Yudasin, Braylovskiy Take July St. John's Masters

This time, Greg Braylovskiy got it right. The young American Senior Master tied for first in his second attempt at the St. John's Masters, after losing to Jaan Ehlvest in the last round a year ago. This time, he won 3 games and made a short draw with Israeli GM Leonid Yudasin to earn a tie for the first and second prizes with the former Candidate and walk off with $275.

GM Zviad Izoria arrived too late for the first round, and made a quick draw with his friend GM Jaan Ehlvest in the second round. Izoria won his last two games to tie for third and top Under 2400 with Expert Gregory Kimmel. Kimmel knocked off Israeli master Dov Gorman in the last round to win $100.

Five players tied for Under 2300 honors and won $9 each, but among these Kassa Korley's result stands out. The junior talent faced the toughest field of anyone, one IM and 3 GM's, and still managed 50%! Korley beat Jay Bonin at the start, drew with Michael Rohde and Jaan Ehlvest, and lost only to Izoria in the third round. Rohde and Ehlvest also made 2 points each, the latter drawing all four of his games. Bonin was less fortunate, losing to Dan Lowinger in the second round and withdrawing. Lowinger joined FM Boris Privman, WIM Shernaz Kennedy, and Yevgeniy Margulis at the two point plateau to tie Korley for the Under 2300 prize.

None of Korley's upsets could quite match Margulis' conquest of Israeli IM Eli Vovsha in sheer numerical magnitude, so Margulis picked up an additional $45.

Twenty-two players and one filler competed. Thanks to Assistant TD Ed Frumkin for his usual fine support, and to MCC Vice President Thomas Malloy, pinch-hitting in the role of refreshment supervisor for Dr. Frank Brady. The next event in the series will take place on Tuesday, August 19, 2008.

(tournament report by Nick Conticello, Chief TD)

Click to show the crosstable

#	Name	Rtng	Post	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Tot	Prize
1	GM Leonid G Yudasin	2620	2623	W17	W8	W10	D2	3.5	275.00
2	Gregor Braylovsky	2414	2432	W22	W13	W11	D1	3.5	275.00
3	GM Zviad Izoria	2692	2695	H---	D9	W15	W11	3.0	100.00
4	Gregory J Kimmel	2051	2082	L8	W22	W17	W10	3.0	100.00
5	IM Eli Vovsha	2514	2498	L13	W12	W14	D8	2.5
6	GM Michael A Rohde	2484	2480	W14	D15	D9	D7	2.5
7	Adam Samuel Maltese	2324	2322	L20	W19	W13	D6	2.5
8	Jon Jacobs	2314	2322	W4	L1	W20	D5	2.5
9	GM Jaan Ehlvest	2687	2658	D12	D3	D6	D15	2.0
10	Dov Gorman	2347	2336	W19	W20	L1	L4	2.0
11	FM Ilye Figler	2339	2335	W18	W16	L2	L3	2.0
12	FM Boris Privman	2253	2257	D9	L5	W16	D17	2.0	9.00
13	Yevgeni Margulis	2179	2190	W5	L2	L7	W20	2.0	9.00/Upset1
14	Daniel L Lowinger	2179	2191	L6	W21	L5	W19	2.0	9.00
15	Kassa Korley	2112	2137	W21	D6	L3	D9	2.0	9.00
16	WIM Shernaz Kennedy	1900	1906	W23	L11	L12	B---	2.0	9.00
17	Leif Pressman	2195	2190	L1	W18	L4	D12	1.5
18	Aleksandr Ostrovskiy	2064	2065	L11	L17	W22	H---	1.5
19	Sarkis Agaian	2092	2080	L10	L7	B---	L14	1.0
20	Lawrence Tamarkin	2061	2063	W7	L10	L8	L13	1.0
21	IM Jay Bonin	2361	2336	L15	L14	U---	U---	0.0
22	Sam Barsky	2132	2112	L2	L4	L18	U---	0.0
23	Anatoliy-HOUSE Ostrovskiy	1902	1892	L16	U---	U---	U---	0.0