š And That's a Wrap! MSCA's Grand Prix Concludes in Style at the Northern Open. š²š§
- MSCA
- Oct 9
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 10
After 6 tournaments, 5 months, and a whole lot of CHESS, the MSCA's 2025 Summer Grand Prix Series concluded this past weekend in Roseville at the Northern Open. IM Sammy Narayanan lapped the field and coasted to the checkered flag with another 5-0 performance. All of us were in his rearview mirror, but 2024 Grand Prix Champion Josiah Jorenby was close enough to claim the 2nd highest cumulative point total and the coveted qualification spot for the premier section of the March 2026 Stenberg Cup State Championship Playoffs.
Northern: US Chess Results š„ Prize Winners šµ
The final Grand Prix standings and all of the fascinating stats are published on the MSCA Website courtesy of webmaster Scott Carpenter's outstanding work. Enjoy rolling around in the numbers and appreciating the fun the MSCA has brought to our chess community with this Grand Prix Series the last three years.
Northern Open
š We also saw the emergence of new chess talent at the Northern Open. In the Premier Section Alexander Augustine put up another 4/5 point event and now has his rating all the way up to 2089. Owen Pelletier surged to 1984 by scoring 3/5 and gaining 73 rating points against the tough premier field. Long Chen won the U1900 prize with 2.5/5.0 points and gained 80 rating points with a strong performance in the top section. In the U1800 Section Alexander Screaton tied for 1st prize and gained an astonishing 201 rating points! Faris Khan improved his provisional rating to 1556p16 by gaining 95 points. Yuno Shemesh had a huge break-out tournament with 3/5 points and a 126 rating point gain to land on 1508. In the U1100 Section it was Sador Wondeson putting up a perfect 5-0 score to claim 1st prize in only his 2nd rated chess tournament. Sador gained 220 rating points and is now up to 1290p10. In the U900 Section Panav Jain won clear first and picked up 176 rating points along the way.
The Northern Open had 127 total participants across the 4 sections and was held at the affordable and reasonably spacious Roseville Skating Center. The TD Team was efficient and on time and were led by Chief TD Jack Bellinger, Asst. TD Suhaas Pothula, and new Volunteer TD Dave Wencel. š
Grand Prix
šļø Section Winners:
Open:Ā Samrug Narayanan
Top U2200:Ā Josiah Jorenby
U2000:Ā Paulo Soto
U1700:Ā Ryan Elling
U1400:Ā Eeshan Shah
U1100:Ā Richard Liu
āļø 2026 Closed Playoff Qualifiers:
Open: Jorenby (Narayanan already qualified)
Top U2200: (Reverts to MN Open)
U2000: Paulo Soto
U1700: Ryan Elling
š Special recognition to the 9 dedicated players who played in all 6 events: David Schabert, Arvind Thiagarajan, Ajay Singamsetty, Paulo Soto, Bill Murray, Jacob Pikus, Ryan Elling, Jesse Tolkkinen, and Rihaan Sen.
Let's have a look at three years of the Grand Prix, in numbers!
17 Events
709 Unique Players
143 New/Unrated players
4,245 Games Played
470 Half-point Byes š¤
$34,555 Prizes Paid šø (Grand Prix prizes and 9 MSCA-run events.)
šļø Props to Iron Man Bill Murray, who has played in all 17 events: 86 games!
š Runners up: Tyler Esser (16), John Blomer (15), and Eddie Wasserman (14).
