Freerksen and Juric tie for DSMChess Holiday Swiss Title

Twenty-two players competed in the DSMChess Holiday Swiss held at Staybridge Suits in West Des Moines on Saturday January 6th 2018. The event was a three round Swiss System tournament with two sections, open and reserve. Jim Freerksen, owner of DSMChess, and Zvonka Juric both went undefeated in the open section to share the title.

It was a cold blustery morning as players came to participate in the year’s first adult tournament in central Iowa. I was worried there would be a poor turnout. But players continued to stream into the playing hall right up to the 10 am starting time. New players such as Brad Huss and Blake Zahart as well as veteran players, Zvonko Juric, Jasmin Zulic, and Tim Crouse came to competed.

Twelve players competed in the open section including 11 rated players and one unrated player. The average rating of the 11 rated players was 1774. Stephen Lapinsky, the lowest rated player in the section won the upset prize by knocking off Crouse in the second round. Drake University student, Troy Curfman gained 58 rating points and Freerksen picked-up 47 rating points to cross the 1800 threshold. Curfman received a provisional rating of 984 after playing 5 rated games in his first tournament on 11-13-2016. His rating is currently 1693. His coach is four-time Iowa State Chess Champion and USCF Master Tim Mc Entee.

Co-champions of the Open section Jim Freerksen and Zonko Juric

Ten players competed in the reserve section. Zahari also went undefeated to captured first place. Josiah Power and Prasath Madan Prasad Mrithuul both finished with 2.5 points to tie for second place. Two players competed in their first tournament, Srinivas Rao and Pradyum Santhosh Bukkapatnam. Four of the ten players had provisional ratings. The average rating of the four rated players was 1298.

Mathew Power travel from Iowa City so his two sons could compete, and Thomas Hesse made the trip from Cedar Falls. I want to thank all the players for participated.