The 2015 Texas State and Amateur Championship chess tournament was held from May 22 to May 25 at the DFW Airport Marriott South in Fort Worth, Texas. Approximately forty-one people participated in the State Championship section while the State Amateur Championship section was packed with one-hundred and thirty-seven people! Social media saavy WCM Claudia Munõz was on hand to compete for the tournament championship and to take plenty of photos for the rest us! In the end, it was GM Julio Sadorro with 4 wins and 2 draws who took the overall tournament win. WCM Munõz played exceptionally well and placed 24th overall with 2 losses, 2 draws, and a win. The final standings for the top ten players in the Championship section were:

# Name Rtng Post Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Tot
1 GM Julio C Sadorra 2626 2625 W32 W17 W18 D16 W5 D2 5.0
2 IM Darwin Yang 2575 2576 H— W7 D8 W13 W4 D1 4.5
3 NM Tianming Xie 2166 2224 W34 D30 W20 D28 W16 D6 4.5
4 NM Jeffrey De Jesus 2329 2338 W6 W9 D16 W27 L2 D5 4.0
5 NM Dachey Lin 2315 2322 W21 D19 W37 W8 L1 D4 4.0
6 Andrew J Widener 2142 2186 L4 W41 D10 W19 W28 D3 4.0
7 Joey Kelly 2100 2170 D12 L2 W22 W32 D18 W17 4.0
8 NM Atulya Vaidya 2254 2265 W40 W38 D2 L5 W27 D12 4.0
9 Robert Sanchez 2170 2199 W35 L4 W36 D17 D12 W18 4.0
10 NM Bovey Liu 2235 2234 D22 D39 D6 D37 W21 W20 4.0

GM Julio Sadorra and the Texas State Championship Trophy Photo: Texas Chess Association

The Amateur Section was open to players U2000 ELO or unrated, while the Championship Section was open to players over 2000 ELO or with a rating higher than the 2014 Amateur Champion, IM Darwin Yang (2570 ELO). This year’s Texas State Amateur Champion is Benjamin Frenkel who destroyed his competition to win a perfect 6/6 with an ELO of 1888!

Benjamin Frenkel and the Texas Amateur Championship Trophy Photo: Texas Chess Association

The final standings for the top ten players in the Amateur section were:

# Name Rtng Club Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Tot
1 Benjamin Frenkel 1888 90% W70 W106 W18 W10 W16 W9 6.0
2 Daniel Hung 1884 90% W78 W113 W41 W39 D3 W17 5.5
3 Adrian Diaz 1993 100% W34 W82 W19 H— D2 W25 5.0
4 David R Gaston 1902 100% W95 W36 D15 W24 D17 W19 5.0
5 Ryan S Ackerman 1862 100% W98 W49 W57 D9 D7 W20 5.0
6 Peter Mikhail 1890 100% W94 L15 W66 W18 W44 W23 5.0
7 Jonathan F Allen 1921 100% H— W65 W71 W85 D5 W15 5.0
8 Annastasia Wyzywany 1864 90% W68 W75 D85 D40 W62 W16 5.0
9 Travis Guenther 1943 100% W55 W63 W61 D5 W11 L1 4.5
10 Atreya Vaidya 1971 60% W72 W14 W58 L1 D15 W52 4.5