Ben Caiello new SC State Champion

Forty-three players entered this year's five round championship event at the Hilton Garden Inn in Columbia October 14th-16th.

Congratulations to GM Elshan Moradiabadi and WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor on winning first and second place prizes in the Open Section! Both Grandmasters went undefeated throughout tournament play.

Congratulations to Benjamin Caiello our new SC State Champion for 2016! Ben, who was also our 2015 State Scholastic Champion and Denker representative, finished the tournament with 3/5 points. Ben and Elijah Neumann (also with 3/5 pts) tied for 1st place with Ben winning on tie-break. Congratulations again to both of these fine players!

Eli Moore won the Junior Championship section and increased his rating by 120 points! The South Carolina Chess Association would like to thank all players and spectators who helped make this year’s tournament a success! Special thanks to David Causey and Daniel Smith for organizing and directing this year's event. Thank you Jordan Anderson for your TD help on Saturday. Drew Plyler provided the live broadcast of board 1. David and Maureen Grimaud accompanied GM Elshan and WGM Sabina during their stay here in Columbia. This event was sponsored by Precision Tune Auto Care.

Congratulations to this year's winners...
OPEN SECTION: (1st) GM Elshan Moradiabadi (TX) 4.5 pts; (2nd) WGM Sabina-Francesca Foisor (TX) 4.0 pts
U2200: (1st/SC State Champion) Benjamin Caiello (SC) 3.0 pts (Tie-break) (T)
U2000: (2nd/SC Runner Up) Elijah Neumann (SC) 3.0 pts (T)
Top Senior: Edsel Pena (SC) 2.5 pts (T), Keith Eubanks (SC) 2.5 pts, Gene Nix (SC) 2.5 pts, Donny Gray (FL) 2.5 pts

AMATEUR SECTION/U1800
U1800: (1st) Shaun McCoy (SC) 4.0 pts (T); Jayavel Kumaresan (GA) 4.0 pts  
U1600: (2nd) Gil Padilla Ortiz (SC) 3.5 pts (T)
Top Senior: Gil Padilla Ortiz (SC) 3.5 pts (T)
RESERVE SECTION/U1400
U1400: (1st) Venkata Guruvelli (SC) 4.5 pts (T); (2nd) Paul Pena (SC) 4.0 pts (T)
U1200: Richard Trela (SC) 2.0 pts
U1000: William Tabakian (SC) 1.0 pts
Top Senior: Gary Morrow (SC) 3.0 pts (T)
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP SECTION (under 19)
(1st) Eli Moore (SC) 3.0 pts (T), (2nd) Mohnish Behera (NC) 3.0 pts, (3rd) Alex Tabakian (SC) 2.5 pts