Scholastic chess has been the epicenter of our Minnesota chess community for the last half century. This dynamic was once again on display at last weekend's 132nd edition of the Minnesota Open held at Bethel University. International Master and uber successful scholastic player Sean Nagle finished clear 1st with a full 1-point margin over the field. Sean's critical win came in Round 4 against defending State Champion Sammy Narayanan. Last year Sammy won their Round 4 match-up on his way to claiming both the Minnesota Open and the State Playoff Champion crowns. Perhaps Sean will now have similar momentum going into this year's March playoffs.
Standings (including tiebreakers) 🧮
Prize Winners ($10,000 paid!) 💵
In addition to being an International Master and 12-time State Champion, Sean was an uber successful Minnesota scholastic champion. Thus has it often been in Minnesota's chess history that our scholastic champions experience enduring success late into their chess careers. As evidence of this phenomenon we need look no further than the qualifiers for this year's Championship Playoffs. Sammy Narayanan, Andrew Titus, Jordan Timm, and Arvind Thiagarajan are all well known for their Minnesota scholastic chess success. The 6th qualifier, our 2024 Summer Grand Prix Champion Josiah Jorenby, hails from South Dakota and thus is the lone exception to this phenomenon in the 2025 State Championship Playoffs.
In the U2000 Amateur Section it was rock solid expert Yuval (UV) Shemesh taking clear first with 5 points. After a Round 3 setback against Ethan Harrison, UV stormed back to win his last 3 games. UV is known for his solid playing style and ability to often easily hold draws with masters. Yet ironically UV had no draws in this competition. Strong performances were also turned in by the Harrison brothers, as Ethan scored 4.5 and Jesse finished with 4.0 after his Round 6 loss to UV. Luckily they avoided a "Harrison household grudge match" as they narrowly missed pairing up in the smaller 41-player Amateur field.
In the U1700 Reserve Section it was Nathan Dohman dominating the field by a full point to win clear 1st prize. Nathan also gained 125 rating points in the process!!
For the U1400 there was a tie between Olivia Delos & Matthew Lulek with 5.0 points. Somehow they avoided matching up in this tournament, but will now have the chance to participate in a tiebreaker playoff to determine who will represent the U1400 category in the U1700 playoffs.
Finally, in the 83-person U1100 Bantam field it was Angela Lee & Gracin Matthews finishing with 5.5 points to share the lucrative 1st/2nd place prizes.
The tournament was expertly directed by Chief TD Sarah Wahl and Asst. TD Jack Bellinger. They both worked very hard all weekend to keep everything on track. This was no small feat as there were 5 sections, spread across 4 rooms, over 3 days, with a 2-day option. Bethel University was a new site for the Open this year. In addition to the good chess comradery the players appreciated the cafeteria, the common space, the Hall of Fame Ceremony, and the large prize fund. There were also some challenges with the remote location of one of the playing halls and the smaller tables used in some of the rooms.
On to the Playoffs!!