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2017 Washington State Championship / Premier / Invitational

The 2017 Washington State Championship / Premier / Invitational / Challengers chess tournaments were conducted as round-robins the weekends of February 11-12 and 18-20, 2017 in Redmond as detailed below. Rounds began at 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM on the weekends, and at 5:00 PM on President's Day, Monday, February 20.

Four Sections! Format: Four invitation-only 10-player Round Robins by rating: Championship, Premier, Invitational, and Challengers. The field of each section was determined by seeding and by the highest rated players to respond to an invitation based on the January 2017 U.S. Chess rating list. All sections are dual U.S. Chess and FIDE rated. Fred Kleist was the TD for all four sections.

PGN file of games! (Includes all sections and rounds) | USCF crosstables link.

Time control: 40/2, SD/30; d10. Boards and sets were provided at the tournament, but not clocks.

Entry Fee: Free!

Schedule: Rounds 1-8: Feb. 11, 12, 18, 19 at 10 AM and 5 PM. Round 9: Feb. 20 (President's Day) at 5 PM.

Site: Microsoft Building 99 rooms 99/1915 and 99/1927: 14820 NE 36th St., Redmond, WA 98052. Note: registration and badging required to access Microsoft building for this event.

Prize Fund: The initial prize fund for each section was guaranteed by the WCF, and may be increased based on donations. Championship: $1,500, Premier: $1,000, Invitational: $500, Challengers: $250. Prize distribution (each section): 1st 45%, 2nd 25%, 3rd 15%, 4th 10%, 5th 5%. Brilliancy Prizes: $400 ($100 for best game in each section). The winner of the Championship section receives the title of Washington State Champion. Plaques awarded to the winners of each section.

Drawing of lots: Feb. 4 at 10 p.m. at Seattle Chess Club after the Seattle Masters. Attendance was optional, though encouraged.

Byes: Since this is a prestigious round robin, there were no half-points byes or rescheduling of games allowed in any of the sections. All games must be played on site under TD supervision at the scheduled round times.

Seeds: (note not all accepted invitation; see below for actual player fields for each event)

Championship: IM Michael Lee (State Champion), FM Nick Raptis (Open Champion), FM Tian Sang (Championship Runner-up), NM Anthony He (Challenger's Cup Champion and Junior Closed Co-Champion), FM John Readey (Premier Champion).

Premier: NM Kyle Haining (Premier Runner-up), Neo Olin (Invitational Champion), Zachary Zhang (President's Cup Champion), Joseph Truelson (Junior Open Champion).

Invitational: Masayuki Nagase (Invitational Runner-up), Vikram Ramasamy (Challengers Champion), Sangeeta Dhingra (Girl's Champion), David Rupel (Senior Champion), Badamkhand Norovsambuu (Women’s Champion).

Challengers: WFM Naomi Bashkansky (Challengers Runner-up), TBD (WCF Nominee).

Registration: Invited players were requested to register online via online registration, or reply to the email they received. The deadline to reply was Feb. 3.

Questions? Josh Sinanan, WCF President, (206) 769-3757, joshsinanan@gmail.com.

Brilliancy prizes - See the 2017 WA State Championship Brilliancy Prizes report (PDF file).

Here are the fields of the Championship, Premier, Invitational and Challengers sections. (See below for results and crosstables.)

Championship
The winner of the Championship section receives the title of Washington State Champion.

Raptis, Nick 2430
Feng, Roland 2426
Tiglon, Bryce 2426
Kaufman, Ray 2402
Sang, Tian 2359
Readey, John 2302
Perez, Ignacio 2296
Haining, Kyle 2268
Sinanan, Josh 2264
He, Anthony 2240

Average rating: 2341
Prize Fund: $1,500 initially.
 
Premier
The winner of the Premier section qualifies for the next state championship tournament.

Irgaliyev, Alikhan 2307
Schill II, William J 2227
Pupols, Viktors 2200
Lin, Michael 2157
Kelley, Dereque 2146
Ramasamy, Vikram 2117
Norovsambuu, Badamkhand 2101
Rupel, David 2060
Zhang, Brendan 2055
Truelson, Joseph 1923

Average rating: 2129
Prize Fund: $1,000
 
Invitational
The winner of the Invitational section qualifies for the next state premier tournament.

Bishop, Alan 2043
Deshpande, Aaryan 2030
Zhang, Eric 2017
Airapetian, Chouchanik 2015
Arganian, David 2013
Moroney, Timothy 2012
Thomas, Damarcus 1963
Kuhner, Mary 1956
Olson, Travis 1953
Smith, Mark Trevor 1880

Average rating: 1988
Prize Fund: $500
 
Challengers

Sloan, Carl J 1858
Anand, Vignesh 1847
Bonrud, Neal 1829
Ahluwalia, Anshul Bharat 1813
Petrov, Oscar 1787
Mahajan, Rushaan 1772
Deng, Samuel 1771
Tien, Sophie 1752
Xuan, Owen 1707
Vijayakumar, Advaith 1633

Average rating: 1778
Prize Fund: $250

Alternates: Seshadri, Sridhar 1671

Schedule and Other Information

Schedule/Location:
See above.

