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Registration is OPEN for this year's state championship!
This year's Jerry Spann Memorial Oklahoma State Championship will be held Saturday & Sunday, June 1 & 2, at the Hilton Garden Inn in north OKC/Edmond. Early entry discounts end May 24, so don't delay! And you're coming in from out of town and plan to stay at the hotel, be sure to reserve by May 3.
For more details, visit the tournament page.
ELIZABETH BRADDY IS OSCO STATE CHAMPION
Elizabeth Braddy won the top prize at the 2024 Oklahoma Scholastic Chess State Championships, held April 13 at the University of Central Oklahoma. Her win made her the first girl to win the state title and the first girl to qualify for both the Denker Tournament of High School State Champions and the Haring Tournament of Girls State Champions. She chose the Haring and will represent us there for the fifth consecutive year. Oklahoma's other scholastic invitationals representatives for this year are Oscar Wang (Denker), Lafayette Chen (Barber), and Aayush Praveen (Rockefeller). Oklahoma's representative to the Seniors event will be named later this month. Read more about this year's OSCO championships on our Scholastics page.
PHOTO (from left) OSCO Chief Tournament director Josie Braddy with Oklahoma's 2024 Invitationals team: Aayush Praveen (Rockefeller), Lafayette Chen (Barber), Oscar Wang (Denker), and 2024 state champion Elizabeth Braddy (Haring).
PHOTO: National Master Chuck Unruh presents the state championship trophy to Elizabeth Braddy at the 2024 Oklahoma Scholastic Chess State Championships.
James Joy wins Eclipse Rapid in Tulsa
James Joy, with a 4-0 score, won the Midtown Chess Club (Tulsa) Pre-Eclipse Day Rapid on Sunday, April 7. NM Chuck Unruh, David Hughes and Jordan Locust tied at 3-1 for second place. Fourteen players competed in this tournament, including new US Chess member Arnold Iselin, age 76, who scored 2-2 with a last-round bye.
This event was part of the Midtown Chess Club monthly tournament series for 2024. View the results of this event and the rest of MTCC's blitz and rapid tournaments at the link below.
David Luscomb wins the OKC Open
With a perfect 5.0 score, David Luscomb won the Oklahoma City Open, held March 22-24 at the Oklahoma City Chess Club. Garrett Hunt took second in the top section with a score of 4.0. Tied for third at 3.5 were Shaun Graham-Bowcaster and David Buck, who drove up from Texas for the event.
Amir Marquis Jallah, also from Texas, swept the U1600 to win with a perfect 5.0. Tied for 2nd/3rd with 4.0 points each were Ivan Ding, Rebecca Rutledge, and Arkansas player Nicholas Emlaw.
Fifty-two players participated in the event. Joel Gargus was chief TD and organizer. Some photos are below, and you can see the crosstables here.
The April issue of Oklahoma Chess Monthly has arrived! Read it now
Oklahoma players at the 2024 Southwest Class Championships in Irving, Texas (from left) back row: Roshan Valentine, Oscar Wang, Max Barnes, Joe Veal, Ryan Amburgy, Chris Amburgy; middle row: Anurag Roy Choudhury, Elizabeth Braddy, Rebecca Rutledge, Jake Williams; front row: Will Tate, Arya Roy Choudhury
Another big year for Oklahomans at the 2024 Southwest Class Championships
by Joe Veal
There were many pitched battles amongst the 429 competitors in the recently played 2024 Southwest Class Chess Championships, held February 16-20 at the Westin Hotel in Dallas, Texas . Fourteen Oklahomans played in seven sections this year: FM Ryan Amburgy, Maxwell Barnes, Joe Veal, Shaun Bowcaster, Elizabeth Braddy, Oscar Wang, Vaughn Rees, Jake Williams, Joel Gargus, Arya Roy Choudhury, Anurag Roy Choudhury, Roshan Valentine, Rebecca Rutledge, and William Tate. This is one of the most popular events on the chess calendar for Oklahoma players because of its lucrative cash prizes and the relatively short drive.
#1, Expert Class
Oklahoma's defending state champion, Maxwell Barnes (5.5 out of 7 games) was in a four-way tie for first in the 59-player Expert (Under 2200) section. He picked up $950 for his efforts. He won four games and drew three with no losses. With this performance, Maxwell crossed a new rating plateau, 2100, that very few Oklahomans of any age ever achieve in their tournament career. He currently is working with GM Steven Zierk and was the first scholastic student I ever worked with in my chess coaching career. Maxwell is a junior at Harding Charter Prep high school.
