James Neal Scores a Perfect 4-0 to Win the 2016 Cedar Rapids Open

The Cedar Rapids Chess Club hosted the 2016 Cedar Rapids Open and Scholastic Championship on Saturday, October 22. Thirty eight chess players competed in the Open Section with another ten scholastic players participating in the K-6 Cedar Rapids Scholastic Championship.

The event was held at the Cedar Rapids Clarion Hotel and directed by Senior TD, Jim Hodina. James Neal scored a perfect 4-0, defeating past Iowa Champion Robert Keating (2.5) in the final round of play. Seth Koenig followed with 3.5 points to take clear second.

Five players tied for third with 3.0 points. These five individuals also collected their respective class prizes: Ben Darr (U1900), Matthew Pham (U1700), Michael Takahashi (U1700), and Barry Vigil (U1500). Vlad Tivanski scored 2.5 point to lay sole claim to to the $50 U1300 prize.

Three U1100 players scored 2.0 points: Jacob Vigil, Aadarsh Kumar, and Emily Roberts, all who split the $50 class prize. In total, $627 in prize money was awarded. The cross table is available on the USCF website: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201610227832.1

This year, the Cedar Rapids Chess Club added an unrated K-6 section to encourage our beginning school-age chess players to come out and experience tournament play. Ten players took up the invitation, each person taking home a trophy.

Four players did compete in their first tournament: Alex Thompson, Elliot Hurley, Aditya Raj, and Will Miller. Krishna Bharadwaj went 4.5 out of 5.0 to capture the 1st place trophy followed by Isabel Fiedorwicz with 4.0 points and the second place trophy. Madan Matca, Alex and Elliton tied for 3rd - 5th with 3.0 points. Sujan Shadrak took the 4th grade top score trophy, Ethan Strecker the 6th grade, Raj the Kindergarten and WIll the 5th grade trophies.