Hundreds face off in Pleasanton for G/30 and G/60 Champs
By Dr. Salman Azhar   
November 5, 2012
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GM Enrico Sevillano
Pleasanton, California hosted 204 players in the US National Game 30 Championship on October 27, 2012 and 251 players in the National G/60 Championships on October 28.

 Led by two Grand Masters, three International masters, one FIDE Master, and five National Masters, a field of thirty-three players competed in the G/30 Open (1900+) section. At the start of round 5, GM Walter Browne, IM Cyrus Lakdawala, and NM Porter led the field with 3.5 points each. GM Browne and IM Lakdawala played their game to a draw while GM Enrico Sevillano won against NM Porter to tie for first place. NM John Cline also won his last game to complete a four way tie for the first place. Each of these players earned $325 as the top three prizes were split among top four players.



NM Hayk Manvelyan, NM Ryan W Porter, Colin Chow, and Qibiao Wang tied for first place under 2300 to split that prize. Armaan Kalyanpur, Teemu Virtanen, Prasanna Narayanasamy, and Edward Li tied for first place under 2100. Kalyanpur was playing up making his performance even more impressive.
 
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Armaan Kalyanpur


The G/60 Open drew 35 players including two GMs. At the start of round 4, GM Walter Browne, GM Enrico Sevillano, and Aleksandr Ivanov had perfect scores. However, GM Browne and Ivanov both lost (to GM Sevillano and Michael Wang) to leave GM Sevillano with the Title and $1,200. Diminutive Michael Wang stood tall among giants to score 3.5 points, earn second place, and win $600. GM Browne, Ivanov, FM DelaCruz, Qibiao Wang, and NM Ryan W Porter tied for third place, top under 2300, top under 2200, and top under 2100. Each player won $88.
 
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Six-year-old Chinguun Bayaraa, who tied for third in the 1200-1399 section


The tournament was organized by Dr. Salman Azhar and directed by NTD Tom Langland and NTD John McCumiskey. You may find the detailed results of the G/30 here and the G/60 here.   You can see links to photos at http://BayAreaChess.com/events/results. The next major tournament in the area is California Class Championship on Thanksgiving weekend (see http://BayAreaChess.com/tg for details).