Experience Counts at Holiday Swiss!
The five round Holiday Swiss concluded on December 10 and drew 64 players. The Under 1700 Section, with 29 players, was like its own tournament. When the dust settled it was Irwin Landau (92 years young!) who collected the top cash prize of $150 with an undefeated score of 4.5-0.5. After starting out with four straight wins, he was trying for a fifth but had to concede a draw against Desmond Weisenberg in a complicated Rook and Bishop versus Rook ending after Weisenberg invoked the fifty move rule. A native New Yorker and former editor of Consumer Reports, Irwin has been playing chess since the age of 12 and was a member of the Manhattan Chess Club when Bobby Fischer played there. An unassuming man despite all his accomplishments and proximity to chess history, he’s been a mainstay of SGVCC since our move to Altadena. With so many saying chess is a game for the young he reminds us that experience does count. Axel Muller won the Over 1700 Section with a score of 4.5-0.5 and top honors in the Under 1000 Section were shared by Daylen Riggs and Caden Chwang, each with 4-1. Check out the final standings here.
