The Thanksgiving Open, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis’ most attended of the 2015 tournaments, took place November 27th-29th and featured players from as far away as Canada as well as titled players from here in Saint Louis. Notable players included Grandmasters Alex Shimanov, Ben Finegold and Ashwin Jayaram, International Masters Michael Brooks and Priyadharshan Kannappan, and National Masters Nick Karlow and Matthew Larson. The prize fund was $10,000 with top prize for the open section being $1,500.
After three riveting days and six total rounds, the standings for the open section were as follows, with the top five winners being GM Alex Shimanov, GM Ashwin Jayaram, GM Ben Finegold, WFM Hulkar Tohirjonova, and NM Matthew Larson.
The top five prize winners for the U2000 section were Eric Hoffner, Harper Evan Smith, Joshua Arden Campbell, Behrooz Vakil, and Todd A. Plagemann.
Every player did their best and the incredible turnout helps to make the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis stand out as an international chess hub. Thank you to every player that competed, the tournament directors and Club staff for helping things to run as smoothly as possible. This Thanksgiving we were thankful to be surrounded by such a supportive group of individuals.
