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Pavithran wins NW OKC Novice Challenge
With a perfect 4.0 score, Kiara Pavithran won the first NW OKC Novice Challenge, September 10 in Oklahoma City. Six unrated players were in the fifteen-player field, which was open to players under 1200.
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A mix of adults and youths found themselves in a second-place tie with 3.0 points each: Jax Little, Ruben Pina, Yahya Latif, and Daniel Byford.
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Chad Marler donated the venue and provided sets and clocks. NM Bart Gibbons was organizer and chief TD with help from Tom Braunlich. Results are here.
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Still the one!
Amburgy is state blitz champion again (and again...)
For the fourth year running, FM Ryan Amburgy is Oklahoma's blitz chess champion. Check out the crosstables from the 38-player event here—or better yet, read all about it in the October issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine.
Luscomb wins 7th Steve Wharry ConSat
David Luscomb's perfect 4.0 score landed him in clear first at the 7th Steve Wharry ConSat (consecutive Saturdays) Classic, held in Tulsa August 5 and 12. The event drew 37 players in three sections.
David Zelnick was second in the Open with 3.0 points. Rising scholastic players Elizabeth Braddy, Lafayette Chen, and Garrett hunt tied for third with 2.0 points each. Joel Ulahannan won the Reserve (U1800) with 4.0 points. Miles Bright was second (3.0). Leon Harvey and his grandson, Stone Burton ,tied for third with James Joy and Everett Leviness (2.0 points each).
In the Novice (U1300), Alex Smith took first place with 3.5 points. Kirthika Duggisetty tied for second with new player Matthew Miller (3.0 points each). Yahya Latif scored 2.5.
Dr. Steve Wharry was a research chemist for Phillips Petroleum and an avid chess player and organizer. Known as a devoted teacher who inspired countless youths to improve their chess, he dedicated countless hours to directing both open and scholastic tournaments. As a player his peak was in the mid-1990s, when his rating exceeded 2100; he continued to play regularly in Oklahoma tournaments until his death in 2016. View crosstables for the event here.
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Amburgy wins the 55-player Hot Summer Swiss II
FM Ryan Amburgy scored a perfect 4.0 to win the second Hot Summer Swiss, held August 26 in Oklahoma City. The 55-player event was held in the conference room at Kamp's 1910 Café, longtime home of the Challengers chess club.
Second place in the top section was NM Jarod Pamatmat with 3.0 points. Oscar Wang and Matthew Ebrahimi tied for third with 2.5 points each.
Brian Slone, Long Nguyen, and Ivan Ding tied for first in the U1600 with 3.5 points each.
The biggest news of the day came in the U1000, where Tulsa seventh grader Eshawn Samadder—a ratings underdog in all four of his games—scored a perfect 4.0 and took home the first-place trophy. Four players tied with 3.0 points each: Justin Barton, Charley Qiu, Jonathan Fan, and Jacob So. Tiebreaks awarded second and third to Barton and Qiu, respectively.
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Crosstables are here. Organizer and chief TD was Rebecca Rutledge. Special thanks to assistant TD Joel Gargus and to Steve Stavinoha, the managing owner at Kamp's and a great friend to the Oklahoma City chess community.
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Moore series continues with first of two summer events
by Joe Veal
There were many exciting battles in Moore at the 47-player Hot Summer Swiss I, held Saturday, July 22 in Moore. The venue was the Regency Park Baptist Church, a longtime staple of OKC metro tournaments and former home of the Challengers Chess series. This event was the first of two G/45;d5 tournaments to be held there this summer. Fun was had by all who participated.
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National Master Jarod Pamatmat (2310), who is doing a residency program at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, was the overall winner of the 12-player Premier section. He scored 3.5 out of a possible four points. Second was Tulsa retired math teacher Chris Dooley (3.0/4). A tie for third was split between the reigning Oklahoma state champion Maxwell Barnes, who drew Pamatmat in the last round, and Stillwater therapist Zach Walling. Both ended with 2.5 points.
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A four-way tie showed the parity of the field in the twelve-player U1600 section. The following players scored 3.0 points each: Westmoore High School debate coach Ishmael Kissinger, Sapulpa High School senior Brian Slone, Norman scholastic player Hayden Olmstead, and Aayush Praveen, our 2023 representative to the Rockefeller Tournament of Elementary Champions and a student of yours truly.
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The only perfect 4.0 of the day happened in the 23-player U1000 section, where Deer Creek student Kirthika Duggisetty won all four of her games and took home the first-place trophy. In second with 3.5/4 was Roshan Valentine, who attends Classen SAS Middle School and is another of my students. Tied for third with 3.0 points were Norman scholastic player Ivan Ding, OKC Chessmates co-founder Tyler Barton, Elgin Chess Club president Tanner Woodson, Heritage Hall eighth grader Yahya Latif, and Daniel Koehn, a sixth grader at Jenks Intermediate.
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I would to thank Challengers Chess Club member Ray Chidester for allowing us to use the Regency Baptist Church. Also, I would like to thank the founder of City Chess, Rebecca Rutledge, for her technical excellence as the Chief TD in this event. Finally, I would like to thank the 47 players who attended. As a member of the Oklahoma Chess Association board, I invite you to join us at a tournament in August. You can find a schedule of upcoming Oklahoma chess tournaments here. —JOE VEAL
More photos from the tournament are on City Chess OK's Facebook page. To view the crosstables from this event, go to RESULTS.