#6, Class A
Elizabeth Braddy finished just a half point off the leaders in the 84-player Class A (Under 2000) section. She scored 5 out of 7 and won $50. Our Haring representative for the last four years and another former student of mine, Elizabeth is currently working with a IM in Texas and is a homeschooled freshman in Oklahoma City.
#2, Class B
A second grader from the Moore Chess Club (a fantastic club that is the most kid-friendly club in the state), Arya Roy Choudhury, tied for second with a score of 5.5/7 in the 52-player Class B (Under 1800) section. He picked up a cool $750. What was noteworthy was that Arya played one section up—his rating qualified him for the Class C (Under 1600) section. This meant he was the rating underdog in every game, yet he still finished near the top of the field.
#2, Class D
Roshan Valentine, an eighth grader from Classen SAS and a current student of mine, scored 5 out of 7 in the 32-player Class D (Under 1400) section. Roshan received $250 for his result. He began with me as a 811-rated player and after this event, he is 1359.
The event crosstables are here.
As a current board member of the Oklahoma Chess Association, I wish to thank the Continental Chess Association and their staff for running an excellent event. I also wish to thank all of the Oklahomans who took the sojourn to Dallas to play in this hallowed event. I would like to advise all Oklahoma chess players to visit our tournaments page for the next chess events in Oklahoma. My thanks to all and I will see you next time.
The 2023 Okie Database update is out!
The annual update for the Okie Database of chess games is now out! It includes 184 new games, many of which are annotated. When added to your complete Okie Database, there are now nearly 18 thousand games dating back over 100 years.
This year’s update includes all the games of the 2nd Rozsa Trophy invitational, plus selected games from our 2023 Oklahoma Open, Senior Open, Steve Wharry Memorial, the Kansas Open, and some of Ryan Amburgy's games from IM norm tournaments. Other "new" games include some old ones, like games played at OU in the early '60s (including some from D. Ballard), some of Albert Roddy, Jr.'s games (did you read about him in this month's OCM?) and a game from a 1972 simul in Stillwater with IM William Martz.
Chessable Research Awards seeks applicants for 2024
The online chess learning platform Chessable is seeking undergraduate and graduate students, along with their faculty research sponsors, to apply for the Chessable Research Awards 2024 cycle. Each winning faculty research sponsor gets $500. Each undergraduate student winner gets $500, and each winning graduate student gets $1,000. The deadline for applications is
May 15, 2024.
The awards are an initiative to promote chess research and develop our understanding of how chess can benefit our lives, how we can improve our knowledge of the game, and how we can understand other phenomena, both within and outside of the chess world.
University students from all fields of study, such as cognitive psychology, education, literature, history, computer science, etc., are invited to apply.
Examples of relevant topics include, but are not limited to, how playing chess impacts society or personal development, methods for improving the memorization of chess theory, the gender gap in chess participation, using ideas from chess to solve real-world problems, etc.
For more information, visit go.chessable.com/science/chessable-research-awards/
The new OCM is here!
The tone for the 2nd Rozsa Trophy was set in the very first round, when Maxwell Barnes reprised his upset of top-ranked FM Ryan Amburgy from last year’s state championship and again won a fine game.
“One of you guys has to stop him, so I can make my comeback!” Ryan told the other players. That became the plot of the chess drama that played out that weekend...
Read the rest of this article in the new issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine!
Ryan Amburgy wins 2nd Rozsa Trophy
FM Ryan Amburgy won the 2nd Rozsa Trophy, an invitational round robin for Oklahoma's top six players. The event was held in Tulsa on January 26–28, 2024.
Amburgy scored 3.5 points out of 5.0. Three players tied for second place with 3.0: Maxwell Barnes, NM Tom Braunlich, and David Luscomb.
Harold Brown was tournament director. The games were streamed live with commentary from Jake Williams, NM Mark Hulsey, and Joe Veal.
Look forward to reading more about the event in the upcoming issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine. In the meantime, the stream and DGT broadcasts can still be viewed at the links below. Crosstable is here.
PHOTO (from left): Paul Covington, who ran the DGT boards for the event, and the players: David Zelnick, David Luscomb, NM Tom Braunlich, Anthony Paolercio, FM Ryan Amburgy, and Maxwell Barnes.
AMBURGY • BRAUNLICH • ZELNICK • PAOLERCIO • BARNES • LUSCOMB
Oklahoma's top six to meet in Tulsa for 2nd Rozsa Trophy
Watch the games live as the state's top players battle it out in the second annual Rozsa Trophy! The tournament is a round robin for Oklahoma's top six players.
