Chess Tournament News From Cajun Country

The 2003 Tampa Open was held at the Comfort Inn near Busch Gardens on April 11-13. A total of 237 players, including Grandmasters Jaan Elvest, Alexander Goldin, and Rashid Ziatdinov; attended this event held by Cajun Chess. Early fireworks were provided by Dagoberto Diaz, a player from Cuba with a 2245 FIDE rating now living in the the Tampa area, with wins over GMs Elvest and Ziatdinov. A last round setback kept Dagoberto away from a share of first place. Elvest recovered from his first round loss to Diaz, winning all of his remaining games. Goldin had the same result, only backwards, with a last round loss at Elvest's hands after 4 wins. Rounding out the tie for first place at four points were Senior Master Mark Ritter and Expert Daniel Ludwig. Ritter defeated Diaz in round 2. Mr. Ludwig, the top-rated 12-year old in the country, beat all three experts that he played.  Crosstables

The story of the 2002 World Amateur Championship (Nov. 8-10) was Bradley Denton.  With a performance rating of 2290, he shared first place in the Under 2200 Section with Matthew O’Hara.  Playing the two-day schedule, Bradley defeated the two highest rated players, then continued with two draws and a win against the other 3 remaining highest finishers.  Bradley also won the 2002 Mississippi State Championship (Oct. 26) title two weeks prior.  Not surprisingly, Mr. Denton is a guest on both our Nationally Ranked Players and Top-rated Mississippi Players lists.

The 2002 Louisiana State Championship was held from August 31 to September 2 in New Orleans. 110 players participated in all, with 40 players in the Open Section, 25 in the Under 1600 Section and 45 in the Scholastic Section.  John D. Bick was awarded the title on tiebreaks, making this his fifth consecutive title. John Parsons also scored 5 points in the 6 round event with his version of the businessman's schedule, taking two half-point byes and winning all four games played. Matthew O'Hara and Patrick Ramsey shared third place with 4.5 points. Stephen Foster(1443) won the Under 1600 section with a 6-0 score.

The Cajun Classics August Open was won by Nicholas Schoonmaker.