BU Open 2007 results

The 13^th annual BU Open was held on Saturday, November 10 on a lovely day in the student union of Boston University. More than eighty players competed in what all agreed was a very pleasant venue – natural light from many windows, well-spaced tables and comfortable chairs, and a Starbucks a minute away in the food court (where one could grab pizza and burgers, sushi and salads, Chinese and turkey dinners between rounds.) TD Bernardo Iglesias of the Boylston Chess Foundation (under whose affiliation the tournament was rated) did his usual professional job. Of course, the tournament was sponsored by the Boston University Chess Club (Roza Eynullayeva and Barry Lai, co-presidents, Steven Abrahams, vice-president, Melvin Zhang, treasurer, and Richard Soohoo, secretary, and Robert Oresick, advisor.

This year a new prize, the Allan Ong prize for top undergraduate student, was added to honor Allan, who was the first president of the modern BU Chess Club and started the BU Open. After 14 years of living in Toronto and Boston, Allan returned to his native Manila in the Philippines.

The Open Section was won by Harvard freshman FM Teddy Coleman with 4 of 4 points.

Steven Abrahams, a BU freshman, won the U1900 section with 4 also. Teddy and Steven both tied for the 1^st annual Allan Ong prize for the top undergraduate college student.

Travis Dover, a BU alum and former BU Chess Club president, won the U1600 section, also with a perfect 4.

Stuart Finney of the Barrington School had a very upsetting tournament. Stuart (1951) defeated NM Christopher Williams (2302; BU Open Champion of 2005), drew with NM Jacob Chudnovsky (2397; BU Open Champion in 1997, playing again for the first time in 10 years after a sojourn in California), and drew with LM Eric Godin (2200).

You can view crosstables and photos of the BU Open at

http://picasaweb.google.com/oresick/BuOpen2007

and

http://picasaweb.google.com/oresick/BuOpen2007Stepak

Open section:

1st FM Teddy Coleman (4.0; $300)

2nd NM Christopher Williams (3.0; $40) & NM Lawyer Times (3.0; $40)

Top U2200 WIM Esther Epstein (3.0; $40) & Dr. Aung Kyaw Lwin (3.0; $40)

U1900 section:

1st Steven Abrahams (4.0; $75)

2nd Kapil Chandran (3.5; $40)

U1600 section:

1st Travis Dover (4.0; $75)

2nd Soheil Saadat (3.5; $20) & Corey Tolbert (3.5; $20)

Top U1200 Akshay Saini (3.0; $40)

Allan Ong Top Undergrad:

FM Teddy Coleman (4.0) & Steven Abrahams (4.0)

Corey Tolbert (3.5; $50)

(Corey won the prize money because Teddy and Steven qualified for more lucrative prizes.)

Top College – Northeastern University

Artem Sharamet, Soheil Saadat, Corey Tolbert, Eric Lawless, Kent Leung

(Only the top three scores were counted.)

Top High School – Newton North High School

Jesse Nicholas, Lior Rozhansky

Top Primary School - Clark

James Lung, Christine Lung, Timothy Lung