Requests/Updates:

  • Please arrive at Microsoft on Saturday morning by 9:45 a.m. for a mandatory players meeting in which Fred will remind us of the FIDE rules. All players must be present by 10:00 a.m. or may risk forfeiting round 1 and being withdrawn from the tournament.
  • Boards, sets, scoresheets, and digital clocks will be provided. Please bring an extra set/clock for skittles and game analysis.
  • We kindly ask that each player send a brief chess bio with picture for publication in Northwest Chess magazine. Only players who submit a bio and annotated game upon completion of the tournament will be eligible to win prize money. Please send the bio to Josh Sinanan or Jeff Roland (jroland@cableone.net). See sample bios from the 2008 event. Annotated games should be submitted no later than 3/5.
  • The group photos for all sections were taken on Sunday 2/19 at 4:30 p.m. prior to round 8. Players were requested to please dress nicely!

Pairings:

Pairings were released after the drawing of lots.

Here is the pairings schedule for the rounds in each section. This is from the Berger tables.
See the cross tables below for the players corresponding to each pairing number.
Rd 1 - 1:10 2:9 3:8 4:7 5:6
Rd 2 - 10:6 7:5 8:4 9:3 1:2
Rd 3 - 2:10 3:1 4:9 5:8 6:7
Rd 4 - 10:7 8:6 9:5 1:4 2:3
Rd 5 - 3:10 4:2 5:1 6:9 7:8
Rd 6 - 10:8 9:7 1:6 2:5 3:4
Rd 7 - 4:10 5:3 6:2 7:1 8:9
Rd 8 - 10:9 1:8 2:7 3:6 4:5
Rd 9 - 5:10 6:4 7:3 8:2 9:1


Championship

Congratulations to Washington State chess champions, FM Nick Raptis and FM Roland Feng!

Nick Raptis with the championship trophy, photo courtesy of WCF President Josh Sinanan. Nick previously won the state championship when he lived in Portland, Oregon, but is now the Washington state champion for the first time!

The Championship was registered and FIDE rated. Titles: IM = International Master, FM = FIDE Master, NM = US Chess National Master, LM = US Chess Life Master.
Latest pre-tournament US Chess ratings shown below (may differ from ratings above).

  Name Title City (WA) Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Pos
1 John Readey FM Seattle 2302 x 1 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 0.5 2.5  
2 Josh Sinanan LM Brier 2259 0 x 1 0.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 0 0 3.5  
3 Kyle Haining NM Lake Forest Park 2265 0.5 0 x 0.5 1 0 0 0 0.5 0.5 3.0  
4 Nick Raptis FM Vancouver 2432 1 0.5 0.5 x 1 1 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 6.5 1st
5 Ignacio Perez FM Seattle 2282 1 0 0 0 x 0.5 1 0 0.5 0 3.0  
6 Tian Sang FM Bellevue 2359 1 0.5 1 0 0.5 x 1 0 0.5 0.5 5.0 4th
7 Ray Kaufman IM Stanwood 2389 1 1 1 0.5 0 0 x 1 0 0 4.5 6th
8 Roland Feng FM Seattle 2425 1 0.5 1 0.5 1 1 0 x 0.5 1 6.5 1st
9 Bryce Tiglon FM Redmond 2455 0.5 1 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 0.5 x 0 5.0 4th
10 Anthony He NM Sammamish 2264 0.5 1 0.5 0 1 0.5 1 0 1 x 5.5 3rd

Average rating: 2343
Prize Fund: $1,500 (1st/2nd $525 each, 3rd $225, 4th/5th $112.50 each).


Premier

Congratulations to Premier champion, NM Alikhan Irgaliyev!

The Premier was registered and FIDE rated.
Titles: FM = FIDE Master, NM = US Chess National Master, LM = US Chess Life Master.
Latest pre-tournament US Chess ratings shown below (may differ from ratings above).

