Raptis starts new year with Gresham win

Nick Raptis started the new year right by winning the annual Gresham Open, held Jan. 3-4 at the Mt. Hood Community College. Raptis scored 4.5 of 5, drawing only Lennart Bjorksten, who finished in a three-way tie for second place with Aaron Grabinsky and Yogi Saputra, all with 4 points. Raptis is a frequent winner in the Oregon section of the Northwest Chess Grand Prix, and this was one of the first two GP events of the new year, along with the Seattle Saturday Quads. See the USCF crosstable, which shows results for all 47 players directed by Neil Dale.