It was shaping up to be a real Cinderella story. Young Erik Santarius was standing toe-to-toe with the best in the region, and hadn’t blinked.

Round one saw the top of the tournament in no trouble at all. But then came round two, and the story began. IMs Smetankin and Young handled their opponents (Smetankin beating NM Bill Williams and Young beating Ashish Vaja) as did NM Steven Szpisjak and NM Alex Betaneli, who coached Santarius at Madison West. But their comrades at the top didn’t fare as well. FM Ruslan Ahundov, former champion of Turkmenistan, encountered Santarius. Unaware that a 300-point rating deficit should be a fatal handicap, the young man pressed the FM hard, eventually settling for a draw when Ahundov proved too tough a nut to crack completely. And NM Steven Tennant fell to Rene Glen Ancheta in a second upset.

In round three, the story gathered speed.

Smetankin and Betaneli drew, giving Young an opening to take a half-point lead, which he did by defeating Szpisjak. Ahundov recovered from the previous round’s draw, winning handily over Ancheta and moving into a tie with Betaneli and Smetankin for second place, where he was joined by Santarius with a houdini-like escape from a lost position against Patrick McElwee.

This set up some important fourth round pairings. Young drew quickly with Smetankin, while Ahundov defeated Betaneli, moving him into a tie with Young for the lead, Smetankin a half-point back and Betaneli a full point back. Santarius then defeated Szpisjak in the longest game of the round to join Young and Ahundov at the top of the tournament, while Ancheta beat Jon Breider to join Smetankin in second place.

After Young and Ahundov drew in the final round, we thought perhaps we could hear the pumpkin carriage’s wheels on the road outside. If Santarius could reach deep into his bag and pull out just one last trick, he could jump past Young and win the event outright. We held our collective breaths waiting for a Cinderella finish.

But it was not to be. The slipper didn’t fit; the carriage was just a pumpkin after all. IM Smetankin was never really in trouble, and with the win moved into a tie with Ahundov and Young. The three were joined by Ancheta, who won over Williams, and Santarius had to be content with winning the class prize, instead.

In the Reserve section there was a real free-for all. Top-rated Sasha Velikanov was knocked off in round three by second seed Thomas Edelin, who was knocked off the top board in the folowing round by Bill Murtaugh, who fell in turn to David Sagunsky.

Sagunsky won the section clearly, with 4.5/5 (giving up a draw to Sou Her in round three). Velikanov took second place overall, as well as the trophy for Best Junior. Edelin tied with Murtaugh and Geremy Webne-Behrman for third place overall, with the latter two also winning their class prizes as well.

(This story, with photos, crosstables and some games will be posted to the tournaments section of this site later, after your humble servant recovers from the ordeal.)

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