The 17th Southern Open was held at the Ramada Orlando Celebration July 31-Aug 2. This is the renamed Hyatt Orlando which folded a few years ago and where the 1997 U.S. Open was held. But something has happened to the place while it was closed and it wasn’t kept up to 100%. But getting a free breakfast buffet with their $79 room rate kept most players satisfied. And playing on the 2nd floor of the hotel’s convention center when the only restrooms were on the 1st floor, gave them plenty of exercise. They and the tournament directors got additional exercise as the sections were split into several rooms about 100′ apart. Some parents and coaches took their kids to the hotel’s pool between rounds, but on Sunday received a shock as a “Swingers Party” was evidently happening there, as the kids were quickly led away.

An air-conditioning problem on Sunday forced half the contestants to play in some areas where the temperature rose to about 86 degrees before the problem was fixed to reduce the temperature. But since it was done by an “override”, the AC stayed on in one room which eventually reached 68 degrees…. and nobody was tempted to complain! Luckily the Open and Under 1700 sections were played in areas that had no problem.

After drawing his first round game in the Open, Troy Daly won his next 3 games, including one against Corey Acor who had tripped-up GM Julio Becerra in the 2nd round by forcing a 3-fold repetition draw. And after the GM’s fast draw against IM Lugo in the 4th round, Becerra had to face Toby Boas. Toby played a strong game and eventually their R&P endgame was drawn. Dalton Perrine after losing his first game to Lugo won the next three and his last round ½-point bye pushed him up to tie with the others.

Haroldo Obando beat Timothy Woodard in the last game of the tournament to allow him to pass Woodard and win the $1000 Under 2100 section with a 4½-½ score. Woodard and Gilberto Ibarra tied for 2nd. But Manuel Valdivia had to win all 5 games in the Under 1700 section to win his $1000, as Gerard Andrade finished 2nd and received $500. This section had the most players as 52 entered. Gary Cumby and Alan Wagner were excited to split the $1000 under 1500 prizes in this section.

Lorenzo Fernandez, father of IM Daniel Fernandez, now attending college in Texas and recent winner of that state’s championship, brought his 3 youngest sons to this event and they went home with over $933 in prizes. Lorenzo picked up $333 for tying for the Under 1900 prize in the Under 2100 section, and Jason winning $600 for 1st in the 1300 section. The other brothers, Abraham and Christopher, were out of the money but enjoyed themselves anyway.

The event was organized by the Continental Chess Association and run by the eminent Steve Immitt, who was backed up by Harvey Lerman. As the time control was 40/2, SD/1 many of the more recent tournament players had trouble figuring out a multi-time control clocksetting, with some just giving up and just using a G/3 setting and carefully watching the clock when the time approached 1:00.

CCA Results