Katz, Madden tie in Sardinia

Alanna Katz continued her excellent play at Sardinia as she won for the 3rd month in a row last Saturday even though she had to settle for a draw with Ryan Madden in the final game and a tie for 1st place. Ryan, who was 2 pawns down at one time, fought back and set up a "fortress" that Alanna could not crack.

Alanna defeated Chris Darling and last months Buffalo winner Pat Patterson before drawing Madden while Ryan beat Carl Raymore and Mike Jocko. Raymore and Darling split the U1500 prize.

In the Scholastic section a record 17 players turned up and after 3 hours of play there was a 3 way tie between Christian Collier of Buffalo, Francis Kilcoyne from Hornell,NY, and Todd Thompson from the Pioneer chess club, all with 9pts. Todd won the coin flip and waited while Collier and Kilcoyne played an exciting Blitz game with Kilcoyne winning with only 6 seconds left on his clock! He then defeated Thompson to claim the trophy.

The cross table is at http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201004037621

Thanks to all for your support. Next tournament is May 1. Let's see if Alanna can keep up her streak!