Tournament Report

The 2001 Space City Open (21-22 April) was the highest rated event ever conducted to date in the State of Alabama. The unprecedented prize fund attracted three Grand Masters. They were GM Alek Wojkiewicz (pronounced vote'-ka-vich) from New York, GM Pavel Blatny from France, and GM Semion Palatnik from Tennessee. GM Wojkiewicz is the 4th highest rated player (2680) in the United States. He is also the 2000 Grand Prix winner. The entry list for the Open Section found our highest rated Huntsville Chess Club players, Bill Melvin, Matthew Puckett, and Charles Meidinger (all Masters) seeded 10, 11, and 13 respectively. For the record they finished 12th, 17th, and 10th respectively. The number of high-rated players who entered this tournament attests to the fact that money talks.

The $3185 unconditional prize fund included $1000 + trophy + 14 Grand Prix points for 1st place in the Open Section, and $500 + trophy for 1st place in the Reserve Section. This prize fund was made possible by the generous donations of Huntsville Chess Club patrons.

The Open Section was won by a 4-way tie between GM Wojkiewicz, GM Blatny, GM Palatnik, and Todd Andrews with 4 points each. Jake Kleiman was top expert with 3.5 points. Walt Smith was the top under-2000 rated player also with 3.5 points. The highest placed Huntsville Chess Club member was Charles Meidinger at 10th with 3 points.

Other Huntsville Chess Club members in the Open Section were Gerald Larson who finished 18th with 2 points, John Schweinsberg who finished 19th with 2 points, and Mike Begala who finished 22nd with 1.5 points out of a field of 28 players.

The Reserve Section attracted 32 players. The top seed and Huntsville Chess Club member Bill Savoie won with 4.5 points. There was a three-way tie for second place between two Huntsville Chess Club members Greg Funaro, Roger McIntyre, and Bob Bashinski.

Other Huntsville Chess Club members in the Reserve Section were:

NAME PLACE SCORE
Joseph Chaffee 9th 3.5
Miles Melvin 11th 3
Chris Lasky 14th 2.5
Jafar Daskar 21st 2
Stephen Webb 28th 1.5

A Space City Open scholastic K-6 tournament was held to accommodate the wishes of local school clubs. The Saturday only event format was 5-round game-in-30 minutes. First through fifth trophies in a field of 12 entries were distributed as follows:

NAME PLACE SCORE
Sanket Shah 1st 5
Matt Chandler 2nd 4
Chandler Mills 3rd 3
Travis Letson 4th 2.5
Tchaasu Taylor 5th 2.5

The tournament directors were Frank Camaratta for the Open and Reserve Sections and David Hayes for the Scholastic Section. There were no protests. However, one interesting and complex event was worth noting. One of the Grand Masters failed to keep a complete game score during the course of the game. While he attempted to complete his game score, his opponent's flag fell. His opponent wisely called his own flag, noting that a complete game score (at the time of the call) is required to make a claim of time forfeit. The game therefore continued into the next time control. This controversial rule in effect punishes a player who does not keep a complete game score during the course of the game. A player may not keep the game in play while he completes his game score, if his opponent calls his own fallen flag.