We had a really intense tournament. Things were quite uncertain at times but we've certainly learned something about players and playing better chess. More on that later.

The day started out or rather continued with bad weather from the night before. There were spots on Route 7 that visibility weren't the best. The roads were wet so I was wondering how many people still felt like driving to a chess tournament. It turns out that there were more than enough to make it a great event.

As a tournament director, I was blessed with competitors that knew what to do. I did spend most of my time in the scholastic section to make sure that things did not get too chaotic.

In any case, on to the results. In the Open section, the results were:

First Place: Dino Obregon 5.0
Second Place: Raymond Duchesne 3.5
Third Place: Ray Atkins 3.0

Those of you that were there might remember that I thanked Raymond for being such a wonderful host as well as for wearing the bullseye on his back all these years. Many have tried to beat him in the tournaments I have run and a few of the regulars have perhaps come close.

In this case, Dino has shown that his success in other tournaments have been a result of great play and great learning. Although many of us wish we could play as well as he did when we first met him, I think he is a far better inspiration as someone that loves the game and strives hard to improve. Dino, I know that Stone Bridge High School chess players will be inspired by you to improve and work harder - and not just in chess. What more could any parent ask of a teacher?

When Raymond said to me "Winning today was hard. Drawing was hard. Even losing was hard", I take that to mean that the level of play has certainly improved. It is great to see that happen.

Ray Atkins, who has been helping out on Thursday nights from what I understand ended up taking clear third place.

I would also like to welcome Mike Kobily who was a new face. We always appreciate new players and the different styles they bring. Hope we see lots more of you Mike.

As a TD, I was glad that it didn't come down to tiebreaks in the Open section. Congrats to the winners and all competitors for a very successful tournament.

In the scholastic section, we saw lots of new faces. Perhaps these will be the new faces representing Loudoun County in the future. I certainly hope so.

First Place: Nishanth Sajja 4.5
Second Place: Matias Paniagua 4.5
Third Place: Raj Shrimali 3.0

Unfortunately, we had to go to tiebreaks here. Nishanth had a better Modified Median score to win first place. Matias had to settle for second here and Raj Shrimali won on tiebreaks as well for third place. Well done all of you!

Just like to make a note here that we had at least three that were at their first tournament. They were Trung and Tan Nguyen and Vincent Arcuri. Nice job guys! You have your first tournaments under your belt.

Photos to appear later.

Predictions
1. Someone who is currently not, is going to become USCF expert in the next 5 months or less.
2. We will have at least two and probably more Loudoun County kids currently below USCF 900 will break that level in this next academic year.

Future Tournaments
We'd like to do the Christmas Blitz again. It was extremely fun and successful last Christmas week.