CHUCK UNRUH IS 2005 OKLAHOMA STATE CHAMPION   -   by Jim Gray

        The 60th Oklahoma State Championship was held June 25-26 at the Best Western Airport motel in Tulsa.  Forty-seven players participated in 3 sections:  12 in the Open, 20 in the Reserve (U1800) and 15 in the popular Booster (U1400) section. 

        Our new Oklahoma State Champion is Chuck Unruh (2132), who won the title and Open section with a perfect 5.0 score.  Visiting from Texas, Jonathan Allen (1907) took 2nd Place with a 3.5 score. Top Class A as well as the title of State Senior Champion went to Judson Temple (1993) who scored 3.0, including a hard-fought last round draw with Expert Bob Holliman (2162) of Missouri.  Jeff Colbert, a 1373 player who elected to play up, is our new State Junior Champion following his very fine 2.5 performance.  Beware, higher rateds, as Jeff just keeps getting stronger and stronger! 

        The Reserve section was won impressively by brothers Jared (1755) and Caleb (1723) Taylor from Arkansas, both of whom went undefeated with 3 wins and 2 draws.  Following at 3.5 points were Larry Deputy (1749), Murshed Qurashy (1771) and David Zelnick (1467), and based on tiebreaks the plaque and title of Reserve State Champion were awarded to Deputy.  Zelnick, an up and coming player and law student, was awarded First Class C for his solid performance. 

        Another perfect performance of 5.0 was turned in by unrated newcomer Prince Khan, winner of the Booster section and title of Booster State Champion.  Khan played extremely well in this his very first rated tournament, beating the 3 top-rated players in his section.  Chris Buynak (1354), whose only blemish was a second round loss to Khan, placed 2nd with an excellent score of 4.0.  The First Class E prize was shared by Chris Twilley 1086) and Alan Buynak (1064) with 3.0 scores, and Daniel Perry (960) also scored 3.0 and was awarded First Class F. 

        Congratulations go out to State Champion Unruh, the other titlists and all the winners of 11 plaques and $1410 in cash prizes.  Very special thanks are extended to Senior TD Mike Swatek for his superb job in directing.  For the readers' reference, visit the OCA website (www.ochess.org) for the Final Standings and to play interactively through literally dozens of games from this as well as other tournaments.  And lastly, thanks to all the players, helpers and spectators for showing your support by simply being there for this 60th annual State Championship.  We do hope to see you for the 61st!