Friday, August 7, 2009

U.S. Open 1



* After the merge, total attendance is 455. Not impressive by the standards of the 70s and 80s, but pretty good for the current decade. The dog-and-pony show of 9-, 6-, and 4-day schedules has produced some oddities, like young master Jonathan Hilton facing GM Alex Yermolinsky on Board 2, but at least there will be three rounds for everyone to compete together. The Indianapolis Marriott East is a very nice playing site, but it's easy to see why it sold out early -- aside from the function space, it's a pretty small hotel. Complete standings may be found through the USCF web page, but they apparently cannot be linked to because of some some very annoying web design choices.

* Abby Marshall of Virginia took first place in the Denker Touranment of High School Champions with 5.5 out of 6. I think this is a first, though I haven't had a chance to check. Tied for second with 5-1 were Jeffrey Haskel of Florida and Michael Yang of Minnesota.

* Rumor is that the Bylaws Committee wants to deal with whinng complaints about the legality of the Delegate selection process by repealing the changes made by the "Blue Ribbon Commission" back in 1998 -- returning to appointment of Delegates by the State Chapters to one-year terms. We won't know for sure until the Delegates Meeting tomorrow. Which will also have the inestimable pleasure of ruling on whether it's OK to revoke the memberships of Polgar and Truong. It's going to be a long weekend.

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