All three boards will be broadcast live with commentary by Jake Williams, a chess historian and coach whose popular channel is known for sharp analysis and lively discussion that appeals to advanced players, new players, and everyone in between.
Round one starts Friday, January 26 at 5:30 p.m. CST. Rounds two and three will be Saturday at 10:00 and 2:30. The final two rounds are at 9:30 and 2:00 Sunday. Watch the games, participate in the analysis, ask questions and root for your favorite Oklahoma player here: twitch.tv/okie_chess/home
Oklahoman takes the U1600 title at Texas Winter Championship
Our congratulations to Oklahoma player Anurag Roy Choudhury, who took first place in the U1600 division at the 2024 Texas Winter Championship. Way to go, Anurag!
The event was held Saturday, January 20 at the Texas Chess Center's location in Frisco. David Gaston was chief tournament director.
Tulsa player rises to OKC's "challenge"
Luscomb wins both events at OKC Speed Chess Challenge
January 13, 2024
Dire predictions of a treacherous winter storm did little to deter players from attending today's OKC Speed Chess Challenge at the Oklahoma City Chess Club. Players from Arkansas, Tulsa, Ardmore, Dallas, and all over the OKC metro—thirty-four players in all—competed in two events: a morning Quick tournament (G/15+10) and an afternoon Blitz (G/5+5).
David Luscomb of Tulsa won them both. He scored 4.5 out of 5 in the Quick event. His only draw came from Max Barnes, whose 3.5 points landed him in a tie for second with Garrett Hunt and Matthew Ebrahimi.
Luscomb won the afternoon blitz event with 6.5 out of 8 points. Joe Veal came in second with 6.0, followed by Max Barnes with 5.5.
Kirthika Duggisetty's win in the U1500 Quick event comes right off the heels of her first-place U1200 finish in last week's Deer Creek K-12 Open. She scored 5.0 out of 6 today. Next came Anurag Roy Choudhury and Treyson Burton, who tied for second with 3.5 points each.
Another winner from last week's OSCO took first in the U1500 at today's afternoon blitz event. William Lin, who won the Premier section at Deer Creek, swept his division and won with a perfect 8.0 score.
Joel Gargus was chief TD and organizer. Results are here.
William Lin wins latest OSCO
Stillwater player William Lin took first in the most recent OSCO tournament, held in Edmond on January 6. The win places Lin in the lead among contenders for the nomination to the Denker Tournament of High School State Champions, to be held during the US Chess Open this summer.
191 players competed in five sections at this weekend's Deer Creek K-12 Open. Josie Braddy was chief tournament director. For more details and photos of the event, visit our Scholastics page. Crosstables are here.
PHOTO: Stillwater sophomore William Lin at the Deer Creek K-12 Open, held January 6 in Edmond. Lin won the event and leads the field of contenders for this year's Denker.
OKC-area players: the January Outlaw's Quick Draw has been moved to Tuesday, January 9. Tournament info is here.
Highlights from the Holiday Open
December 31, 2023
For the first time in its thirty-two-year history, the Holiday Open took place in Oklahoma City this year. The fifty-nine player event was the second-largest ever for the tournament Jim Berry started in Stillwater in 1991.
Stillwater was home to the Holiday Open for twenty-three years. The Tulsa Midtown Chess Club took it over in 2017, and it was held there for five years. This year's Holiday Open was hosted by the Oklahoma City Chess Club, a new affiliate headquartered in the Kamp's 1910 building in downtown OKC.
Brian Slone, Adley Bufford, and Max Barnes tied for first in the Open section. They scored 3.5 points apiece (out of 4.0). Unrated player Saiyara Arun won the U1300 with a perfect 4.0. He was followed by five players who scored 3.0 points each: Kiara Pavithran, Kirthika Duggisetty, Seth Crockett, Justin Barton, and Aryan Karn.
Games from the top boards were broadcast live via DGT and can still be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/32ndHolidayOpen. Players featured are David Luscomb, Jeremy Tuttle, Gabe Coss, Max Barnes, Adley Bufford, Kelvin Xie, Garrett Hunt, Wayne Hatcher, Oscar Wang, and Joe Veal.
Joel Gargus was chief TD with assistance from Zachary Walling and event co-organizer Rebecca Rutledge. Some photos are below. Our thanks to all the players who came out and to the Oklahoma City Chess Club for keeping this tradition alive.
December K-12 tournament drew 197 players to Tulsa's Cascia Hall
December 11, 2023
Cascia Hall Preparatory School was the venue for the December Oklahoma Scholastic Chess tournament. Josie Braddy was chief TD and lead organizer. Read about the winners and see more photos on our Scholastics page.
