US Amateur Team North-2013

It was great fun playing in the event. I met lots of old friends from all over the mid-west.

"My Name is Honorius..."
Honorius Constantin(2045), Ivan Wijetunge(1888), Matthew Holloway(1862), Stefan Musikic(1365)

The organizers put on a first rate event. Boards, sets and even brand new digital clocks were provided.

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It was interesting to note that none of the GM/IM stacked teams finished on top. The winning team was: 

2388 FM Eric Rosen
2283 NM Sam Schmakel
2149 Michael Auger
1911 Akshay Indusekaar

U1900 Aurumdina
James Fagan
David Paykin
Ethan Brown
Eli Goering
Ricky Wang

U1600 Marky Mark and the State Champs
Jimi Akintonde
Mark Waechter
Ga Luang Liu
Phuc Hoan

U1300 The Colins and Some Other People
Colin Burdett
Colin Flyn Porter
George Ford
Logan Polk

Board Prizes

1st GM Josh Friedel
2nd FM Levan Bregadze
3rd Ratko Bojanovic
4th Akshay Indusekar

 Eric Rosen held GM Josh Friedel to a draw in the last round to secure the top spot for the team

Here Eric played Bg5
...Bg7
Bxh4 d3
Bg5 and it looked to me that he might be winning

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We needed a win or at least a drew in the last round to contend for the U1900 prize but were swept. 

I started by losing to a 1200!, then to an expert, but managed to finish 2-3 with only a 14 point loss rating loss.

Rnd 1.
All I can say is the Team won 3-1!

Honorius Constantin	2045	1	Seth Wyma	1264	0
Edward Zhang	1273	1	Ivan Wijetunge	1888	0
Matthew Holloway	1862	1	Nicholas Edels	1080	0
Jack Bradley	1051	0	Stefan Musikic	1365	1

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Rnd 2.
Lost 3-1

Alex Ding	2158	0	Honorius Constantin	2045	1
Ivan Wijetunge	1888	0	Aakaash Meduri	2096	1
Xin Luo	2019	1	Matthew Holloway	1862	0
Stefan Musikic	1365	0	Anshul Adve	1886	1

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Rnd 3.
Won 3-1

xxx

My name is Honorius… (1.0,1790)

xxx

Chess b8 Ne4 (1.0,1402)

Honorius Constantin	2045	1			0
Henry McDonald	1629	0	Ivan Wijetunge	1888	1
Matthew Holloway	1862	1			0
		1	Stefan Musikic	1365	0

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Rnd 4.
Tie 2-2

Honorius Constantin	2045	1	NM Raghavender Shyam	2236	0
Pieter DeHaseth	2018	0	Ivan Wijetunge	1888	1
Matthew Holloway	1862	0	Joe Fogarty	1984	1
Roman Kowalysko	1844	1	Stefan Musikic	1365	0

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Rnd 5.
Loss 4-0!

Honorius Constantin 2045 0 NM Gopal Menon 2264 1 NM Petros Karagianis 2223 1 Ivan Wijetunge 1888 0 Matthew Holloway 1862 0 Hanson Hao 1776 1 Jason Scott Daniels 1715 1 Stefan Musikic 1365 0

Lots of choices for Feb. 15-16 weekend.

Chicago - USAT North

Madison - UW Winter Open

St. Paul - 120th Minnesota Open    Pre-Entries

St. Louis - St. Louis Class Championship
  

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History of the Minnesota Open :  
Year   Total/Premier   Premier Winner(s)
2012 260/41 FM SEAN M NAGLE(2498),JASON M DRAKE(2256)
2011 224/41 FM SEAN M NAGLE (2498)
2010 210/45 FRANK B JOHNSON(2356)
2009 205/33 IM VICTOR ADLER(2406), TIMOTHY JON RADERMACHER(2233), FRANK B JOHNSON(2356),
KEVIN WASILUK(2378), BRYAN A LANGE(2036)

48TH NORTHEASTERN OPEN1/19-20/2013Holiday Inn - Neenah, Wisconsin

USCF reults here.

I was apprehensive about playing in this event as there were going to be many underrated youngsters just waiting to take big chunks out of my rating.

I went into the event with a rating of 1962 and had to score at least 4/5 just to break even.

I was outplayed in round 3 by  FRANKLIN PUYANG ZHOU (1715) , but fortunately for me he gave me the game in the end.

I went in to the last round 3-1. I was paired against TROY JOSEPH ZIMMERMANN (2015)

We reached the above position with White to play. I spent a lot of time on the obvious Nxg6, which later analysis shows wins pretty comfortably. But I played Bxf8 and could not find the right moves in time.

A win would have  given me a share of 2nd place and a rating of 1973, but instead I ended up at 1955.

[Event "2013 NE Open"]
[Site "Nenah Holiday Inn"]
[Date "2013.01.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Wijetunge"]
[Black "Zimmerman"]
[Result "0-1"]


1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. d5 Qb6 4. Bc1 e5 5. Na3 d6 6. c3 Be7 7. Nc4 Qc7 8. a4 b6
9. f3 e4 10. Bg5 Bf5 11. h4 h5 12. Nh3 O-O 13. Nf4 g6 14. Ne3 Bc8 15. Qc2 exf3
16. gxf3 Nh7 17. Bh6 Bf6 18. Bxf8 (18. Nxg6 fxg6 19. Qxg6+ Bg7 20. Rg1 Rf7 21.
Nc4 Nf8 (21... Bf5 22. Qxh5 Bc2 23. Kd2 Nf6 24. Qxf7+ Qxf7 25. Rxg7+ Qxg7 26.
Bxg7 Kxg7 27. Kxc2) (21... Kh8) 22. Qxf7+ Qxf7 23. Nxd6 Ng6 (23... Qf6 24.
Rxg7+ Kh8 25. Nf7+)) 18... Nxf8 19. Neg2 (19. Qe4) (19. O-O-O Qe7 20. Neg2 (20.
Nc4 Bxh4)) *

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History 
year / players / winner(s)
2012 101 (FM A BETANELI)
2011  69 (NM E SANTARIUS)
2009  98 (NM E SANTARIUS, H PAN) 
2008  95 (IM M AMANOV, FM A BETANELI, NM E SANTARIUS) 
2007  97 (FM A STAMNOV) 
2006 116 (A VAJA , G ARANOVICH) 
2005 100 (FM A STAMNOV, E SANTARIUS) 
2004 108 (IM S SMIATANKIN, FM A BETANELI, J ROWE)