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December 31, 2023
For the first time in its thirty-two-year history, the Holiday Open took place in Oklahoma City this year. The fifty-nine player event was the second-largest ever for the tournament Jim Berry started in Stillwater in 1991.
Stillwater was home to the Holiday Open for twenty-three years. The Tulsa Midtown Chess Club took it over in 2017, and it was held there for five years. This year's Holiday Open was hosted by the Oklahoma City Chess Club, a new affiliate headquartered in the Kamp's 1910 building in downtown OKC.
Brian Slone, Adley Bufford, and Max Barnes tied for first in the Open section. They scored 3.5 points apiece (out of 4.0). Unrated player Saiyara Arun won the U1300 with a perfect 4.0. He was followed by five players who scored 3.0 points each: Kiara Pavithran, Kirthika Duggisetty, Seth Crockett, Justin Barton, and Aryan Karn.
Games from the top boards were broadcast live via DGT and can still be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/32ndHolidayOpen. Players featured are David Luscomb, Jeremy Tuttle, Gabe Coss, Max Barnes, Adley Bufford, Kelvin Xie, Garrett Hunt, Wayne Hatcher, Oscar Wang, and Joe Veal.
Joel Gargus was chief TD with assistance from Zachary Walling and event co-organizer Rebecca Rutledge. Some photos are below. Our thanks to all the players who came out and to the Oklahoma City Chess Club for keeping this tradition alive.
Five players represented Oklahoma this year at the Forester Open, held November 24-26 in Grapevine, Texas. Aayush Praveen, Anurag Roy Choudhury, and Kiara Pavithran played in the Amateur, with Praveen coming out as our top scorer with 3.5 out of 5 and a thirty-point rating gain. Anurag finished just behind with 3.0 and a forty-four-point jump. Pavithran, who played up to this section, scored a respectable 2.0.
Joe Zacharias scored two big upset wins in the Championship section. But our biggest winner was our smallest player: Oklahoma's second-grade champion Arya Roy Choudhury scored 3.5 in the Championship and walked away with a rating just shy of 1700. View the crosstables here.
THE OKLAHOMA CONTINGENT at the 2023 Forester Open (from left): Joe Zacharias, Kiara Pavithran, Arya Roy Choudhury, and Anurag Roy Choudhury. (Not pictured: Aayush Praveen)
PHOTO: David Luscomb and Charles Unruh.
With a perfect 4.0 out of 4, David Luscomb won the Midtown Chess Club's November quick event, held November 12 at the Harvard Avenue Baptist Church.
The ten-player field included three national masters and five other players over 2000. It also included a player we haven't seen in quite some time: Charles Unruh, an expert-rated player and longtime Oklahoma TD and volunteer who now lives in South Dakota.
Word on the street says Charles will be making an appearance at the November 18 Grade Championships at Tulsa University. I don't know about you, but this writer plans to be there in case the rumors are true!
Results for the November 12 tournament are here.
by NM Tom Braunlich
On Saturday, October 21, the Tulsa Midtown Chess Club hosted Oklahoma's first full-day Fischer-Random tournament. Time control was G/45+15.
Heretofore Chess960 events in Oklahoma have been limited to blitz play. It makes a big difference to have a lot of time to navigate and explore the new middle games this variant provides.
Not a single game was drawn! The twelve-player field, which included two masters and two experts, enjoyed amazing games of this Chess960 variation with no opening theory available — just imagination and principled play.
FM Ryan Amburgy won with a perfect 4.0/4. Tied for second with 3.0 points each were NM Tom Braunlich, David Zelnick, and Chris Dooley. Class prizes were awarded to Jordan Locust, Istvan Szabad, and Gabe Coss. Four door prizes were also given out.
TD Harold Brown was generous with his support for the prize fund, giving two USCF memberships to new players (even though it wasn’t needed for this non-rated event), and good prize money.
Despite the low turnout, the fact the players all loved the event and were asking for more convinced Harold he wants to do it again, and currently the plan is for another 960 tournament in January. Stay tuned for that, and look for some annotated games from this event in the next issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine.
Check out those weird starting positions! Players eschewed opening theory for a day of Fischer Random chess on Saturday, October 21 in Tulsa. PHOTOS (top): FM Ryan Amburgy with the black pieces against David Luscomb. (bottom): James Joy watches Gabe Coss with the white pieces vs. David Zelnick; also pictured are Istvan Szabad with the white pieces against David Bowers.
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.
