[imagefield_assist|fid=12292|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=700|height=467]
Five rounds of play were not enough to declare a decisive winner at the August Knights as four players tied for the top spot.
William Nesham started out hot winning his first two games, but he was finally derailed in round three by No. 1 seed Rodney Vaughn. Vaughn was then paired with the upset-minded Mike Kummer, who had just defeated Tim Nesham the previous week. Vaughn lost a pawn early but got adequate compensation by forcing Kummer to make a series of dubious queen moves. He managed to build a huge attack, but when the moment was right to strike, he went for a questionable combination that led only to a draw.
Vaughn was paired with Dan Coryea in the final round. Despite being up a pawn, Vaughn could not pull out the win in the bishop-of-opposite-color ending. When the dust settled, Vaughn had a final score of 3.5 points, which opened the door for the winner of the Kummer-William Nesham game. Both competitors played solid in a reverse Gruenfeld position and a draw was agreed.
Paul Goddard needed a victory against Bill Thompson's to get into the winner's circle. Goddard, the winner of the July Knights, would not be denied his chance to repeat as Champion.
Out of the four first-place finishers, William Nesham took the spot in the Knights Championship on tiebreaks. Namit Gaur defeated the only other class "C" player in the final round to take home the "C" class prize. Andrew Stevens evened the score with Dan Powell in the final round to share the "D" prize. Haozhe Wang continued his upward swing and took home the "E" prize for the second consecutive month. Iris Zhou played well above her rating scoring a monumental 1200-point upset over Andrew Gieselhart. She also drew a 1300 to win the U1000 prize. Congratulations to all the winners, and don't forget to come out next Wednesday for the September Knights.
