Round 4 - June 25, 2002

Precocious schoolboy Noah Pang emerged as the clear winner of the June tournament with 3.5 points, followed by a quartet of Frank Sisto, John Curdo, Ed Epp, and Daniel Newman a half-point behind.

Pang, who just completed seventh grade, was the only player to win his first three games, then took a half-point bye in the last round which assured him of at least a tie for first place. Sisto, Curdo, and Epp all had a chance to catch him in the final session, but the former took a bye, while Curdo and Epp battled to a draw. Newman, meanwhile, defeated young expert Max Enkin in his final test to join the runner-up group at 3.0.

The U1700 section was sort of like the World Cup -- a bunch of surprising results by newcomers in the early rounds only to have the traditional contenders prevail in the end. Regulars William Stein and Matthew Phelps were the last-round winners on the top two boards, defeating relative newcomers Nicholas D'Alessandro and Joey Kagan, respectively, to share first place with 3.5 points apiece.

The top-rated Stein’s victory over D'Alessandro on Board One ended the latter’s amazing string of successes in his first three USCF tournaments. D'Alessandro drew his first rated game, then won seven in a row (including three straight in this tournament) before finally succumbing..

Kagan, a high school student, also had staged a series of major upsets to reach top contention entering the last round. But he, too, finally met his match.

Despite their losses, both D'Alessandro and Kagan played far above expectations for the tournament as a whole, and gained significantly in the rating department. D'Alessandro finished tied for third place with George Goulding at 3.0, but Kagan’s loss, as frequently happens in these last-round match-ups, knocked him out of the money with a final 2.5 tally.

Clark Ewer and Douglas Thompson both rolled to 3-0 scores in the U1400 section, then Ewer won their decisive Board One match-up for a 4-0 sweep: the only perfect score in the tournament. Jeffry Gibson also was perfect after three rounds, but took a half-point bye in the finale to finish at 3.5, while Calvin Hori, who had taken a bye earlier, won his final game to match that result.

The bottom section also produced the biggest upset of the round --and indeed of the entire tournament: a 384-pointer scored by David Levens (987) over John McLaughlin (1371). The other major form reversal in the final round -- at least according to the ratings -- was Newman’s victory over Enkin despite a difference of 287 points 1769-2056. This may not really have been as big an upset as the numbers suggest, however, since Newman is clearly stronger than his current rating, which has been rising rapidly via a series of impressive  performances against higher-rated foes.

But the most significant upsets in terms of the battles for top honors, of course, were  Epp’s draw against Curdo, who out rated him by 201 points (2201-2000), and Ewer’s climactic victory over Thompson despite a 102-point differential (12563-1355).

Other last-round form reversals: Howard Goldowsky (1696) over Ed Astrachan (1868); Tom Powers (1300) over Walter Champion (1663); and Paul Tillotson (1506) over Mark Kaprielian (1638).

The fields totaled 23-19-26, respectively, for a total of 68 entries.
 

Round 3 - June 18, 2002