First time tournament player Rogers wins 2008 Iowa Class E Chanpionship

  Chris Rogers, playing in his first tournament, swept through a field of 29 to win the 2008 Iowa Class E Championship/West Des Moines RBO held at the Golden Teapot on April 5th. The tournament was directed by Hank Anzis and IASCA president Tim McEntee. Rogers, a native of Linden, has been playing chess for 3 years, mostly on-line. He secured the championship with a last round win in a complicated Rook and pawn ending against Iowa 10th grade champion Dhrooti Vyas, who had beaten top seed 2007-2008 Junior High Champion Garrett Anstreicher in round 4. Vyas took second on tiebreaks over Lee Gordon Seebach, Trevor Owen, and Jack Ralls, who all had 4 points. This was 3rd grader Trevor’s second top 5 finish in 2 weeks after last week’s 2nd place finish at the Cedar Rapids Youth Trophy Tournament.

  Other prize winners were Emma Stevens and Akansha Chilikuri (top ladies scores), Tom Daufeldt and Neal Owen (unrated), Matt Czizek and Terry Shaw (U1000), Kristian Stephens and Jaleb Jay (U800), Sri Charan Chilikuri and Tucker Hanson (U600), Nicole Hewlett and Leah Anderson(U400), Kevin Maxwell and Colt Rogness (U200). Pictures of the event can be found on chess.com's Iowa Group

  There was an excellent mix of scholastic and adult players at the tournament with all the players showing great sportsmanship. Special thanks as always to Ling and Shannon Zhou for making the Golden Teapot available for the tournament.