James Stripes prevailed in a back and forth final game against Michael Cambareri to win the 2023 Inland Empire Open with a score of 4.5. Second place (4.0) was shared by Cam Leslie and David Rowles.
The tourney featured numerous hard-fought games, with the top boards being challenged every round before they started playing each other. Since your editor got to play this year, he didn’t have quite the time to watch all of the action, but it was an entertaining event for spectators! The top four seeds — Cam Leslie, Michael Cambareri, Ryan Ackerman, and David Rowles — typically constitute the top of the charts at Thursday night club meetings. Andrew Rankin of Helena , MT, ventured over from Victoria, BC, to continue his climb toward class A, and was joined by Stevens County teenager Ben Patterson and Neal Bonrud at the top of the charts. The fur began to fly when they began tangling with one another.
Although the upper seeds generlaly prevailed, the contests were lengthy and hard-fought. The first crack in the upper board armour occurred in round two, when Ackerman and Rowles yielded draws, leaving five perfect scores standing. With Stripes taking a third round bye, Rankin and Leslie squared off while Cambareri had to face Patterson. The board one contest drew, leaving Cambareri the lone perfect score at the end of the first day.
Round four featured an entertaining contest on board one with Cambareri having a rook and two minor pieces against Leslie’s queen and knight. In the ensuring mutual time scramble, Michael was forced to try and mate with a bishop and knight, but ran out of time and had to settle for the draw. Stripes prevailed against veteran Steve Fabian in another hard fought contest, while yours truly let a winning position against Ben Patterson slip into a draw. Rankin and Ackerman had the last game of the round, with Ryan playing dozens of moves with less than a minute to go; he was at two seconds when a draw was reached. Heading in to the final round, Stripes (3.5) and Cambareri (3.5) topped the field, with a host of 3.0 scores waiting to pounce in the event of a board one draw.
Stripes prevailed in a comeback to claim the IEO crown. Meanwhile, Leslie and Rowles disptached Ackerman and Rankin, respectively, to finish in second, with Rowles also claiming the class A prize. Class B was shared by Fabian and Korsmo with 3.5 scores, while Steve Brendemihl and Ben Shedlock won the class C prizes with 3.0 scores. The same score gave Michael Byrne first in the class D and under category. Stanley Deng of the Tri-Cities, Declan Pham of Missoula, and Alex Rosenkratz each scored 2.5 to share the second class D prize. Declan and Stanley continued their climb up the ratings list with strong performances. Stanley’s two victories also won the two largest upset prizes!
29 players took part this year. The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for INLAND EMPIRE OPEN 2023 (Event 202305218732)