Can you hold a regular-rated tournament during business hours at a Barnes & Noble? You can. All it requires is an open-minded store manager and players who won't let a loud toddler get in the way of a good game of chess. These elements were in place at the Afternoon Swiss #1, held Sunday, October 15 at the Barnes & Noble in Norman.
In the Open, Max Barnes won with 3.5 points. Garrett Hunt finished second with 3.0. Bryan Sloane won the U1600 with a perfect 4.0. Tied for third with 3.0 each were Kevin Chen, Justin Barton, Ivan Ding, and Anurag Roy Choudhury.
31 players competed in two sections at the four-round event. Time control was G/30;d5. Organizer was Michael Langston of the Norman Chess Club. TD was Rebecca Rutledge. Results are here.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
30 May 2023
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The 2023 Oklahoma Senior Open was held April 15 & 16 in Stroud. 22 players attended. Chief TD was Harold Brown.
ROUND 3 RIVALS: Mark Hulsey with the white pieces against last year's champion, Tom Braunlich.
Scoring 3.5 out of 4 points, NM Mark Hulsey was named Oklahoma's senior champion for 2023 at the Oklahoma Senior Open, held April 15 & 16 in Stroud. Also scoring 3.5 was NM Bill Orton of Arkansas. As Oklahoma's senior champion, Hulsey will join the delegation of players who will represent us at the US Open this summer.
Check out more photos from the event here. Tournament results are here.
The 27th annual OSCO state championship was held on April 8, 2023 at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Attendance continued to climb, with a total of 258 players competing in the six-section event.
Champions were Naren Pullela (High School), Joshua Li (Middle School, after tiebreaks with Elizabeth Braddy), and Kiara Pavithran (Elementary).
Under section winners were Brian Marshall (High School U1000, after tiebreaks with Benjamin Creech), Hussein Salam (Middle School U800), and Elena Wang (Elementary U500).
The players who will join our state Senior champion to represent Oklahoma at the national championship invitationals tournaments this summer are Maxwell Barnes (Denker), Elizabeth Braddy (Haring), Joshua Li (Barber), and Aayush Praveen (Rockefeller). Results of the event are here.
Photos by Jake Williams.
Scoring 6.0 out of 7 points in a tough 73-player field, Oscar Wang won first place in the Class A section of the 2023 Southwest Class Championships, held February 15-18 in Irving. Along with his other prizes (he and partner FM Ruiyang Yan won the mixed doubles, and he finished in the money in the blitz side event), he earned "the biggest take of any Oklahoma player in recent memory," according to fellow player Joe Veal.
Another notable finish was that of new (to Oklahoma) player Chad Bostick, who finished in the money with 4.5 points in Class D. Bostick recently moved from Louisiana to Shady Point, Oklahoma.
Sixteen Oklahoma players competed this weekend. Our thanks to Continental Chess and the outstanding TDs whose skill and hard work made this an efficient, fun event for all. Results are here.
Photos by Sanghamita Roy Choudhury
Sooner or later, they were bound to start having tournaments. On Tuesday, February 7, Chessmates OKC held its first event, "The Outlaw's Quick Draw," at All About Cha in Bricktown.
The tea house has been the club's home base since its inception in late 2021. But its members soon grew too numerous—and too enthusiastic—to stay in one place.
Brothers Justin and Tyler Barton, the club's founders, have visited the Edmond Chess Club, the Moore Chess Club, and the group that meets at Hopscotch. They often play at Junction Coffee. They've become regulars at Challengers, the club led by Roger Baxter at Kamp's 1910 Café. They hosted a simul with state champion Ryan Amburgy. And they hold frequent "filming days" to create content for their popular YouTube channel, where a video of Justin Barton's game against former US Women's Champion Alexey Root has been viewed more than 170 thousand times.
Chessmates OKC's explosive growth has resulted in a vibrant community of new players, many of whom have become tournament regulars. At the February 7 event, both new players and tournament veterans comprised a field 16 players who competed in G/5;d0 quads. Winners were as follows:
Quad one: (tie) Joe Veal & Gabe Teubner
Quad two: Jeff Williams
Quad three: Vish Vonteddu
Quad four: (tie) Justin Barton, Tyler Barton, & Aryan Karn
Another event is in the works! Stay tuned for details.
The best of Oklahoma's best players came together the weekend of January 27–29, 2023 for the inaugural Rozsa Trophy. The event is a round robin invitational for the top six active players in the state.
NM Tom Braunlich won the event with a score of 4.0 out of 5. His Round 2 win against NM Mark Hulsey is below. Read more about the event below and in the next issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine.
NM Mark Hulsey (2151)
NM Thomas Braunlich (2214)
