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As part of its series of special, one-day, rated tournaments, the Roanoke Valley Chess Club recently held its WALTER MUIR MEMORIAL CHESS TOURNAMENT. This tournament was held on Saturday, April, 23rd, 2016 at WESTHAMPON CHRISTIAN CHURCH on GRANDIN RD in Roanoke, Virginia. The tournament was a 3 round-Swiss event. The time control was Game 75 with a 25sec increment. There was one section with top prize of $300.00. This tournament attracted participation of 5 players with USCF rating of 2000+. This was 2 more than last. This is amazing for a one day tournament like this.
There was plenty of excitement and drama in all of the games. In round 1 Mike Huff (1359) had a clear material advantage going into the end game against Michael Uwakwe (2017) but blundered in a piece sacrifice that turned it around for Uwakwe who won the game. Also another top seed in round 2, Andy Rea (2182) found himself being outplayed by Dwayne “King” Tutt (1830) until he missed the winning flank pawn push that would have guaranteed victory. Rea admitted after the game that he was considering resigning at that crucial moment. In the final round there was a four way tie for first place.
When the smoke cleared in this Titanic struggle, after an Armageddon tie breaker between Andrew Tichenor (2198) and Andy Rea who both had perfect 3-0 scores, 1st place went to Tichenor. Tichenor and Rea shared prizes for 1st and 2nd place with Tichenor winning a bonus 25.00 for the Armageddon win. Patrick Sciacca (2107), Eswar Manapuram (1805) and Uwakwe shared a piece of the 3rd place prize. Top U1600 went to Christian Dotson and Top U1200 went to David Ortiz. Congratulations to all of the prize winners! The on-site Tournament Director was [Ray Megginson]. There were no significant problems of any kind and everyone appeared to have a really good time!
The Roanoke Valley Chess Club sincerely appreciates everyone who participated and made this Saturday Special event yet another successful one in our series.
We also express our deep appreciation to the Pastor and staff of WESTHAMPTON CHRISTIAN CHURCH, who have gone out of their way to make us feel especially welcome.