FM Roland Feng, the current WA State co-Champion, won the first Seattle Chess Classic with an undefeated 7/9 and took home the $1300 first place prize! Roland finished half a point ahead of second place finishers IM Ray Kaufman, FM Tanraj Sohal and NM Daniel He. Tying for 2nd U2300 with 6 points each were WIM Megan Lee, FM Ignacio Perez, and NM Derek Zhang. Benjamin Mukumbya, who starred in the recent Disney film Queen of Katwe, and Naomi Bashkansky tied for first U2150/U2000, also with 6 points. Vikram Ramasamy and David Rupel tied for 2nd U2150 with 5.5 points. Travis Olson won clear 2nd U2000 with 5 points. Nicholas Whale had an amazing tournament and took home the U1850 prize with 5.5 points, raising his rating by 200 points in the process! Vignesh Anand and Thomas Taylor split 2nd U1850 honors with 4.5 points each. Megan Lee and Naomi Bashkansky added to their prize winnings by splitting the Top Female prize, while Ignacio Perez, who just recently turned 50, took home the Top Senior prize.
In the Reserve section, two players dominated the 21-player field and both scored an amazing 8/9 – Jacob Mayer and Jeffrey Yan! They each won $275.50 and picked up some bonus points along the way. Robin Tu and Sophie Szeto tied for 3rd/U1600 with 5.5 points each. They were half a point ahead of Lorenzo Patton and Melina Li, who tied for 2nd U1600. Alison Xiao and Ajay Pai split first U1450/U1300 with 5.0 points each. Half a point back were Harrison Toppen-Ryan and Ethan Su, who tied for 2nd U1450. Young Anand Gupta won 2nd U1300 with 4.5 points, and Kabir Hotani took down the U1150 prize with the same score. Raymond Zhang from Vancouver, B.C. won 2nd U1150 with 3.5 points. Sophie Szeto won Top Female honors and August Piper took home the Top Senior Prize. Congratulations to all of the winners!
The Seattle Chess Classic was directed by Fred Kleist, hosted by Seattle Chess Club, and organized by WCF President Josh Sinanan.
The US Chess crosstable can be found here.
Photos from the tournament can be viewed on the WCF Facebook Page.