on his way to sharing 1st place in the Reserve section with Raymond Grillo.

The tournament was directed by J. P. Hyltin

To access the final standings, click here.

2009: San Antonio City Championship (June 20-21): Anderson, Stanley share SA city title

The San Antonio City Championship drew in 48 players this June 20-21, making quota for the $1,000 prize fund. I won my ninth city title, winning four games with a half point bye.
Tying my score was Gregg Stanley, who won his second city title. The trophy went to me based on a single tiebreak point! (A withdrawal by one of his opponents counterbalanced my bye.)
I had taken a last round bye so I could drive early to Houston for a chess camp. The last couple of years I have had to catch a Sunday morning flight, and did not compete.
Martin Gordon directed for San Antonio Chess Club.

Prize Winners:

1st/2nd: Selby Anderson (trophy), Gregg Stanley, 4.5 pts. ($200 each)
U2200: Ernesto Malazarte, Mitchell Vergara, 4.0 ($60 each)
U2000: James Ukoli, 4.0 ($120)
U1800: Zhaosu Ye, Raymond Bulacanag, Titus Shanks, 3.0 ($40 ea.)
U1600/U1400, Serena Zadoo, Andrew Xiang, 3.0 ($90 each)
Unrated: Ramon Umadhay ($60)

To access the final standings, click here.

2009: Anderson wins SA club championship

After missing the first round, Selby Anderson won his next three games to win the San Antonio Chess Club championship. J.P. Hyltin was in position to tie, but had to cancel on the last day due to illness.
Anderson missed the first round after being assaulted in a parking lot the night before near a karaoke club.
Three players tied for second with 3-1: Ernesto Malazarte, Gregg Stanley and Martin Gordon.
Robert Barber, who was Jim Gallagher's anchorman in several Texas Team events in the 1990s, returned to active play and delivered an upset to Stanley. Martin Gordon directed a field of 22 players at Lions Field.

To access the final standings, click here.

2009: Texas Action Championship (02 May): Strong show by JP Hyltin

JP Hyltin remained undefeated with 4.5 points to emerge as the clear winner in the Texas Action Championship. Selby and Gregg shared the 2nd and U2100 prizes, with 4.0 points each.

Prizes paid were 2/3 of the advertised amounts based on 40 full entries.

1st: JP Hyltin (4.5) $200 2nd+U2100: Selby Anderson, Gregg Stanley (4.0) $91.67 ea. U1900: Jesse Buentello (3.5) $83.33 U1700: Andrew Istafanous (3.0) $66.67 U1500: Titus Shanks, James Nielsen, Jeff Brandt (1.5) $16.66 ea. U1300: Victoria Mortera(1.5) $50

For crosstable and results of the tournament-click here: Crosstable

2009: Spring Open (04 - 05 Apr): Surprises and new winners

Spring open results were full of surprises in both open and reserve sections. In the open section, there was no clear winner. The 1st, 2nd and U2100 prize was shared by Ernesto Malazarte, Gregg Stanley and Benjamin Cr Coats. A newcomer to San Antonio, Benjamin Coats (1757) was in the winners' circle after a last round gaffe by Ernesto Malazarte (2140), who having defeatied Selby Anderson was expected to cruise into clear first. With board two now in play for first prize, Gregg Stanley parlayed a new move (7...fxe4! in a position he and Anderson have played many times) into a complete blowout, ending with a pretty combination.

In the Reserve, High school talent Titus Shanks (1432) had a milestone 4-0 performance, and was never paired down.

Prizes paid were 70% of the advertised amounts based on 40 full entries. Martin Gordon directed a combined field of 33 players for SACC.

OPEN
1st/2nd/U2100: Benjamin Coats, Ernesto Malazarte, Gregg Stanley, 3-1 ($116.66 each)
U1900: Martin Gordon, 2-2

RESERVE
1st: Titus Shanks, 4-0 ($105)
2nd/U1700: Mike Machado, Louis Rimpel, Charles R. Davis, Gerardo Elizalde, 3-1 ($35 each)
U1500: Raymond Artis, 3-1 ($52.50)
U1300/unrrated: Jonathan Rea, 1.5-2.5, $52.50

For crosstable and results of the tournament-click here: Crosstable

2009: Pre-Spring Open (28 Feb-01 Mar): Another win for Malazarte

Pre-Spring open was a relatively dull affair with 28 players, perhaps because of the recent Texas team championship, with many regular tournament players not participating in both open and reserve sections. The open section was convincingly won by Ernesto Malazarte who scored a perfect 4.0/4.0 and won the first prize ($150). Andrew Lozano won the 2nd place ($90) with 3.0 points, conceding only to Malazarte. Incidentally, with this 2nd place finish, Andrew gained enough rating points to cross 2000 and break into the experts section. The U2100 and U1900 prizes were shared by Frank Edwar Brack, Hector Flores, Richard W Gabriel ($40 each). One strong addition to the open section was Josito Cla Dondon, who seemed to continue the good run of the texas team championship. Unfortunately, in his game against Andrew Lozano, he blundered in time trouble and immediately resigned.

