Lenderman Wins the Eastern Open
By Michael Atkins   
January 4, 2010
  Holiday time in Washington is marked by a beautifully lit city and the Eastern Open in Washington DC (December 27-30). This year's turnout of 228 was close to a 20 year high and the fact that is ended on a Wednesday just points to how chess tournament participation improves in a bad economy.

IM Alex Lenderman made it a clean sweep at the Eastern Open. On Tuesday evening he scored 9-1 to win the Blitz. He followed that up the next morning with a round 7 win over GM Alex Ivanov and a round 8 win over Alex Barnett to take clear first at the Eastern Open with 7-1.

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GM-elect Alex Lenderman, clear winner of the 2009 Eastern Open
A point behind were GM Ivanov, and IMs Smith, Ippolito and Ray Kaufman.

Anthony Parker won the U2200 with a 7-1 score after a mid-tournament scare in which his ID card was missing, something not good when you plan to fly home after the tournament. Fortunately his ID showed up and he didn't have to drive back to Wisconsin. The U900 was split by two scholastic players, Kimberly Ding from NY and Aravin Ponukamati from VA, both having 6.5. The U1600 section was won by Vincent Cimoric in his second tournament. U1300 was taken by Avery Jones who finally conceded a draw in the final round.

The Round by Round Upset prizes of $50 per section in the top four sections proved to be grand success. Many smiling faces accepted their awards in the announcement each round and several people won it twice, including Jorge Carcia (U19), Charles Yang (Open), Jessica Regam (U2200) and Christina Crump (U1300)  Garcia would have won 4 upset prizes were it not for the two win only rule. The awards were won by young and old and several were won by an "older" player over a young kid which meant that anything was possible at the Eastern Open.

The Best Game Prizes were Rd 7: 1st ($100): Ippolito-Smith; 2nd ($50 each): Lenderman-Ivanov, and Murillo-Hu; Rd 8: 1st ($100): Smith-Rodriguez, and 2nd ($50): Barnett-Lenderman U2200: Rd 7: 1st ($50): Mo-Grinberg Rd 8: 1st ($50): Battey-Kis.

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NTD Ernie Schlich was his typical engaging and efficient self and STD Brennan Price admirably ran two days of the quads. Those who are interested in playing next year should contact Tom Beckman at [email protected]. Also see a nice write-up on the event on the US Chess Trust homepage.

Did you miss any of CLO's other Holiday wrap-up stories? Check out Luciana Morales' photo gallery from the Pan-American Championships, Randy Hough's analysis from the North American Open in Vegas, and the story of Justus Williams' triumph in Empire State.