The 19th Annual Western Class Championships were held from March 9-11, 2012, at the Sheraton Agoura Hills Hotel (formerly Renaissance), 30100 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills, California.
The Master Section was won by Californian International Master, Enrico Sevillano, who finished in clear first with 4½/5. Sevillano gave up a draw in round 1 but then went on to win all his remaining games to claim the $1870 1st prize plus the clear first bonus of $93 for a grand total of $1963 for his weekend’s work.
Sevillano was recently winner in the 15th Metropolitan Chess FIDE Invitational and runner-up in the 3rd Annual Golden State Open.
IM’s Roman Yankovsky and Zhanibek Amanov finished in 2nd/3rd with 4/5 while GM Melik Khachiyan, IM David Pruess and FM Gregg Small were a further half point behind. Small’s finish netted him the top U2300 prize.
Master section final standings:
1. IM Enrico Sevillano – 4.5 ($1963.00)
2-3. IM Roman Yankovsky and IM Zhanibek Amanov – 4.0 ($701.00 each)
4-6. GM Melikset Khachiyan, IM David Pruess ($140.00 each) and FM Gregg H Small ($748.00) – 3.5
7-15. IM Salvijus Bercys, FM John D Bryant, FM Eugene Yanayt, Samuel Sevian, Michael W Brown, Brandon Ashe, Edward Perepelitsky , Varun Krishnan and Vadim Kudryavtsev – 3.0 etc
The event had 7 sections: Master, Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D and Class E. All sections were 5-round Swiss tournaments having 3-day and 2-day schedules to play in. Standings on the official website.
The projected prize fund was $20,000 with $16,000 guaranteed.
Agoura Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, with the population of 20,330. It is located in the eastern Conejo Valley between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains.
Sheraton Agoura Hills Hotel
