Qazi Perfect at 115th Knights Quest

Rafeh Qazi defeated fellow-Expert Robby Hecht in the fourth round to claim top honors at the 115th Knight's Quest, held July 12 in Northbrook.

Alec Feygin prevailed over Howard Cohen in the last round, giving both players 3.0/4 scores (along with Hecht, John Compton and Nathan Fong). 

26 competed in the Open Section at a tepid Game/40 pace, boosted by a five-second delay. Overall, 103 players entered one of the tournament's four sections. Crosstables have been published here.

Playing in his first USCF-rated event, Nathan Xu was a perfect 3-0 with a full-point bye in the first round, earning clear first in the Under 1400 section. Eric Helgemo was second at 3.5/4, boosting his rating to the 1250's.

A five-way tie for third place at 3.0 included Matthew Varga, James Zhang, David Yong, Shawn Smith and Steve Trbojevic.

Alex Ursu smashed the 1000-barrier with his 4-0 performance in the U1000. His fourth round victory over Jackie Christiansen was the key to the championship, after defeating previously-unbeaten Vikram Oberai in the penultimate third round.

Christiansen had knocked out Jonathan Lou from championship contention in the third round.

Leon Rapoport finished second with a 3.5 score.

Lou, Christiansen, and Oberai all tied for third with 3.0, along with Vikram's brother Aditya and Rohan Poondru.

Under 600 play saw two undefeated scores with Garrick Kung and Jame Sewell (pictured left hugging her trophy) splitting top honors at 4.0.

Lawrence Zhao, Rusin Sohanaki, William Wang, Gauri Chugh and Adam Kreston all tied for third place with 3.0's.

The lower two sections played a quicker time control: Game/25 with a 5-second delay kicker.