Far West Open Begins in Reno
By Michael Aigner   
April 11, 2009
Around 175 players came to Reno for the Far West Open, down about 20 from last year.  Presumably the poor economy kept some folks away.  Most of the regular attendees did make the trek up the mountains, despite a late winter snow storm on Thursday.  Even a few titled players from back east chose Reno over the woods full of foxes.

Unfortunately, it is 1:45am and I finished my game about 20 minutes ago.  I have apparently come down with an acute case of drawitis.  Even worse, the 7 hour time control is brutal, especially if you had a 5 1/2 hour game this morning.  However, my personal record of 14 hours of play in a single day, also set in Reno, is still safe.

Major results in round two:

1. GM Melik Khachiyan defeated NM Curt Collyer
2. GM Sergey Kudrin defeated FM Michael Langer
3. GM Dmitry Gurevich defeated NM Arjoe Loanzon
4. IM Enrico Sevillano defeated NM Viktors Pupols
5. GM Jesse Kraai defeated Mark Dejmek

Other players with 2-0 include: IM Gergely Antal, NM John Bryant, IM David Pruess, FM Daniel Naroditsky and expert Dana Mackenzie, who took down IM Vladimir Mezentsev tonight.

Watch for a full report with photos and games on Reno next week. From CT, check the Foxwoods homepage and look for blogs from Hilton and see Chris Bird's report on Shulman's lead after five rounds with a perfect score.