News from the NYS Open

Thanks to Michael Mockler here is a brief summary of the results from the five round Open Swiss held this past weekend in Lake George. The event is called the New York State Open. It is put on by the Continental Chess Association, and has been held in Lake George for the last several years.

The Open section was dominated by youth. Christopher Wu a budding Expert finished ahead of our local rising star Deepak Aaron. I don't know a great deal about Wu. He plays most frequently in the northern NJ/NYC area. Wu began playing in tourneys a year or two after Deepak - 2003.
Wu's earliest rating was somewhere around 700. After steady progress to 1900 in 2008 and 1950 2009, in the last year Wu jumped 200 rating points. That is a sign of a breakthrough. We may hear much about this young man in the immediate future.

This year's NYS Open featured a different attraction; a section for senior(?) players. I don't know the specific age limitations for this section, but at a guess it was over 21. In any event, Phil Ferguson, the leader of of our own Eastern New York Chess Association won the section! Phil had an excellent result coming ahead of Gordon Magat and Michael Mockler scoring 4.5 out 5. Mockler was the only opponent to hold Phil to a draw.

Look for a complete report in Bill Townsend's chess column in the Schenetady Gazette in the near future.