The reserve section was dominated by Steven Dampier who, surprisingly, entered into the tournament at the last moment. He scored 3.5 and won the first prize ($90). The 2nd and U1700 prizes were shared by Daniel All Lozano, Louis H Rimpel, James Thames, Charles R Davis, all with 3.0 points ($30 each). U1500 prize was won by Gary E Cobb with 2.5 points ($45). U1300 prize was shared by Fernando Mendoza and Jonathan D Rea with 2.0 points ($22.50 each).

Martin Gordon directed for the San Antonio Chess Club, with assistance from Steven Dampier and Alok Kumar.

For pictures of the tournament-click here: Gallery

2009: Texas Team Championship (31 Jan-01 Feb): Mate We Can Believe In edges out The Simpsons in dead heat

The 2009 Texas Team Championship drew 14 teams, not quite a record (that was 16 teams in 2003) but well above expectations. When Mark Dejmek phoned from Houston in early January to say he had trouble scraping together a team on Superbowl weekend (it's what?!), we were more than a little concerned about turnout. While some years look like a San Antonio team championship, this time there were representatives from Brownsville, Fort Worth, Austin, Corpus Christi, and yes, Houston. We also had a former Texas state champion, Jerry Milburn of Fort Worth, playing in his first tournament in roughly 30 years.

The top-rated team was Longhorns (2121) from UT-Austin, which included three masters (Aibek Isakov, Alex Chua and Deepyman Datta) and B player Glenn Perry. However, they were derailed in Round 2 by another Austin team, The Simpsons: Episode 1, Escape from the Nuthouse (2048) with Michael Langer, Alexander Balkum, Michael Simpson and Seth Thompson. Isakov's win over Langer was the only victory for the Longhorns in that match.

Mate We Can Believe In (Selby Anderson, Don Marcott, Josito Dondon and J.P. Hyltin - 2105), advanced to a final showdown with The Simpsons after defeating Fort Worth-based A Rose with Three Thorns (Nicholas Schoonmaker, Jerry Milburn, Rick Hodges and Julie O'Neill - 2050). The Simpsons won their Rd. 3 mismatch with Chess Assassins (1833) in a shutout.

The title match in Rd. 4 saw Anderson repeat an error in his specialty, the Center Counter, and Langer after much work finally did refute it to reach a won ending. Next board down, Marcott got the worse of his Leningrad Attack against Balkum's Nimzo-Indian. However, on the lower boards Mate cleaned up, as Simpson lost to Dondon and Hyltin won with a little help from Seth Thompson, who allowed a helpmate at the end.

So the two teams tied their match, and the rest was up to the tiebreaks (US Amateur Team). Considering that The Simpsons was at the top of the computer standings after three rounds, and that their cumulative scores at the end came out two points higher than Mate, it was considered forordained that the computer tiebreaks after the last games were finished would clearly make the trophy Austin-bound. And so without waiting for all the cows to come home, I gave the trophy to Michael Langer and he drove back to Austin in time to catch the end of the Superbowl.

Alas, The Simpsons' Rd. 3 opponent Chess Assassins forfeited their last round match in protest of what Alok Kumar considered an unacceptable computer-generated pairing. It appears he had a reasonable gripe: working with cards, I came up with the same pairings he proposed. Unfortunately, TD Martin Gordon had allowed the lower board matches to start early, and was not going to stop the games.

So their quadruple forfeit probably tipped the scales for Mate We Can Believe In, which edged out The Simpsons on US Amateur Team tiebreaks by 26.5 to 24.5. It was an ironic conclusion to a great tournament, seemingly no less ironic than the concluding minute of the Superbowl where the Cardinals had victory snatched away by a Steelers last minute touchdown play.

The winning U1900 team was Future Masters (Shawn Noland, Nathanael Lozano, Daniel Lozano and Quintin Noland), which finished with 2.5. Four teams shared second U1900 with 2 points: When Amigos and Gringos Unite, Waiting for Godot, Madoff with the King and The Piece Keepers.

Martin Gordon directed for the San Antonio Chess Club, with assistance from Selby Anderson.

2008:

The Fall Open (Nov. 15-16) drew just 25 players despite having a Chess Life ad, hardly an improvement over Octoberfest. The recession, not just gas prices, seems to be driving this trend. Dennis Rylander won the ten-player Open section with 3.5 out of 4 ($125), taking a last round bye and winning three games. Ernesto Malazarte and Alok Kumar (1887) split second and U2100 prizes with 3 ($62.50 each). Richard Gabriel won the U1900 prize of $50 with 1(!) Paul Franke won the Reserve (U1800) with 3.5 ($75), ahead of Alfredo Garcia and Raymond Grillo, who shared second and U1700 with 3 ($50 each). Mike LaBelle and Titus Shanks tied for U1500 with 2.5 ($18.75 each). The lone unrated player was Christopher Clark ($37.50). Selby Anderson directed, with assistance from Martin Gordon. The new playing site at the Hornbeak Building next to TNI was adequate, except that the thin room partition did not permit the adjoining classroom to be much of a skittles area.