Benjamin, Katz, and Stripunsky tie for first place in the Dr Ostfeld Memorial Winter Open Championships!

GM Joel Benjamin, and IM Alex Katz drew their last round game fairly quickly to end with a total score of three-and-a-half points each.  Normally both would play for the win in the last round but their closest competitor, GM Alex Stripunsky who got a bye for the first round could not finish with four total so the Benjamin-Katz draw guaranteed first place and a two-hundred-fifty dollar first place prize to each of them.  GM Stripunsky joined the two with a last round come from behind win against Boris Privman.  Up a pawn in a queen vs queen endgame GM Stripunsky was down to his last ten seconds but thanks to delay and iron nerves blitzed it out until Privman was forced to either trade and let the pawn promote, or lose the queen outright. 

Aaron Shlionsky, Gregory Gabovich, Oleg Shevelenko, and Gregory Nolan all scored three points each and received prize money as well.  Shlionsky got seventy-five dollars for best result of a player under the age of thirteen, while Gabovich, and Shevelenko got fifty bucks each for best results of players rated under 2200.  Gregory Nolan ended up with seventy-five dollars for best results of a player aged over fifty five.

Yuvanshu Agarwal, Arkadiy Bolshov, and Mike Semel all scored two-and-a-half points and received sixty-six dollars for best results of players rated under eighteen hundred, and two thousand.

Finally, Joshua Lerman got one hundred dollars for best result of a player rated under sixteen hundred for his one-and-a-half points.

Thirty-eight players competed in the Dr Ostfeld Memorial Winter Open Championships.