TEXAS MASTERS

The strong annual "Texas Masters" chess tournament was held this past weekend in the DCC (dallas chess club).

Personally this is the third year I play this tournament, and it holds very dear memories for me, but my results have been far from impressive!

Thanks to JG burger for sponsoring the event!


This year saw a mix of very strong players and young talents from the Dallas area. Many of the players have qualified for a spot in the upcoming WYCC (world youth chess championship) to be held later this year in Vietnam.






















Darwin Yang is not even 12, but already a FM and 2200 player
























Lithuanian FM Tautvydas Vedrickas was second seed of the tournament
























Keaton Kiewra came in second after playing a spectacular game against FM Tautvydas

The top standings at the end of the tournament:

#	Name	Rating	St	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total	Prize
1	GM Alejandro Ramirez	2593	TX	W15	W11	W7	W3	D2	4.5	1500.00
2	FM Keaton Kiewra	2312	NE	W9	D8	W20	W7	D1	4.0	750.00
3	FM Michael Langer	2299	TX	W10	D6	W4	L1	W8	3.5	250.00
4	FM Darwin Yang	2160	TX	W18	D12	L3	W20	W10	3.5	250.00
5	FM Andrew W Whatley	2317	TX	H---	U---	W17	W16	W6	3.5

Thanks again to the DCC and JG for making this tournament possible. It was very unfortunate that it coincided with final exams for most of the UTD and UTB (university of texas at brownsville) team members, and did not see the amount of IMs that this tournament normally attracts.

All info for the tournament, more photos and full standings can be found at www.swchess.com


Alejandro Ramirez