The 32nd Annual Minnesota State Senior Chess Championship was held at the Castle Chess Club on October 21/22. The field of 21 players included one FM, two NM's, and three players who collectively have won 11 seniors between them (Voje - 6, Murray - 3, Radermacher - 2). As always seems to be the case, the Senior featured some excellent classical time control chess and early round surprises...with Voje drawing FM Leonard Johnson in round 2 and Murray drawing NM Okey Iwu in round 3.
Ultimately 3 players rose to the top of the standings with undefeated 3.5/4.0 point performances. Okey Iwu, Tim Radermacher and Bill Murray will now compete in the MSCA's prescribed tie-breaker format for the opportunity to represent Minnesota at next summer's Irwin National Tournament of State Senior Champions.
Other prize winners included newcomer Torfi Hoskuldsson with 3.0/4.0 to take home the U1700 prize money, Neil Kulevsky with 2.0/4.0 to prevail in the U1300 category, and Dan Voje & Dennis McGrath splitting the prize money for the age 65+ category. The big winner for the weekend was endgame expert Bill Murray who in addition to tying for overall 1st and playing in the playoff, also took home the prize for the U2000 Section and the new traveling custom-engraved trophy for the best age 65+ Senior.
Many thanks to Jack Bellinger for his expert TD work throughout the weekend.