Jordan Berson Wins NL Open 2019

The Newfoundland and Labrador Open 2019 was held on the weekend of October 19-21 at the Guv’nor Inn and MUN Science Building. Jordan Berson won the event in clear first with an undefeated 4.5/5 score. This is his third NL Open win. Congratulations, Jordan!

Berson2019

Considering the long time control of 120 minutes + 30 seconds increment per game, playing five games in three days made for a gruelling event, but Jordan was up to the task. Two key games against second place Xingbo Huang and third place Steve Martin are included in the Games Corner link.

Congratulations also go out to Xingbo Huang, who finished in second place, just a half point behind Jordan with 4/5. Xingbo was also the only junior participating. Daniel Efford, Gary Mahon, and Steve Martin finished in a tie for third place, while Daniel won best performance prize with 3/5 and the biggest rating jump.

Ten players in total participated including three players – Martin Whelan, Amit Neghandi, and Jonathan Gosse – who were playing their first classical tournament. Blair Ozon and Gary Mahon were playing their first event in two years. Notable absences included the NL Open 2017 and 2018 champion Roger Langen, Ray MacIsaac, Morley Payne, and Nihad Dervisevic. We hope to see you playing again soon. Big thank you to Blair Ozon who donated a puzzle book and a Budapest Gambit book which were won by Xingbo Huang and Jonathan Gosse as door prizes.

The next event will be the weekend of November 29-December 1. It will be similar structure, but 60 minutes + 30 second increment per game. I hope to see some of you back for that event. Below is the complete crosstable with updated ratings. Thanks to everyone for participating! 🙂

# Player Old Perf New High Results Total
1 Berson, Jordan S. 2053 2037 2063 2201 +5 +2 +4 +6 =3 4.5
2 Huang, Xingbo 1827 1855 1832 24 +8 -1 =3 +0 +4 3.5
3 Efford, Daniel 1583 1846 1676 1676 +6 -4 =2 +8 =1 3.0
4 Martin, Steve 2003 1774 1972 2107 +7 +3 -1 +5 -2 3.0
5 Mahon, Gary 1582 1761 1629 19 -1 +8 +9 -4 +6 3.0
6 Gosse, Jonathan 0 1540 1540 5 -3 +7 +10 -1 -5 2.0
7 Wong, Danny 1336 1445 1372 12 -4 -6 -8 +10 +0 2.0
8 Negandhi, Amit 0 1404 1404 4 -2 -5 +7 -3 -0 1.0
9 Whelan, Martin 0 1345 1345 2 =10 =0 -5 -0 -0 1.0
10 Ozon, Blair R. 1636 1168 1461 8 =9 =0 -6 -7 -0 1.0