2003-07 Commentary

Eric Sonnenstuhl was the big story of the July tournament, staging four consecutive major upsets to sweep the middle section 4-0 and gain an estimated 200 or so rating points. A relative newcomer to the club, Sonnenstuhl made his first splash a couple of months ago when he won the U1400 section, also in a 4-0 sweep. He moved up to the middle section in June and went 2-2, then decided to continue "playing up" in July -- with the above spectacular results.

Rated 1359 (and thus still eligible for the U1400 section), Sonnenstuhl was seeded near the bottom (18th out of the 24 players) in the U1700 group. Paired up in every round, he defeated in succession George Goulding (1634), Menno Koning (1620), Nick D Alessandro (1636) and Ethan Thompson (1490). Not only did this give him clear first place and a perfect score, but it raised his rating to an estimated 1557 (these unofficial computer-generated estimates are just that -- estimates -- and not always accurate, but clearly he will make a big jump). Edmund Staples was second at 3.5, while David Plotkin and John Harvey split the third place prize with 3.0 apiece.

The Open section also produced a perfect result, but this one was no surprise. Top-seeded Igor Foygel and No. 2 Charles Riordan staged their usual battle, both winning all their games until the finale, where Foygel prevailed in their showdown match to take clear first place. As frequently happens, however, the last-round loser on Board One (Riordan in this case) lost out for runner-up honors as fellow master Chris Desmarais rolled up 3.5 points in classic "Swiss Gambit" fashion without ever facing any of the top players. Desmarais was held to a draw by high-schooler Jason Spector in Round One, then reeled off three straight victories to claim clear second place. Riordan and Farzad Abdi shared third place honors with 3.0 each.

The bottom section also had a clear winner, but not a perfect one. Jenshiang Hong had a chance to make it a rare sweep of 4.0 scores in all three sections, going into the last round 3-0, but six-grader-to-be Calvin Bohn spoiled his bid by holding the leader to a draw. Hong’s 3.5 points still topped the field, though, while young Bohn wound up in a seven-player logjam for second place including fellow youngsters Chris Berg-Jones and Anabel Bacon along with Scot Mc Laughlin, David Smith, John Za Perrotta, and John Bottini.

In addition to all this excitement, the last two rounds produced far more than the usual number of upsets, starting, of course, with those by Sonnenstuhl and also including many others of interest.

Key form reversals in the Open section were Bill Michael (1700) over Spector (1926); Robert Harvey(1844)over Tomas Girnius(2006);and Farzad Abdi(1786) over Randy Brueckner (1926). In terms of rating difference, the biggies occurred in the U1400 section, where both Justin Grimes (1044) and Ray Salemi (1045) defeated John McLaughlin (1390). Grimes also drew Greg Siciliano (1370), while other double upsetters were young Chris Berg Jones (1170), who knocked off state primary co-champion Andrew Wang (1349) and Jason Krienke (1339), and Thomas Martin (1175), who defeated Jim Krycka (1305) and drew Edwin Burnett (1533), Another interesting upset occurred in a battle between fathers of promising youngsters, with Ken Moraff (1136) knocking off Karl Frieden (1371) while their respective sons, Danny and Gabe, were playing their games. .

Others: John Harvey(1354)defeated Menno Koning (1620), Louis Jacques (1400) defeated David Martin (1632), Harry Henriques (1462) defeated George Goulding (1634), Edmund Staples (1568) defeated Mark Kaprielian (1696), Anabel Bacon (1107) defeated Peter Lee (1329), Andrew Ossman (914) defeated Karl Frieden (1371), Larry Zhu (1083) defeated Danny Moraff (1246), Greg Cermak (851) drew Luke O’Connor (1138), and Alex Lee (1106) drew (Steve Eddins (1332).

There were 30 entrants in the Open section, 24 in the middle, and 34 in the bottom group for a total field of 88.

Top-seeded Igor Foygel, fellow master Charles Riordan, and expert John Chamberlain head a group of 11 players winning their initial tests in the Open section. Ten players led by Mark Kaprielian scored in U1750 section, while there were 15 first-round winners in the U1450 section topped by Steve Eddins.

There were 25, 22, and 29 entries, respectively, in the three sections for a total first-round turnout of 76 players -- not bad by most standards but a bit below what the club has been drawing the past few months. Several "regulars" are playing in the World Open as usual, however, and summer also means vacation time, so there may well be more than the usual number of "jump-ins" swelling the total in Round 2.

Accelerated pairings were used in Round One in the top and bottom sections because of the numbers, pitting some top players against each other early in a process designed to prevent multiple perfect scores at the end. Master Chris Desmarais, the No. 3 seed and last month’s co-champion, felt the sting of this system as he was was held to a draw by high schooler Jason Spector (1926), while experts Benjamin Goldberg and Tomas Girnius both dropped the full point, falling to Randy Brueckner (1926) and Na Ruthramoorthy (1881), respectively.

Other upsets:

Joey Kagan (1544) defeated Gabe Frieden (1758); Ames Abbot (1752) defeated Jeff Penta (1861);

John Harvey (1354) defeated David Martin (1632); Eric Sonnenstuhl (1359) defeated George Goulding (1634); Thomas Martin (1175) drew Gatumba Abu(1580); Andrew D Ossmann (941) defeated Luke O'Connor (1138).