McGuire Open Round 4 - Tony Awarded With Ortiz Win
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6/19/2012
Tony Grauso (left) in his upset win over Oscar Ortiz.
The McGuire Open continued last night with a whole slew of shock results. Before we get to those, let's start on board 1 where Michael Cooper (2040) had a very creditable draw
with Master Craig Faber (2211). Faber, who had white, played the London System and Cooper played a slightly unusual line against it. It initially looked as though white had the better
of the opening but black created lots of counterplay and may have even missed a win at one point. However, Faber was able to hold on for the draw and the result keeps both players in
contention.
On board 2, Henry Castro (2078) kept up his recent superb form by defeating Melandro Singson (2156) with the white pieces. The win means Castro is among the leaders going into round 5 next week.
Gregg Fritchle (2064) kept up his good run in this tournament by beating the usually dangerous Tim Thompson (1948). This time, however, Thompson blundered in the opening and lost his queen to a
knight fork after only 15 moves.
On board 4, newcomer David Huang (2052) defeated Eduardo Linsangan (1818) to maintain his good run and the result keeps him in touch with the leaders.
There were also wins for experts Randy Hough (2005) and Matthew Hayes (2074), although several other highly rated players suffered upsets. Firstly, Dave Matson (2010) lost with the white pieces to
Edward Wu (1621). Wu is an up and coming player who has claimed a number of scalps in the last few months. The evening's next upset came courtesy of Stephanie Shao (1756) who drew with expert David
Argall (2000). Like Wu, she is also a rapidly improving player who is proving to be dangerous to play against.
The night's upsets continued as Tony Grauso (1640) had a superb win over Oscar Ortiz (1988) in one of his best results in Arcadia. Steven Niles (1503) dropped a piece against Dane Hinrichsen (2000) but
then outfoxed his opponent by winning the piece back and having two extra passed pawns to boot. Those passed pawns would quickly prove decisive as Hinrichsen couldn't stop them from queening without
giving up significant material. Finally, Bob Head (1477) won with the white pieces against Melvin Bond (1794), a result that will net him quite a few rating points.
The McGuire Open will continue Monday, June 25.
