2016 SIO Results & More
The Southern Idaho Open is an annual event in it’s 11th year and it has demonstrated the importance of one-day events - number of people wanting and willing to play. The 2016 SIO included four rounds of G/60; d5, meaning the games provided each competitor with one hour to complete their moves while delaying the start of the clock by five seconds each move. If you move fast enough, theoretically the game might never end! Barry Eacker, the chief TD calls it the cheater time control! Digital clocks are also preferred over analog clocks nowadays, and those are also considered the cheater clocks!
Barry is also the ICA Trustee for Tournament Organization and with four of the seven ICA’s Board of Director’s present and playing at the Twin Falls Shilo Inn, we collectively decided that Idaho tournaments are small enough to warrant a deviation from USChess and we restructured tie-breaking order to include Solkoff, Cumulative, Cumulative Opposition, and Modified Median for this and future tournaments.
Forty players showed up to play in the SIO this year, probably the strongest and largest in the history of the event. There were over six players rated 1800 and above and seven different states were represented. The venue proved to be much more intimate with organizers scrambling to set up tables and register late-commers. One player drove all-night from Cheyenne, Wyoming to play!
The strength of a player is not to be under-estimated in Idaho as there were seven upsets! Samir Saltaga (1281) played into delayed time to beat Nicholas Hawkins (1870) during Round 2 and was the largest upset. Dewayne Derryberry (1653) played well and with a first round upset against Cody Gorman (1883), second round draw against John Glenn (1810), and another upset against Andreas Chimenton (1750). Dewayne ended in 2nd place with 3.5 points ($125). Cody Gorman scored 3.0 points and earned 3rd place ($100).
Nakul Deshpande (1843) handedly won the tournament with a perfect 4.0! He won $150 and enjoyed playing on board one most of the day. He was visiting Idaho from New Mexico and decided to play. In the U-1400 Reserve, Peter Clark (1099) was first place, Paul Smits (1277) was second, and Adam Porth (1370) was 3rd place.
Spirits remained high throughout the day and the tournament began after Adam Porth and Barry Eacker honored Veteran’s, presenting four individuals red-white-and-blue kings. I believe the SIO will be held in the future during Veteran’s Day weekend. Some of the vets even used the king on each of their games. Jay Simonson, Fred Bartell, John Glenn, and James Uptain stood and received honors from everyone.
Some other changes to the ICA include a new Trustee for Website Management, Desmond Porth. He unveiled a new website for the ICA (idahochessassociation.com) prior to the Southern Idaho Open and also included a means of registering and paying for the tournaments online using Paypal. Future tournament announcements will be on the new website and there are numerous opportunities for players and chess enthusiasts to get involved with the ICA. Idaho history and tournament results are migrating from our old site so keep on visiting. Several new propositions will be discussed at the February Business meeting and those are also posted on the website. If you would like something to be included in the annual meeting, please contact us with your idea.
