Datta Wins Record Smashing U.S. Junior Open
By Franc Guadalupe   
July 27, 2010
Datta200.jpg
Deepyaman Datta
The 2010 U.S. Junior Open held in Houston, Texas was a record-smashing event, and National Master Deepyaman Datta, a student at University of Texas at Austin, was the biggest winner.  The event was held in the beautiful facilities of the Hilton Houston Hobby Airport and drew 243 players from 10 states.  The 2006 U.S. Junior Open held in Dallas had the previous record with 215 players.  This year’s event had four sections:  U-21, U-15, U-11 and U-8.  Four masters and fourteen experts competed in the top division. In addition to the main event, there were Blitz, Bughouse, and Parents/Friends side events. 

In the last round, Deepyaman defeated 14-year old Expert Christopher Heung from Florida to secure clear first with 5.5/6 as well as the title, winner’s plaque, and the $500 prize.

4654

On Board Two, Florida turned the tables on Texas as 14-year old Robert Perez from Miami defeated National Master William Ong good for clear second with 5/6 along with the 2nd place plaque and the $250 prize.

4655

Datta will not be able to get the spot in the 2011 U.S. Junior Closed since he will not be under the age of 20 as of the age cut-off date for that event, so it will likely drop down to our young second place finisher (to be confirmed).
RoundFive.jpg
Round five action: Floridans Perez (White) and Heung (Black) on board One (closest), and on Board two, Matthew Michaelides (White) and Datta (Black), both from Texas.


In the U-15, Co-Champions Jason Altschuler and Steven Chen, both from Texas, won their last games to finish in a tie for first place, with Jason winning the first place trophy on tie-breaks.  Their meeting on Round Five resulted in a draw.   In the U-11, Kesav Vishwanadha, rated 1904, was clear first with 5.5/6.  In the U-8 Division, top seed Emily Nguyen from Austin, Texas, rated 1476, had the only perfect score of the event, 6/6, winning the Championship by a full point.

Team trophies were awarded to both school and club teams.  Westwood HS from Austin, Texas, won the overall team Championship in both the U-21 and U-15 Divisions while the Houston Chess Club won the Club titles in both divisions as well.  In the U-11, the Houston Chess Club won the overall title and the first place trophy among clubs while Canyon Vista Middle School won first place among schools.  The Austin Kids Chess Club won the overall title in the U-8 Division and T.H.Rogers from Houston won the School title.

SarahChiang250.jpg
13-year-old Sarah Chiang, 5th place in the Under 21 section 
The always exciting Blitz event had two divisions.  Bryce Tiglon, bested the other 30 participants in the U-11 Division to take the first place trophy back to Washington State.   Robert Perez and Austin’s Matthew Liu tied for first among the 18 participants in the Blitz U-21, with Robert, from Miami, winning the first place trophy on tie-breaks.  The exciting and always loud Bughouse competition had 13 teams.  After three double rounds, the teams of Matthew Liu/Jonathan Chiang and Seth Thompson/Andrew Widner were tied with 6.0 points.  Matthew and Jonathan won the play-off, 2-0, to take the first place trophies.  Yiqun Xie won first place in the Parents and Friends event.

See rated results on the USCF MSA and check out the Texas Chess Association website, http://www.texaschess.org/ for complete results and winners.

Franc Guadalupe organized the event and was the Chief TD.  He was assisted by Floor Chief Victor Flores and Binny Nanavati.  Luis Salinas transmitted the games on the Monroi website and assisted on the floor as well.