Sturt,Lapshun and Yudasin Win New Year Open
By Steve Immitt   
January 4, 2010
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Raven Sturt, Photo Polly Wright from the K-12 Nationals Blitz Championship
The theme of "the smoking young guns" was still very much alive in the Marshall Chess Club's Happy New Year Open (January 2-3.) While Ostrovskiy bested GM Kudrin in Round 1, 16-year-old Nitai Leve was busy downing GM-elect Alex Lenderman on the adjacent board.  Capping off the "youthful upstarts" was the last-round victory of 16-year-old Raven Sturt (a fellow chess team teammate of Nita's at Bronx Science High School)-- who defeated veteran IM Jay Bonin in the last round to tie for First!  Sturt tied with IM Yury Lapshun and GM Leonid Yudasin for 1st-3rd, and the trio each took home $271. 
 
A cute Knight and Rook mating attack surprised IM Jay Bonin as his opponent, NM Raven Sturt finished in a 3-way tie for first with this effort:
 
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Young Alex Ostrovskiy's two-round steamroller came to a halt in Round 3 when the 1-Day Schedule showed up, and Alex lost to IM Yury Lapshun. But it's still a "Happy New Year!" for 13-year-old Alex, who ended up breaking the 2200-barrier and getting his Master title in this event. See the tournament's MSA for complete rating changes. Here is Ostrovskiy's second round win over Kassa Korley:

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Over 74 entries (69 players plus 5 re-entries) packed the venerable halls of the Marshall Chess Club over the weekend!  The complete standings of both the Open and Under 2000 Sections are posted at the Chess Center of New York website.