by Jeff Roland

Eighteen (18) players assembled at the Obenchain Insurance Building in Twin Falls, Idaho on November 12, 2011 to play the Southern Idaho Open chess tournament. There were nine (9) players in the Open Section, and nine (9) players in the Reserve (U1400) Section. Jeff Roland was the tournament director.

In the Open Section, there was a tie for 1st-2nd place between Caleb Paul Kircher (Nampa) and Fred Bartell (Twin Falls) with scores of 3 points each, followed by a 3-way tie for 3rd-5th place between Jeffrey T. Roland (Boise), Tom R. Booth (Caldwell), and Brett B. Hamilton (Meridian) with 2½ points each.

In the Reserve (U1400) Section, 1st place went to Adam Porth (Bellevue) with 3½ points, followed by 2nd place to Desmond Porth (Bellevue) with 3 points, and 3rd place to Kevin R. Patterson (Meridian) with 2½ points. Nick Bruck, rated 1340, elected to "play up" to the Open Section.

Four (4) chess books were donated by the late Glen Buckendorf, Jr. to give out as prizes. These went to the highest placing players in each section who didn't win a prize. In the Open Section, 1st choice went to Patrick T. Kirk (Boise) with 2 points, followed by Kim Barney (Kaysville, UT) with 1 point. In the Reserve (U1400) Section, first choice went to Aleksandr Vereshchagin (Twin Falls), followed by Jacob Ari Nathan (Idaho Falls) both having scored 2 points.

With the time control set at Game/60 + 5 second delay, play was intense and exciting. Kevin Patterson kept everyone up to date on the BSU-TCU college football game that was happening by posting point-by-point results as they happened on the blackboard.

ICA would like to thank Obenchain Insurance for the use of their site for our chess tournaments. Their meeting room is perfect for our events, and the lighting is excellent for the games.

The next ICA tournament will be the Western Idaho Open, December 10-11, 2011, which will be at Boise State University (BSU) in Boise Idaho. We hope to see everyone there for what looks to be another very fun ICA event.