Six Illinois Players Earn $4400 at '15 Kings Island Open

With an outright winner and two co-champions, Illinois was well-represented at the 24th Annual Kings Island Open. Due to construction at the Kings Island resort, the event was held in Blue Ash, Ohio November 13 - November 15. It was conducted in seven sections attracting 293 players.

David Wallach was the champion of the Under 1700 finishing 4.5. Wallach drew Kentucky's Alan Kindred in the final round to close out the win. Kindred finished at 4.0 in a six-way tie for second. David earned $1450 for his efforts.

In the Under 2100, Ricky Wang's 4.0 was good enough to include him in five-way tie for second place behind Hafez Tari of Ohio who scored 4.5. 

Ricky started slowly with a pair of draws before picking up steam and closing out with three wins. He earned just over $350 in prize money.

In the Under 1900, Valdis Tums posted a 4.5 to tie for first place with a pair of Ohioians, Richard Mercer and William Stewart. Tums and Mercer drew in the final round while Stewart needed a victory in his final match to join the top score group. Each of the three walked away with $940.

Tying for fourth place in the section were Illinoisians Peter Zheng, a Champaign-Urbana area 5th grader, and the venerable George David. Both enjoyed four victories with a single loss. Both Zheng and David earned $282, but Zheng had come for more than just a pay day.

Peter's rating climbed 129 points as he crossed the 1800-threshhold for the first time. A year before when he won the Fourth Grade championship at the Illinois All-Grade in West Chicago, Peter was rated 1048 going in and 1192 afterwards. So his rating has climbed 756 in a little over a year!

In the Under 1500 Section, Delondon Hawthorne posted a 4.5 score to tie for the championship with Trenton Rothan of Ohio. Both posted four wins and a draw, and they walked away with $927 a piece in prize money.

Not satisfied with his U1700 prize check, David Wallach paired with Ohio's Betty Vilenchuk in the Mixed Doubles competition. David's 4.5 along with Vilenchuk's 3.0 in the U1000 section brought the pair into a second place tie. David and Betty split $323 in additional prize money.

19 of the 293 players in the Ohio event were Illinois-registered.

Crosstables are posted here.

Final standings are posted at http://kingsislandopen.com/.