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Another strong Invitationals performance for Braddy
Elizabeth Braddy led the Oklahoma contingent at this year's national invitationals, held during the US Open in Grand Rapids the first week of August. Read about it the latest issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine. This issue is jam-packed with games featuring Oklahoma players like Elizabeth Braddy, Josh Alexander, Jim Berry, Max Barnes, David Zelnick, David Luscomb, Ryan Amburgy, Ben Li, Joe Zacharias, Dimitris Diochnos, William Lin, Chris Lofthus, Lafayette Chen, Arya Roy Choudhury, Joe Veal, and Matt Dalthorp. Click here to read now!
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Oklahoma congratulates Luke Tran
For the second year in a row, Kansas player Luke Tran faced Oklahoma player Joshua Alexander in the final round of a state championship. Last year it was in Oklahoma, at the 2022 Jerry Spann in Tulsa. Alexander won that game.*
This year, things were different. Once again, Tran faced Alexander in the final round. But this was his own state championship (The Kansas Open & Championship, July 15 & 16 in Lawrence). Tran won the game, finishing the event with a perfect 5.0 score. It was a clear first-place finish, and Tran has been named Kansas State Champion.
A frequent participant in Oklahoma tournaments and friend to many of our players, Tran is no doubt already hearing congratulations from his friends across the state line. The Oklahoma Chess Association wishes to add our congratulations to theirs. Cheers, Luke!
Three Oklahomans represented us at this year's Kansas Open. Josh Alexander finished third in the Open with 3.5 points out of 5. Jacob Schultz played up to the Open and scored 1.5 points. Oklahoma's only scholastic player at the event, Roshan Valentine, scored 3.0 in the U1400 and will be bringing some Kansas rating points back home to Oklahoma.
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*but not the event. FM Ryan Amburgy won the 2022 Oklahoma Open and the state champion title for that year.
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Record-breaking turnout at this year's Oklahoma Open
One hundred players competed in three sections at the 77th Jerry Spann Memorial Oklahoma Open & Championship, held June 3 & 4 in Oklahoma City. It was the largest turnout in more than thirty years.
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Winner of this year's title was 16-year-old Maxwell Barnes, who scored 4.5 out of 5 in the 36-player Open. The 8th seed coming into the event, Barnes had a slow start (with an upset draw to 26th seed Joe Osley). But he rallied by winning his last four games, topping it off by defeating the defending champion and top seed FM Ryan Amburgy in the final round. Barnes's win makes him the second-youngest Oklahoma state champion in the title's 77-year history.
Amburgy tied for second with David Luscomb (4.0 points), and the top U1900 prize was shared by three players who scored 3.5 out of 5: Chris Dooley, Erik Nickels, and Joe Veal.
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MAX BARNES IS 2023 OKLAHOMA CHESS CHAMPION
Maxwell Barnes accepts the state champion's plaque from former state champion NM Tom Braunlich.
In the Reserve (U1700), William Lin and new player Dimitris Diochnos tied for first with 4.5 points each. Tiebreaks awarded Diochnos the title. Shane Stonehocker and Chris Lofthus were just behind the winners, with 4.0 points each.
Winner of the Amateur (U1300) was Hyrum Moses, who scored 4.5 out of 5. The University of Texas junior had not played rated chess since the 2018 scholastic state championship. Tied for second with 4.0 points each were Anurag Roy Choudhury, Hayden Olmstead, Zach Monahan, and Vish Vonteddu, who gave Moses his only draw of the event.
Chief tournament director was Paul Covington. He was assisted by Ishmael Kissinger and Rebecca Rutledge. Don't miss the feature article by Tom Braunlich in the new issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine.
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Some photos of the event are below. View the rest of them here.
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Oklahoma players kick off summer in Dallas, Chicago
30 May 2023
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Memorial Day weekend saw Oklahoma chess players head to two other states: Illinois for the Chicago Open and Texas for the Texas State and Amateur Championship. In Chicago, FM Ryan Amburgy scored a respectable 4.5 out of 7 in the GM-studded Open. But the big news came from the U1900, where Naren Pullela scored 6.0 out of 7 and took home a $2k prize.
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Oklahoma players in Dallas this weekend were Max Barnes, Joe Veal, Elizabeth Braddy, Raymond Jiang, Jeff Carter, Arya Roy Choudhury, Anurag Roy Choudhury, Ishak Hossain, and Rebecca Rutledge. Veal and Braddy were the top scorers, with 5.5 and 4.5 (respectively) out of seven points. Braddy's resulting 1804 rating makes her Oklahoma's newest Class A player. Ishak Hossain also rose in class as a result of his performance in the event, as did brothers Arya and Anurag Roy Choudhury.
A few photos from Texas are below. Results of the 2023 Texas State & Amateurs are here. Results of the 2023 Chicago Open are here.
RRSO XXI: It's a draw
The 21st Red River Shootout was held 13 May 2023 at the Lake Murray Lodge in Ardmore. Oklahoma and Texas were tied going into the match, and Oklahoma was a 677-point underdog. But thanks to some outstanding play that resulted in a few thrilling upsets, we're still tied. Final score: 11-11. Results are here.