Grand Pacific Open 2018

No losses, one win, two draws with 2300-2400!

The 12th Annual Grand Pacific Open chess tournament took place in Hotel Grand Pacific in Victoria, BC on March 30-April 2, 2018.  We almost always go to this annual tournament. We   just   love   Victoria.

Naomi played in the strongest Premier section, and finished 14th out of 43, a good result.  She has not lost a single game.  Her two draws with 2300-2400 rated players are even more impressive than her one win.

IM Mark Ginsberg (L) has beaten IM Raymond Kaufman in the the most critical game and eventually has won 1st place in the Premier section, along with $1000 and a trophy, presented by organizer Paul Leblanc (R):

2nd - 5th places were shared by Zulfikar Sali (L), Andrew Hemstapat (2L), FM Ian Findlay (C) and WIM Agnieszka Matras-Clement (R), who got $250 each:  

Under 2100 -- Louis Cheng (L), WIM Naomi Bashkansky (R) and Mike Murray (abs.) got $270 each:

Top Women (Courtesy of Goddess Chess) --  WIM Agnieszka Matras-Clement (2L) $125, NM Valeria Gansvind (2R) $100, WIM Naomi Bashkansky (R), Anna Van (U2000 section) $50, Kate Jiang (U1700 section) $25:

Organizer Brian Raymer (L) invited Naomi there, like he did last year.  Thanks to all 3 organizers.

Read organizer Roger Patterson's event report, and Naomi's own writeup: "If you can’t beat them, confuse them".

Beautiful Victoria

A thousand pictures are worth a million words:

2018-03-30 Grand Pacific Open, ferry to Victoria

Moon and Lighthouse from the Ferry

2018-03-31 Grand Pacific Open, Hatley Castle, Round 2, Victoria South Shore, Round 3

Hatley Castle

Victoria South Shore

2018-04-01 Grand Pacific Open, Round 4, Butchart Gardens, Round 5, Beacon Hill Park

The Butchart Gardens

Round 5

2018-04-02 Grand Pacific Open, Round 6, Abkhazi Garden, award ceremony, ferry back

Victoria Inner Harbor

Funny Money

North American Junior Girls U20 Champion!

Naomi wins first place, gets Woman International Master title + Woman Grandmaster norm (⅓ title)!

Naomi (14) won first place at the 2017 North American Junior Girls U20 Chess Championship and earned the chess title "Woman International Master" (WIM), which sounds almost like "International Adventuress".

This is much cooler than Naomi's prior nerdy-sounding title "Woman FIDE Master" (WFM), not to mention her prior-prior juvenile-sounding title "Woman Candidate Master" (WCM).

And, crucially, she got a "norm" (i.e. ⅓ of the title) towards Woman Grandmaster (WGM).  Oh dear.

The 2017 North American Junior U20 Chess Championship took place on August 31 - September 5 in Sheraton Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Hotel in Texas.  No international travel for this international tournament.

North American players born on or after January 1st, 1997 played 9 rounds, using the Swiss pairing system in the Open and Girls Divisions.  Naomi got 8 points out of 9, with just 2 draws.  Good job.

The winners of the Open and Girls Divisions earned the titles of International Master (IM) and WIM, and also scored a "norm" (i.e. ⅓ of the title) towards Grand Master (GM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM).  Good deal.

The organizer, International Arbiter (IA) Francisco Guadalupe, has worked miracles to resolve all problems and successfully keep the promise of this tournament, with complete dedication and exemplary results.  Coming from hurricane-devastated Houston, he made sure that everything worked here in Dallas.

Francisco, Naomi, Luda

North American Junior Girls trophy-winners: Naomi, Ramya, Sanjana, Shree

NA Junior Open U20 winner Advait Patel and NA Junior Girls U20 winner Naomi Bashkansky

All those under-20 girls look so lovely and kind at these photos of pre-game handshake.  It's scary to think they will try to outplay, outfox and utterly destroy each other just seconds later.  Enjoy the photo album:

2017 North American Junior Girls (Under 20) Chess Championship

With Sanjana Vittal

With Camile Kao

With Bethany Plew

Hard won respite