Thirteen-year-old Niki Konovalchuk was sensation of the annual Spring Open, going undefeated throughout the six-round tournament, upsetting master Frank Sisto in the last round, and finishing in a four-way tie for first place with Igor Foygel, John Curdo, and Robert Powell.  Powell also outperformed his rating in a steady march to 4.5 points and a share of the top spot, while Foygel and Curdo gave us a new word in the chess lexicon: the "grandmaster bye"!

Konovalchuk, rated 1765 and seeded near the bottom of the 29-player Open Section, achieved a mild upset by drawing Powell (1951) in Round One, then also drew with Eric Ogren (1787). The Natick youngster moved into contention with successive victories over A-players Paul Mishkin and Jack Martin, remained among the leaders via a half-point bye in Round 5, then pulled off his shocker against Sisto (2249).

Powell, the only player in the victorious quartet to play every round, started off with three straight draws, then won three in a row, capping his drive with a last-round decision over expert John Chamberlain.

Meanwhile Foygel and Curdo, via a pair of strategic byes apiece, managed to play the entire tournament without facing each other. Each drew with Sisto and won the other three games he played -- all against A and B players.

This "dance" could easily have backfired, as Sisto went into the last round with a chance to win the tournament clear -- a result which certainly seemed likely considering that he had the white pieces against a player rated nearly 500 points below him. Young Konovalchuk upset the apple cart, though, so Foygel, Curdo, and Powell all got a lucky share of top honors.  It was a good tournament but a tough finish for Sisto, the well known Waltham master and chess writer who was making his first appearance at the MCC.  He played all six rounds and faced by far the toughest competition of anyone in the field (he was the only one to meet both Foygel and Curdo), only to lose out via that last-round upset.  His final score of 4 points put him in a three-way tie with Martin and Robert Harvey for fifth place.  The 20-player U1750 section developed into a three-way dogfight among eventual winner Na Ruthramoorthy, runner-up Mark Kaprielian, and Jim Todhunter, who wound up tying for third place with George Goulding and Bill Stein. It was the aforementioned trio, however, who took turns beating each other over the last half of the tournament to create the exciting finish.

Ruthramoorthy took the halfway lead with a perfect 3-0 score, but then lost in Round 4 to Todhunter, who promptly lost in Round 5 to Kaprielian.  Kappy was now the clear leader, but Ruthramoorthy won their decisive last-round game to leapfrog past him and take clear first place.  Goulding and Stein were also in it most of the way, but both lost to Ruthramoorthy and dropped a couple of half-points as well to miss out on the top placing.

Chris Gagnepain emerged as the clear winner in the U1450 section with an undefeated 5 points (4 wins, 2 draws), followed by James Klinkenberg, Al Schaefer, Lomer Cormier, and Tom Powers with 4.5 each.  Gagnepain and Powers, with four each plus a draw in their earlier head-to-head battle, were the co-leaders entering the last round.  Gagnepain drew with Cormier, but Powers lost his chance to win or share the top spot via a loss to Schaefer.  Klinkenberg, meanwhile, pulled into a share of second place via a last-round win over John Sheehan.  This section attracted 29 players, making the total for the tournament an impressive 78.

Top-seeded Igor Foygel took a third-round bye after winning his first two games, and three other players seized the opportunity to grab a share of the lead. No. 2 Frank Sisto, who also had gone 2-0, battled to a draw with John Curdo on Board one, while Jared Becker and Trev De Koekkoek each won to catch the leaders.

Curdo, who had taken a bye the previous week, heads a group of seven players still in the hunt at 2.0, just a half-point off the pace.

Na Ruthramoorthy turned back surprising newcomer Joey Kagan on Board One in the U1750 section to emerge with the only perfect 3-0 score. Jim Todhunter, Mark Fins, Mark Kaprielian, and George Goulding share the runner-up spot at 2.5.

Tom Powers, Chris Gagnepain, and Fred Harvey rolled on in the U1450 section, each winning his third straight game. James Klinkenberg is next with two wins and a bye for 2.5.

Upsets were much rarer than in previous rounds, with no really big ones, and only four qualifying under our 100-point criterion. Himanshu Keskar (1765) defeated Joe Kelly (1879) in the Open section; Ethan Thompson (1467) stopped Tim Vaughan (1584) in the U1750, and Chris smith (1152) knocked off Jim Krycka (1348) while Harvey surprised Carl Phillips (1434) in the U1450 group.

Two more players jumped in, raising the total entries to 76.