Alexander Beider swept the October tournament 5-0, apparently raising his rating above the 2400 mark to the Senior Master level.  Beider defeated Neil Cousin and John Chamberlain in the first two rounds, scored a key victory over John Curdo in Round 3, then completed his sweep with wins over Geoff Polizoti and Al Ward in the last two rounds.

The big shocker of the tournament occurred in Round 2 when top-seeded Igor Foygel was upset by Robert Powell -- one of only a handful of losses the veteran senior master has suffered in his many years at the club. Foygel came back to win his next two games, but had already put in for a last-round bye, which left him out of contention for top honors.

Curdo also bounced back from his loss to also win his last two games and take clear second place with 4 points, while Foygel and rising young competitor Na Ruthramoorthy shared third place with 3.5 points each. The latter’s performance was particularly noteworthy; after a first-round loss to Curdo he won three games including an upset over expert Karl Gerds and drew expert Ed Epp.

Niki Konovalchuk won the U1800 section clear with 4.5 points, going 4-0 to enter the last round with the lead, then drawing Jim Todhunter to maintain that advantage. Todhunter and Mark Kaprielian shared runner-up honors with 4 points each.

The most impressive showing in this section, though, was by Lomer Cormier, who played up with a 1314 rating and was a "giant-killer" throughout the tournament. After a first-round loss, Cormier defeated Harry Henriques (1500), drew Paul Felker (1531), upset Normand Delisle (1560), then knocked off George Goulding (1624) to finish with 3.5 points and gain well over 100 rating points.

Al Schaefer and Donald Lacroix tied for top U1450 honors with undefeated scores of 4 points apiece (3 wins, 2 draws, including a head-to-head standoff). Tom Powers, Jim Krycka, and Plamen Krastov shared third place at 3.5 each.

Powell’s 589-point upset of Foygel (1953 rating vs. 2542) was by far the biggest of the tournament, of course. Next in terms of rating difference were Clark Ewer over Michael Barry (426 points), Greg Siciliano over Alan Beck (391), and Cormier over Goulding (310).

Multiple up setters in addition to Ruthramoorthy and Cormier were Howard Goldowsky, Nick D’Alessandro, Paul Mishkin, and Hen Forber-Pratt.

There were 20 competitors in the Open section, 27 in the U1800 and 21 in U1450 for a total of 68 entries.

The strongest and deepest field of the year -- probably the strongest ever in a non-Grand Prix MCC event -- is contesting the October tournament, with three masters, three experts, and nine Class A players among the 18 competitors who turned out for Round One. Senior Master Igor Foygel is top-seeded, followed by virtual SM Alexander Beider (2395) and veteran master John Curdo, whose rating is a bit lower, but who has finished on top in the last two tournaments, beating out Foygel in August and Beider in September.

All three masters won their initial tests this time, as did A-players John Chamberlain and Robert Powell along with 1611-rated Calvin Hori, who pulled the biggest upset of the opening round with a victory over Robert Harvey (1906). The experts all drew their games, however, leaving the aforementioned sextet tied for the lead heading into Round 2, where the tentative pairings are Powell-Foygel, Beider-Chamberlain, and Hori-Curdo.

Top-seeded Niki Konovalchuk heads a group of 10 first-round winners in the 22-player U1800 section, while Tom Powers, also seeded No. 1, is among eight opening night victors in the 18-player U1450 section.

Upsets in addition to Hori’s 295-point form reversal over Harvey: Al Ward (1800) drew Ed Epp (2028); Larry Pratt (1812) drew Karl Gerds (2036); Paul Mishkin (1816) drew Geoff Polizoti (2036) ; Clark Ewer (1336) defeated Severine Wamala (1570); Travis Chui (1314) defeated Normand Delisle (1560); and Lanny Sun (942) drew Douglas Thompson (1394) .

The total first-night turnout in all three sectioins was 58.