Last week fifteen players participated in the Rosati’s 2 Chess Tournament.
It was the strongest local rapid play tournament in recent history in Las Vegas. The average rapid play rating of the top five places was 2038.5. Places six through ten had an average rating of 1837. That’s pretty impressive for Las Vegas!
Here’s a brief bio of the participants:
Jeffery Gallegos: The winner of the event and master of the Philidor Defence; like most Philidor Players he likes to maneuver his pieces on the back rank and wait until the moment is right to strike. He plays the Philidor with white and black. Jeffrey likes to do analysis on his own and “patches up” weak points in his opening. Because of his style, he’s a difficult opponent; however, I think his opponent’s will soon figure out his style. Will that be enough to neutralize him? We’ll have to wait till next tournament to find out. I love it when players like Jeffery play the ole “rope-a-dope” style. I do like George Foreman did against Ali in Zaire. I wind up and swing and hit hard. That is, until I run out of steam and get hammered by a right cross before hitting the canvas!
Jose Reyes: Second place. An impressive player of his own right and master of fast play. The following day he would win the Pawndemonium Knockout tournament. He’s just getting warmed up. There’s many more victories awaiting him.
Ryan Phillips: Third place. Ryan’s place has been impressive lately and he continues to improve. Last month he finished third place in a Chesscube event I sponsored that consisted of 245 players! Very impressive! He also beat Earl Salazar in their matchup at Rosati’s 2, not an easy feat.
Paul Heinrich: Fourth Place. A “monster” at rapid play. Paul lead for most of the tournament and I thought he was going to win it. He slowed down a bit in the final two rounds, but still finished with an impressive score considering the field.
Earl Salazar: Fifth Place. One of the best fast play players in the city. He has an off night, but his off night would be my best night. He’ll be back. I predict he’ll finish no lower than second place in his next tournament.
Juan Juaregui: Sixth Place. Juan entered the tournament in Round 2 and still did very well. He recently came in second place in the Pawndemonium Knockout tournament.
Glenn Bidari: Seventh Place: One of the best players in the club. This is a surprise. I expected Glenn to place in the top three. He’s probably in a slump and should return to form soon.
Todd Imada: Eighth Place. Todd recently came in third place in the Pawndemonium Knockout tournament. He seemed to be a little disappointed at his result, but it’s still pretty good considering the field. He’s a dangerous player who cannot be taken lightly.
Michael Thurber: Ninth Place. One of the most dangerous attacking players in the city; that is until I beat him in a few 1. b4 games. After months of psychological counseling from those defeats, he is finally returning to form….just kidding! This guy can play chess and when Mike is on nobody and I mean nobody can play like him!
Danny Quinones (AKA Mr. Believer): Tenth Place. This guy knows a lot about chess. Someday soon Danny will have his breakthrough tournament.
Chris Reynolds: A good player who just doesn’t realize it. If he plays more slow games combined with study, he’ll easily step up to the next class.
Jon Trivett: Jon’s a good player who I think sometimes pushes too hard to win all his games. If he settles down and let’s his experience and intuition guide him then his results will vastly improve. Jon is capable of beating any player in the club if he applies himself.
Royce Pereira: Royce’s performance in this tournament has propelled his rating to 1500. It’ll soon go much higher. His play is enjoyable to watch because of his fighting spirit.
Vivian Liu: Vivian is improving and will continue to improve. I’m sure Chris is helping her to improve. I’m happy to see women participating in the game.
Matthew Salazar: Matthew might not have won a game, but I can see a noticeable improvement in his play recently. In last Monday night’s blitz tournament he crushed me. I think he has potential and there’s many years ahead for him to improve.
It was fun and I enjoyed it. I hope we can keep up the momentum! It looks like I might have to come out of semi-retirement to lay down some WWE Smackdown chess moves on some folks!
http://blog.lvchess.com/2011/04/08/showdown-at-rosatis-2--results.aspx
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