Lehigh Valley Chess Club Players Compete At 45th Annual Liberty Bell Open

Bruce Davis

January 22, 2013

The 45th
Annual Liberty Bell Open was held over the Martin Luther King weekend from January 18-21, 2013, at the Sonesta Hotel, 1800 Market St, Philadelphia, Pa. The event has a $20,000 prize fund based on 320 paid entries with 70% of each prize guaranteed. The event has 9 sections: Open, Under 2300, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500, Under 1300, Under 1100 and Under 900.

Two local players from the Lehigh Valley Chess Club,
Daniel Li and Ruiqi Wang (both from Bethlehem, PA), in the 2-day Under 900 Section finished 6^th and 10^th respectively out a field of 63 players. Daniel has only played 30 events and Ruiqi 28 events since last April when both began their entry into the local club scene winning in their respective
categories and both have shown an aptitude for learning the game.

Represented in the Under 1300 Section were a Samuel Li and Jerry Zhang.  It was a tough section with
Samuel finishing tied for 11^th - 13^th and Jerry tied for
22^nd – 28^th and again was respectable in a field of 53
players. Samuel’s performance is particularly admirable as this was his only National event and had only played 2 US Chess federation rated events (8 games) at any club previously. Also, Samuel did win a 1^st place trophy in his class (5^th Place overall) at the recent 2013 Jan 5^th LVCA K-12 Scholastic event in Bethlehem, PA at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

In the Under 2300 level, there were at least 11 master level players and a large contingent of expert players (55 in total). Local club favorites Erick Garcia (Stroudsburg, PA) and Matthew O’Brien (Schnecksville, PA) fought through some tough games with seasoned and veteran players to take as many points as possible in their grueling 3-day event with 7 rounds. Matthew faced 5 players who finished in the top 16 places out of his 7 opponents. Matthew has
been a key 1^st board player on the ”Top team from PA” award in the last 2 years at the 2011 and 2012 World Amateur Team and  US Amateur Team East Chess Tournament held every year in Parsippany, NJ on President’s Day weekend. Erick Garcia has recently earned the title of National Master from the US Chess Federation and finished tied for 10^th thru 12^th place in this section and ahead of numerous other higher rated masters.

Winners of the tournament’s top ranked Open section were GM Tamaz Gelashvilli (NY) – Uncontested 1^st Place (6.5 pts), GM Zviad Izoria (NY) – Uncontested 2^nd Place (5.5 pts.), Tied for 3^rd – 5^th Places were top Rated PA player GM Alexander Shabalov (Pittsburgh, PA), FM Luuk Van Kooten (NY) and Adithya Balasubramanian (MD).

Of special note 2 time State Champion (2008, 2011)and Senior Master Peter Minear(Reading, PA, Berks County Region) who competed in the Lehigh Valley Invitational Champinship this past year also finished Tied in 12th - 17th Place in this very competitive main event making a strong finish.

Other major events coming up in March are the PA State Championships in Carlisle, PA where Elementary , Middle and High Schools from all over Pennsylvania will compete for 192 Trophies. In addition, PA Quick Chess Championships and Open and Collegiate Championships will be held concurrently on March 8^th – 10^th, 2013.

Lehigh Valley Chess Club won the PA Open K-12 Top Scholastic Club 1^st Place Trophy there last March 2012 and will attempt to duplicate the effort this year.   

For complete 45^th Annual Liberty Bell tournament
standings and prizes see the CCA website.