Enkhbat and Barnett Top Maryland Open
By Michael Atkins   
October 16, 2009
AlexBCLO.jpg
Alex Barnett, 2007
The Maryland Open produced three new State Champions for Maryland. In the Open, University of Maryland Baltimore County student NM Alex Barnett tied with IM Tegshuren Enkhbat with 4.5/5 each. The IM had better tiebreaks, making Enkhbat the 2009 Maryland State Champ. Jeffrey Chang finished in a 3-way tie for first in the Amateur Section, but as the only Free-stater, he is the new Amateur Champ. The new Maryland Reserve Champ is unrated Ludivico Silverio, who went 5-0 as unrated and was limited to only $200 in cash prizes.

Michael Regan organized the tournament for the Maryland Chess Association and it was held at the Rockville Hilton over the weekend of Oct 2-4. When walking into this hotel one could scarcely dream and never expect to see an inner courtyard rising 8 stories, and more meeting space than needed at a World Open.

IM Bryan Smith was the highest rated player and experienced the toughest Sunday, playing GM Kaufman and IM Enkhbat. He beat Kaufman and lost to Enkhbat, saying that he had played an idea of 2008 Philadelphia International winner GM Parimargan Negi but it hadn't been fully developed and resulted in losing a piece versus Enkhbat.

IM Enkhbat was on the short end of tiebreaks with Larry Kaufman last year so it is fitting that he is State Champ for 2009. Check out some games from the Open section below, including Enkhbat's sole draw. The tournament results are posted here, and also check MSA rated results.

3588

3578

3579

3580