Saturday morning tournament prep w/ organizer Tim R. and TD Jack.
Coming off his recent win in the State Championship tiebreaker playoff, Samrug (Sammy) Narayanan stayed hot in St. Cloud with a 1st place finish to jump to the early lead in the 2024 Summer Grand Prix Standings. Sammy scored 4.5/5.0 points, giving up only a draw to runner-up Andrew Titus in round 4. Titus finished with 4.0 points and was joined in a 2nd place tie with Josiah Jorenby.
All USCF Results š„
In the U1900 section it was Daniel Nenneman and Vivian Yang sharing 1st place with 4.0 points after their critical round 5 draw. The U1500 section saw Kevin Kiehne rebound from a first round draw with the always tough Ksenija Matus to land at 4.5 points and clear 1st prize. Ksenija may have learned her masterful drawing technique from older sister Nastassja who posted a perfect 5-draw scorecard in the Premier section.
The U1100 section once again had the most participants and Ilya Chuhunou produced a perfect 5-0 score to claim 1st prize. Unrated new player Tyler Pamperin also put up an impressive 4.5 points in his first rated event to finish with a 1233 provisional rating after only 5 games!
Prize Winners šµ
Many thanks to Jack Bellinger who ran a great tournament as our Chief TD, Ed Bourgeois who handled the MSCA announcements, and Scott Carpenter who published a dazzling new and improved edition of the 2024 Grand Prix Scoreboard.
There were 104 players participating in St. Cloud including several players from out-of-state and returning National Masters Brian Campbell and Nathaniel Graham. The set-up at the facility was excellent with plenty of space, ample skittles, walking paths, and the adjoining hotel.
Next up for the Summer Grand Prix Series is a stop in Duluth / Superior the last weekend of June.
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The Opportunities Suite at the River's Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud.