2009 Southern Idaho Open Results: Garrett Reynolds Scores Four
By Adam Porth

Garrett Reynolds remained on board one throughout the short, but intense four-round ICA event, and cinched another perfect tournament with 4.0 points. Round 4 featured U1400, Rick Weathers facing off with Garrett in a long duel that appeared to keep Garrett unusually focused and attentive to his game. In the end, Garrett asserted his championship status. However, Rick Weathers (1385) was also having a great tournament by beating Fred Bartell (1718) and Hugh Myers (1585) in previous rounds. A great finish for both competitors.

The last round featured upsets including Tom Booth (1500) over Jeff Roland (1794), and a draw with Caleb Kircher (1540) against Fred Bartell (1718). An exciting end occurred between Dan Looney and Jeff Baggett, where Dan, with pieces and pawns up, lost on time. In the U1400 section, one of the last games to complete included chess newcomer, Joey Altermatt (Unr.) and Aaron Proferes (845). In the last game standing, Barry Eacker and Richard Cohen fought a very positional game that ended with a resignation on a rook combo that Barry set up on the back rank.

Prize winners: 1st place was Garrett Reynolds (4.0), sharing 2nd & 3rd place were Jeff Baggett and Tom Booth (3.5), sharing 4th place was Jim Stark and Barry Eacker (3.0). Caleb Kircher and Jeff Roland received books donated by Glen Buckendorf, ten-time Idaho Champion. In the U1400 section: 1st place was Rick Weathers (3.0), and sharing the second place prize were 5 players (2.0) - Kevin Ness, Kevin Patterson, Michael Ye, Adam Porth, and Jamie Lang.

Besides the quality of the games (see Nick Bruck vs. Dan Looney, Round 1), the tournament featured a wide field of various abilities (range 621-1925) and ages (10- 80+), 33 opponents, and an average player rating of 1330. Kevin Patterson did an excellent job playing George Lundy for a win, while simultaneously posting the score of the Broncos vs. Vandals football game. I noticed many participants more concerned about that trouncing than their own opponents. Maybe we should have paused the games for a few hours and headed to the pub!

Wood River was represented by Jeff Baggett, Erwin Kett, and Adam Porth. Five Wood River High School chess team members also played and decided that long games are where it's at! Newcomer Andrew Uriarte commented, "I beat an adult!" after reflecting on his game against Aleksandr Vereshchagin. Shane Bruess thought these games were "radically" different from scholastics and wants to come again. We hope to see more students and newcomers in future tournaments. Please look forward to another ICA tournament in January, 2010 (Idaho Scholastic Novice Championship) and in February, 2010 (Idaho Closed State Championship), both tournaments in Boise.

Thank you ICA and Barry Eacker for providing such an enjoyable tournament.