"Foreclosure Doctors" Win South
By Harvey Lerman   
February 19, 2008
ForeclosureDoctorslead.jpg
The winners: Gilberto Luna, Javier Gonzales, Jeffrey Haskel and Bruci Lopez

"The Foreclosure Doctors LLC 305.300.2055" (Bruci Lopez, Jeffrey Haskel, Javier Gonzales, and Gilberto Luna[Captain]) beat "Flaming Flamingos" (Corey Acor, Eric Rodriguez, Jeffrey De Jesus, and Michael Corallo) in the last round to win the USATS. Their 4 1/2 score put them alone in 1st place. "Flamingos" won 2nd on tiebreaks over the Ludwig team (Daniel Ludwig, Dalton Perrine, Hengyi Wu, and Toby Boas), which finished 3rd. The dominance of the top two teams was apparent as "Falmingos" won all the board prizes but Board #1, which went to Lopez.

Going into the last round Corey Acor's team, "Flaming Flamingos", was leading the Open section with four wins. Their closest encounter was in the third round when they beat Daniel Ludwig's team 3 1/2 to 1 1/2, as Acor lost to Ludwig on the first board. Ludwig and Acor were teammates on the team that won the 2007 USAT Playoffs, but each formed separate teams this year. Acor seemed to do a better job as his team was rated 2198, while Ludwig's was 2055.

The second highest rated team, "The Foreclosure Doctors LLC 305.300.2055", and rated 2195 was named after their sponsor's business name and phone number. I suppose they expected that a win would give their business national exposure. This team was alone at 3 1/2 and so played Acor's in the last round.

Check out
www.centralflchess.org for more details and the original article.

Other prize winners were:

U2000: Gators eat fish

U1800: Stop, Drop and Roll

U1600: Clermont's Garry Day and the Knights

U1400: 18-1* (A Tribute to the '72 Dolphins)

Board 1: Bruci Lopez (5-0)

Board 2: Eric Rodriguez

Board 3: Jeffrey De Jesus

Board 4: Michael Corello

Best Name: Barack Rank Mates