Local player finishes first

Champions crowned in Las Vegas tourney; local player finishes first
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Story last updated at 6/14/2009 – 1:58 am

The 2009 annual Susan Polgar World Open for Girls and Boys took place June 5-7 at the South Point Resort in Las Vegas.

More than 400 participants took part in three different events: SPWO Puzzle Solving, SPWO Blitz, and SP World Open for Girls and Boys.

Here are some of the top-five finishers of each section:

SPWO PUZZLE SOLVING CHAMPIONSHIPS:

• Open section (10 puzzles)

Name – Number of correct answers – Time

1. Luke Harmon (Idaho) – 10 – 1.30

2. Christopher Kao (California) – 10 – 9.46

3. Tom Polgar (Lubbock) – 10 – 11.05

4. Soren Aletheia-Zomlefer (Arizona) – 10 – 12.15

5. Sayaka Foley (Arizona) – 10 – 14.20

• Under 1,000 section

1. Becca Lampman (Washington) – 9 – 26.25

2. Taylor Bader (Arizona) – 9 – 31.50

3. Nicholas Naylor (California) – 8 – 19.40

4. Christopher Griffin (Nevada) – 8 – 23.15

5. Samuel Mason (Utah) – 8 – 31.30

• Under 600 section

1. Miles Tisserand (Louisiana) – 9 – 30.45

2. Nicole Mann (Arizona) – 6 – 31.45

3. Bryan Rodriguez (California) – 5 – 31.15

4. Madison Duffy (Illinois) – 5 – 32.50

5. Sandra Alba-Jimenez (Texas) – 4 – 32.15

SPWO BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIPS (7 ROUNDS)

• Boys’ section

1. Christopher Kao (California) 7 points

2. Bailey Corry (N.M.) 6.0

3. George Situ (California) 5.5

4. Dominic Croce (Utah) 5.5

5. Hansel Teoh (California) 5.5

• Girls’ section (7 rounds)

1. Becca Lampman (Washington) 6.5 points

2. Sayaka Foley (Arizona) 6.0

3. Joanne Koong (California) 5.0

4. Alisha Chawla (California) 5.0

5. Christina Kao (California) 4.5

SP WORLD OPEN FOR GIRLS (5 ROUNDS)

• Girls under 19 section

1. Linda Diaz (N.Y.) 5.0 points

2. Sayaka Foley (Arizona) 4.0

3-6. Anna Cusi Delamerced (Ohio) 3.0

3-6. Cindy Hoang (N.M.) 3.0

3-6. Lily Sierra (N.M.) 3.0

3-6. Stephanie He (Maryland) 3.0

• Girls under 14 section

1. Joanne Koong (California) 5.0 points

2. Becca Lampman (Washington) 4.0

3. Elizabeth Ukoli (Texas) 3.5

4-7. Lauren Treiman (Utah) 3.0

4-7. Willa Wang (California) 3.0

4-7. Shelly Anthopoulos (California) 3.0

4-7. Diana Zhou (California) 3.0

• Girls under 11 section

1. Christina Kao (California) 4.5 points

2. Brianna Guillen (Texas) 4.5

3-7. Rachael Eng (Arizona) 4.0

3-7. Jennifer Lu (California) 4.0

3-7. Victoria Mortera (Texas) 4.0

3-7. Alisha Chawla (California) 4.0

• Girls under 8 section

1. Emily Nguyen (Texas) 5.0

2. Desiree Ho (California) 4.0

3-5. Madisyn Duffy (Colorado) 3.0

3-5. Jennifer Yu (California) 3.0

3-5. Gia Petersen (California) 3.0

SP WORLD OPEN FOR BOYS (5 ROUNDS)

• Boys under 19 section

1. Randel Eng (Arizona) 5.0 points

2-3. Sean Manross (California) 4.0

2-3. Anuvind Menon (Arizona) 4.0

4-5. Trey Modlin (Ohio) 3.5

4-5. Casper Ziggy Mulholland (Arizona) 3.5

• Boys under 14 section

1. Tom Polgar (Lubbock) 5.0 points

2. Brady Barkemeyer (Colorado) 4.5

3-8. Amador Victorino Delamerced (Ohio) 4.0

3-8. Shyam Gandhi (California) 4.0

3-8. Rae Crowe (Texas) 4.0

3-8. Luc Lalonde (Arizona) 4.0

3-8. Mike Stern (Arizona) 4.0

3-8. Projit Bandyopadhyay (California) 4.0

• Boys under 11 section

1. Hansel Teoh (California) 5.0 points

2-3. Kendrick Nguyen (Arizona) 4.5

2-3. Russell Bik (California) 4.5

4-11. Albert Lu (California) 4.0

4-11. Cortez Schenck (Arizona) 4.0

4-11. Craig Lok Hilby (California) 4.0

4-11. Richard Qi (Arizona) 4.0

4-11. Simarpreet Chadha (Louisiana) 4.0

4-11. Tony Kukavica (California) 4.0

4-11. Donald Mars Poston (N.M.) 4.0

4-11. Robert Jiang (Idaho) 4.0

• Boys under 8 section

1. Stephen Rome Pangilinan (Philippines) 5.0

2-3. Conrad Morris (Utah) 4.5

2-3. Aaron Chang (California) 4.5

4-5. Hovanes Salvaryan (California) 4.0

4-5. David Yang (California) 4.0

Last year, Tommy Polgar at age 9, a third-grader at Murfee Elementary, won the Boys under 11 section with 5 points in 5 games. This year he entered a section up and won the Boys under 14 section with the same score of 5 points in 5 games.

In addition to trophies and medals, over $190,000 in chess scholarship and prizes were awarded at the three major events.

The five scholarship winners are Sayaka Foley (Arizona), Linda Diaz (N.Y.), Joanne Koong (California), Randel Eng (Arizona), and Sean Manross (California) (each value at approximately $36,000 for out-of-state students).

By finishing first in their sections, Diaz, Koong, Brianna Guillen (Texas), Emily Nguyen (Texas) and Christina Kao (California) received automatic invitations to compete in the 2009 Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls, the most prestigious all-girls national championship in the U.S,, which will be held at Texas Tech in late July.

Special thanks to Texas Tech, ChessonDVDs.com, the Susan Polgar Foundation, Las Vegas International Chess Festival, and other sponsors for supporting this wonderful event. Also special thanks to Dr. Hal Karlsson, Peggy and Rachel Flores, Jerry and Beatrice Perez, David and Maureen Grimaud, PJ Truong, Glenn Panner, Tim Just, Elizabeth Tanner and many other individuals for helping out with the tournament.

Source: Avalanche Journal