FM Alexander Velikanov (WI) scored 5/6 in a field of fifteen Masters out of 46 participants to take clear first place in the 2015 GM Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions. His two draws against IM Andrew Tang (MN) and NM Nicky Korba (CA-S) nearly left the door open for one of the next five players to equal his score. In addition, Alexander was the winner of the Erik Patchell $750.00 College Scholarship given in memory of Erik who played in the Denker.
There were five players who tied for 2nd Place. They had a score of 4.5/6 and appear in this order: IM Andrew Tang (MN), FM Sean Vibbert (IN), NM Tianqi Wang (NC), NM Vignesh Panchanatham (CA-N) and Noah Dennis Fields (WA). Complete results can be found at: http://www.uschess.org/results/2015/usopen/?page=STANDINGS&xsection=denker
The Ursula Foster Award went to IM Andrew Tang (MN) for the best score of the U16 qualifiers.
Wisconsin and Oklahoma Top State
Team Competitors
Congratulations to the 2015 Co-Champions, Wisconsin (team avg-2074) and Oklahoma (team avg-2134) for charging forward with a 13.5/18 score which was a full point above the third place team, Washington State (team avg-2014). In the end Wisconsin (Alexander Velikanov, Kevin Li and Anupama Rajendra) had the best tiebreaks. Oklahoma (Joshua Alexander, Advait Patel and Veronika Zilajeva) were in the hunt, but fell short. Although Washington State (Noah Dennis Fields, Neo Edward Olin and Sangeeta Dhingra) fell a point behind they ended up clear third. Fourth place was also a clear result with Massachusetts (Mika Andy Brattain, Evan Meyer and Ria Dawar) achieving 12.0/18 over the group that had a five-way tie (Arizona, Southern California, Illinois, Maryland, and New Jersey) for fifth place.
State Team winners in the Under Sections were Massachusetts (Under 2100), Maryland (Under 1900) and Tennessee (Under 1700). Complete results can be found at: www.uschess.org/results/15/usopen/?page=STANDINGS&xsection=dgtcombined