Three more events remain on OSCO's calendar for 2023-24: Deer Creek on January 6, Jenks on March 9, and the state championship on April 13 at the University of Central Oklahoma.
The December issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine is OUT!
December 1, 2023
In this issue: Oklahoma's first "Serious Fischer Random" tournament held in Tulsa - Unruh takes third consecutive Veterans Open title - Memories of Oklahoma player Joe Hill - and a great feature on how the new Oklahoma City Chess Club is bringing organizers together. Plus puzzles, book reviews, and games from Oklahoma players like Chuck Unruh, Tom Braunlich, Ryan Amburgy, and Albert Roddy.
What are you waiting for? Read it now.
Holiday Open moves to OKC
The 32nd Annual Holiday Open will be held in Oklahoma City this year, not Stillwater as originally planned. The event will take place Saturday, December 30 at the Oklahoma City Chess Club (Kamp's building) at 10 NE 10th Street. Check the tournaments listings for more information soon.
Oklahoma players at the Forester Open
THE OKLAHOMA CONTINGENT at the 2023 Forester Open (from left): Joe Zacharias, Kiara Pavithran, Arya Roy Choudhury, and Anurag Roy Choudhury. (Not pictured: Aayush Praveen)
Five players represented Oklahoma this year at the Forester Open, held November 24-26 in Grapevine, Texas. Aayush Praveen, Anurag Roy Choudhury, and Kiara Pavithran played in the Amateur, with Praveen coming out as our top scorer with 3.5 out of 5 and a thirty-point rating gain. Anurag finished just behind with 3.0 and a forty-four-point jump. Pavithran, who played up to this section, scored a respectable 2.0.
Joe Zacharias scored two big upset wins in the Championship section. But our biggest winner was our smallest player: Oklahoma's second-grade champion Arya Roy Choudhury scored 3.5 in the Championship and walked away with a rating just shy of 1700. View the crosstables here.
Grade Championships held in Tulsa
The Albert Rine Memorial 22nd Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Grade Championships were held Saturday, November 18 at the University of Tulsa. 199 players competed in eleven sections with a champion individual and team named for each.
For the list of winning players & teams, visit our Scholastics page. Crosstables are here.
WATCH GAMES ONLINE: If you missed this weekend's OKC Chess Club Grand Premier, you can still view the broadcast. Watch games by Joe Veal, Max Barnes, Wayne Hatcher, Raymond Jiang, Oscar Wang, Arya Roy Choudhury, William Lin, and Shaun Graham. Watch them here.
PHOTO: David Luscomb and Charles Unruh.
Luscomb tops strong field at Tulsa quick event
With a perfect 4.0 out of 4, David Luscomb won the Midtown Chess Club's November quick event, held November 12 at the Harvard Avenue Baptist Church.
The ten-player field included three national masters and five other players over 2000. It also included a player we haven't seen in quite some time: Charles Unruh, an expert-rated player and longtime Oklahoma TD and volunteer who now lives in South Dakota.
Word on the street says Charles will be making an appearance at the November 18 Grade Championships at Tulsa University. I don't know about you, but this writer plans to be there in case the rumors are true!
Results for the November 12 tournament are here.
Tulsa Midtown Chess Club hosts Oklahoma's first Fischer Random Championship
by NM Tom Braunlich
On Saturday, October 21, the Tulsa Midtown Chess Club hosted Oklahoma's first full-day Fischer-Random tournament. Time control was G/45+15.
Heretofore Chess960 events in Oklahoma have been limited to blitz play. It makes a big difference to have a lot of time to navigate and explore the new middle games this variant provides.
Not a single game was drawn! The twelve-player field, which included two masters and two experts, enjoyed amazing games of this Chess960 variation with no opening theory available — just imagination and principled play.
FM Ryan Amburgy won with a perfect 4.0/4. Tied for second with 3.0 points each were NM Tom Braunlich, David Zelnick, and Chris Dooley. Class prizes were awarded to Jordan Locust, Istvan Szabad, and Gabe Coss. Four door prizes were also given out.
TD Harold Brown was generous with his support for the prize fund, giving two USCF memberships to new players (even though it wasn’t needed for this non-rated event), and good prize money.
Despite the low turnout, the fact the players all loved the event and were asking for more convinced Harold he wants to do it again, and currently the plan is for another 960 tournament in January. Stay tuned for that, and look for some annotated games from this event in the next issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine.
