2011 Portland Chess Club Centennial Open
Aug 12-14, 2011 in Portland, OR / This report revised Aug 21, 2011.
$10,000 in guaranteed prizes!! See the event flyer for prize distribution.
Crosstables are available on the USCF website (uschess.org), event ID 201108147221.
More Portland Centennial Photos! - Photographer Philip Peterson took a number of photos at the Portland Centennial Open (August 12-14), which are available on his Flickr site.
As noted in Frank Niro's blog, Giorgi Orlov, Nick Raptis, Bindi Cheng and Loren Laceste each scored five points in six rounds to finish deadlocked atop the 54-player Championship section. Robert Herrara won the Amateur section with a perfect 6-0 score, while Susan Polgar scored 10-0 in the clock simul (see her event photos); see selected games on the games page.
Two Canadians tie Orlov & Raptis for Centennial Championship by Frank Niro - IM Georgi Orlov of Washington and FM Nick Raptis of Oregon entered the final round of the Portland Chess Club Centennial Open tied atop the leader board with 4 ½ points. They drew with each other in round six allowing two Canadians, FM Bindi Cheg and Canadian Junior Champion Loren Laceste, to pull even with 5-1 scores. All four players earned $875 for their efforts. Daniel Gay was undefeated with three wins and three draws to win the under-2200 class prize, worth $500. Peter Lessler, Igor Ummel and Nathan Lee, deadlocked at 4 points, shared 2nd through 4th place. All three were awarded $166.67.
A total of 180 players entered the tournament commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Portland Chess Club. The club celebrated the occasion by staging the tournament August 12-14 at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel in Portland. Contested in two sections, the Championship field of 54 players fought for $4,500 in prizes while 22 of the 126 players in the Amateur section divided up $6,000.
The Amateur winners were as follows: Robert Herrara $1000, with a perfect 6-0 score; Robert Fisette and Jack Cheng, $550 each; Matt Dalthorp and Nick Figone, $500 each; James Wang, Mark Hanna and Nathan Jewell, $333.33; David Hendricks and Jenesis Bugaoan, $300; Vlajko Lakic and Micah Smith, $200; Luke Robson, Maxwell Sun, Robert Allen and Steven Witt, $125; Sadrac Chery and Joshua Doknjas, $100; and Sangeeta Dhingra, Frederick Davis and Dhruva Chatterjee, $66.67.
The tournament ran smoothly throughout with few problems and no disputes. Mike Morris served as the organizer for the event, supported by tournament directors Frank Niro, Neil Dale and Jeffrey Roland, and by staff members Hazel Monroe and Susan Koenig. The organizing committee for the Portland Chess Club included Grisha Alpernas, Mike Janniro, Alex Grom and Ted Lundin.
| Photos of PCC Centennial Open players courtesy of Andrei Botez: |
 Alexander Botez, Steve Breckenridge, Howard Chen, Bindi Cheng, Olga Cherapakhin, Sangeeta Dhingra, Joshua Doknjas, Dolthrop. |
 Daniel Gay, Richard Gutman, Carl Haessler, Robert Herrera, Loren Laceste, Becca Lampman, Megan Lee, Alathea Letaw. |
 Andy May, Sarah May, Menaka Narayanan, Georgi Orlov, Nick Raptis, Radu Roua, Marjorie Sheiman, Doug Sterclick. |
| Additional photos of PCC Centennial Open courtesy of Andrei Botez: |
 
 Upper left: organizers/TDs Roland, Niro, Dale and Morris. Games: Howard Chen v. Georgi Orlov, Richard Gutman v. Carl Haessler, Josh Sinanan v. Jason Cigan, David Bragg v. Megan Lee. Lower right: Mike Janniro and Steven Deeth with Ralph Hall's widow, as they were awarded trophies for winning the previously-contested Senior Open. |
| Photos of Susan Polgar at the Portland Chess Club: Courtesy of the Susan Polgar Foundation |
That's tournament director Frank Niro in the 4th photo, and Frank and his wife Natasha with Susan in the final photo. According to Frank, "The photo of me at the Portland Chess Club is under the 'Key to the city of Crossville, Tennessee' which was presented to me in 2003 by Mayor J.H. Graham and now hangs on the club's wall along with many items of chess memorabilia related to present and former PCC members and events. It was given to me for choosing to move the US Chess Federation headquarters to that city while I was Executive Director of the USCF." |