By Chris Y Kim
Sunday, March 8, 2015 - 19:30
University of Maryland, Baltimore County [Baltimore, MD]
An Armageddon playoff for the MD Sweet 16 title was required. Arthur Tang managed a draw with Sahil Sinha on Board 1, while Alexander Davydov defeated Andrew Mao on Board 2 to set up the playoff with Tang and Davydov tied for first with 3.5 points.
Davydov was ahead on tiebreaks, so he selected White. Format for the Armageddon playoff was White with G/15+5" and Black with G/10+5" and draw odds. In a tight game, Tang was in time trouble and was able to nurse the clock while under 15" even down to 2" at one point while Davydov's time slowly whittled to under 1 minute while gaining a pawn advantage. Tang eventually flagged, and Davydov becomes the 2015 Maryland Sweet 16 champion. Congratulations!
Final Standings (in tiebreak order):
3.5: Alexander Davydov (* won in Armageddon playoff), Arthur Tang
3.0: Sahil Sinha, Douglas Malcolm
2.5: Dennis Norman, Pieter Heesters
2.0: Andrew Mao, Richard Tan, Ronald Best Jr
1.5: Ali Merchant, Nathan Janus, Bijan Tahmassebi
1.0: Justin Hung, Justin Hontz, Benjamin Hung
0.5: Vinay Veluvolu
[This section has not been revised yet]
Round 4 (out of 4) starts this afternoon at 3PM , and we will see if Tang can take the title with a clear win. Note that if there is a tie for first, then there will be a playoff with the format dependent on the number of players involved.
Round 4 Pairings: (White listed first)
Board 1: Arthur Tang (3.0) vs Sahil Sinha (2.5) 1/2
Board 2: Alexander Davydov(2.5) vs Andrew Mao (2.0) 1-0
Board 3: Douglas Malcolm (2.0) vs Ronald Best Jr (2.0) 1-0
Board 4: Pieter Heesters (1.5) vs Ali Merchant (1.5) 1-0
Board 5: Justin Hontz (1.0) vs Dennis Norman (1.5) 1/2
Board 6: Benjamin Hung (1.0) vs Richard Tan (1.0) 0-1
Board 7: Nathan Janus (0.5) vs Justin Hung (1.0) 1-0
Board 8: Vinay Veluvolu (0.5) vs Bijan Tahmassebi (0.5) 0-1
Round 3 results: Sinha 1/2 Davydov; Mao 0-1 Tang; Norman 1/2 Heesters; Tan 0-1 Malcolm; Best 1-0 Hung J; Merchant 1/2 Hontz; Tahmassebi 1/2 Janus; Veluvolu 1/2 Hung B
Round 2 results: Malcolm 0-1 Sinha; Tang 1-0 Best; Norman 0-1 Davydov; Heesters 1-0 Veluvolu; Hung J 0-1 Mao; Tan 1-0 Bahmassibi; Hung B 0.5-0.5 Hontz; Janus 0-1 Merchant
Round 1 results: Sinha 1-0 Tan; Hontz 0-1 Tang; Davydov 1-0 Janus; Hung J 1-0 Heesters; Mao 1-0 Veluvolu; Tahmassebi 0-1 Malcolm; Best 1-0 Hung B; Merchant 0-1 Norman