Check out those weird starting positions! Players eschewed opening theory for a day of Fischer Random chess on Saturday, October 21 in Tulsa. PHOTOS (top): FM Ryan Amburgy with the black pieces against David Luscomb. (bottom): James Joy watches Gabe Coss with the white pieces vs. David Zelnick; also pictured are Istvan Szabad with the white pieces against David Bowers.
Norman Chess Club hosts 1st Afternoon Swiss
Can you hold a regular-rated tournament during business hours at a Barnes & Noble? You can. All it requires is an open-minded store manager and players who won't let a loud toddler get in the way of a good game of chess. These elements were in place at the Afternoon Swiss #1, held Sunday, October 15 at the Barnes & Noble in Norman.
In the Open, Max Barnes won with 3.5 points. Garrett Hunt finished second with 3.0. Bryan Sloane won the U1600 with a perfect 4.0. Tied for third with 3.0 each were Kevin Chen, Justin Barton, Ivan Ding, and Anurag Roy Choudhury.
31 players competed in two sections at the four-round event. Time control was G/30;d5. Organizer was Michael Langston of the Norman Chess Club. TD was Rebecca Rutledge. Results are here.
OSCO celebrates National Chess Day in Tahlequah
The second scholastic tournament of the 2023-24 season happened Saturday, October 14 at Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah. Winners were Oscar Wang (Premier), Kirthika Duggisetty (U1200), Nazar Kanatov (U900), and Scott Phillips (U600). Results are here. Read more on our Scholastics page.
Still the one!
Amburgy is state blitz champion again (and again...)
For the fourth year running, FM Ryan Amburgy is Oklahoma's blitz chess champion. Check out the crosstables from the 38-player event here—or better yet, read all about it in the October issue of Oklahoma Chess Magazine.
Pavithran wins NW OKC Novice Challenge
With a perfect 4.0 score, Kiara Pavithran won the first NW OKC Novice Challenge, September 10 in Oklahoma City. Six unrated players were in the fifteen-player field, which was open to players under 1200.
A mix of adults and youths found themselves in a second-place tie with 3.0 points each: Jax Little, Ruben Pina, Yahya Latif, and Daniel Byford.
Chad Marler donated the venue and provided sets and clocks. NM Bart Gibbons was organizer and chief TD with help from Tom Braunlich. Results are here.
OSCO kicks off new season in Moore
167 players competed in five sections at the Moore K-12 Open, held September 16 at Highland Park Junior High in Moore. The Moore Chess Club hosted the event, with Josie Braddy as organizer and chief TD. Visit our Scholastics page for results, photos, and a list of upcoming scholastic tournaments in Oklahoma.
Three Oklahomans represent Oklahoma at the Southwest Open
Perhaps it was the longer drive to this year's Southwest Open (it was in Houston this time, not Dallas) that resulted in a smaller-than-usual contingent of Oklahoma players at the event. Still, the three players—David Luscomb and the Roy Choudury brothers, Arya and Anurag—managed to return home with 189 new rating points between them.
Anurag was our biggest winner this year. He scored 5.0 (out of 7) points in the Novice and went up 118 points. Arya got 3.5 in the Reserve—an impressive finish considering he was a ratings underdog by more than 100 points in all his games. Luscomb continued his climb back toward 2100, scoring 4.0 points in the Open.
The event was held September 1–4. Francisco Guadalupe directed. Results are here.
Amburgy wins the 55-player Hot Summer Swiss II
FM Ryan Amburgy scored a perfect 4.0 to win the second Hot Summer Swiss, held August 26 in Oklahoma City. The 55-player event was held in the conference room at Kamp's 1910 Café, longtime home of the Challengers chess club.
Second place in the top section was NM Jarod Pamatmat with 3.0 points. Oscar Wang and Matthew Ebrahimi tied for third with 2.5 points each.
Brian Slone, Long Nguyen, and Ivan Ding tied for first in the U1600 with 3.5 points each.
The biggest news of the day came in the U1000, where Tulsa seventh grader Eshawn Samadder—a ratings underdog in all four of his games—scored a perfect 4.0 and took home the first-place trophy. Four players tied with 3.0 points each: Justin Barton, Charley Qiu, Jonathan Fan, and Jacob So. Tiebreaks awarded second and third to Barton and Qiu, respectively.
Crosstables are here. Organizer and chief TD was Rebecca Rutledge. Special thanks to assistant TD Joel Gargus and to Steve Stavinoha, the managing owner at Kamp's and a great friend to the Oklahoma City chess community.
For older articles, visit the archives.