  Name Title City (WA) Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Pos
1 Vikram Ramasamy   Kirkland 2116 x 1 0.5 1 0.5 1 1 1 0 0.5 6.5 2nd
2 Badamkhand Norovsambuu   Bellevue 2101 0 x 1 0 1 0.5 1 0.5 0 1 5.0 4th
3 Viktors Pupols LM Kingston 2200 0.5 0 x 0 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 0.5 2.5  
4 Alikhan Irgaliyev NM Shoreline 2303 0 1 1 x 0.5 1 1 1 1 0.5 7.0 1st
5 William Schill FM Seattle 2227 0.5 0 1 0.5 x 0 1 0.5 0 1 4.5 6th
6 Dereque Kelley   Seattle 2146 0 0.5 0.5 0 1 x 1 1 1 1 6.0 3rd
7 David Rupel   Olympia 2060 0 0 0.5 0 0 0 x 0 0 0.5 1.0  
8 Joseph Truelson   Mercer Island 1925 0 0.5 0.5 0 0.5 0 1 x 1 0.5 4.0  
9 Michael Lin   Seattle 2157 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 x 0 5.0 4th
10 Brendan Zhang   Sammamish 2057 0.5 0 0.5 0.5 0 0 0.5 0.5 1 x 3.5  

Average rating: 2129
Prize Fund: $1,000 (1st $450, 2nd $250, 3rd $150, 4th/5th $75 each).


Invitational

Congratulations to Invitational champion, Timothy Moroney!

The Invitational was registered and FIDE rated.
Titles: WFM = Woman FIDE Master, WCM = Woman Candidate FIDE Master.
Latest pre-tournament US Chess ratings shown below (may differ from ratings above).

  Name Title City (WA) Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Pos
1 Aaryan Despande   Issaquah 1992 x 0 0 0 0 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 1.5  
2 Mary Kuhner WCM Seattle 1956 1 x 0 0.5 0 0 0.5 0 0.5 0.5 3.0  
3 Timothy Moroney   Bellevue 2013 1 1 x 1 0 0.5 1 1 0.5 1 7.0 1st
4 Damarcus Thomas   Bothell 1963 1 0.5 0 x 0 0 0.5 1 0 1 4.0 5th
5 Chouchanik Airapetian WFM Mercer Island 2015 1 1 1 1 x 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0 6.0 3rd
6 Eric Zhang   Sammamish 2053 1 1 0.5 1 0.5 x 0.5 0.5 1 0.5 6.5 2nd
7 Mark Smith   Seattle 1880 0.5 0.5 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 x 0.5 0.5 0.5 4.0 5th
8 David Arganian   Seattle 2013 0.5 1 0 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 x 1 0 4.0 5th
9 Travis Olson Mukilteo 1953 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 0 x 0.5 4.0 5th
10 Alan Bishop   Bellevue 2043 1 0.5 0 0 1 0.5 0.5 1 0.5 x 5.0 4th

Average rating: 1988
Prize Fund: $500 (1st $225, 2nd $125, 3rd $75, 4th $50, 5th-8th $6.25 each).


Challengers

Congratulations to Challengers champion, Samuel Deng!

The Challengers was registered and FIDE rated.
Latest pre-tournament US Chess ratings shown below (may differ from ratings above).

Carl Sloan unfortunately withdrew from the tournament due to a scheduling conflict. Therefore, the Challengers section became a 9-player RR, with a different player receiving a bye in each round. For those who already played against Sloan, the games are still rated, but do not count for the tournament. The adjustments have been noted below and are subject to change. Pairing colors may be reversed in rounds 5-9 to ensure color balance.

  Name Title City (WA) Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Pos
1 Advaith Vijayakumar   Bothell 1729 x 0 0 0.5   0.5 1 1 0.5 1 4.5 2nd
2 Oscar Petrov   Woodinville 1806 1 x 1 0   1 1 0.5 0 0 4.5 2nd
3 Rushaan Mahajan   Redmond 1730 1 0 x 0   1 1 1 0 0.5 4.5 2nd
4 Vignesh Anand   Redmond 1901 0.5 1 1 x   0.5 1 0 0 0.5 4.5 2nd
5 Carl Sloan   Seattle 1858         x 0 0 0 1   w/d  
6 Sophie Tien   Bellevue 1746 0.5 0 0 0.5 1 x 1 0 0 0 2.0  
7 Sridhar Seshadri   Bothell 1671 0 0 0 0 1 0 x 0 0 1 1.0  
8 Owen Xuan   Seattle 1769 0 0.5 0 1 1 1 1 x 0 0 3.5  
9 Samuel Deng   Woodinville 1778 0.5 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 x 0.5 7.0 1st
10 Anshul Ahluwalia   Redmond 1813 0 1 0.5 0.5   1 0 1 0.5 x 4.5 2nd

Average rating: 1780
Prize Fund: $250 (1st $112.50, 2nd-6th $27.50 each).


Organizers: Josh Sinanan (WCF President). Thank you for your service to chess in Washington State.

Look for a full report in the April issue of NORTHWEST CHESS, which should be in subscriber's hands by early April. For subscription information, please see our magazine info page.


Other recent WA chess championships:
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004.

Previous WA chess championships: List of winners (includes links to event summary pages).