"Venio, Video, and Vinco!" claim the top 2 players of South Dakota (Alex Yermolinsky and Sandor Kustar) as they returned from their road trip out west into the deep southern parts of Wyoming with Mark Derby. In the first wild west chess tournament at the Saratoga Resort. Alex and Sandor had major competition from a strong IM from Texas (Jacek Stopa) with a rating of 2554.

Stopa had a draw with Kustar in the third round and a draw with Yermo in the forth so Alex and Sandor tied for first and second with 3.5 points and Jacek taking solo third place with 3 points in the open section. Sandor had a finish with the Colorado state champ in round four with a cramped space for the King. To see the games with Rypka comments go to: http://sdchess.org/chess_games/029_game_of_the_week/

The other SoDak in the tournament, Mark Derby, scored 2.5 points in the under 1800 section to finish just out of reach from third place. Unfortunately South Dakota with seriously under represented in the lower sections on the tournament which hopefully will be remedied in the years to come. Next years Wild West Chess tournament is scheduled for July 16-17, 2011 with a simul on the 15th.

Check out the photos at: http://sdchess.org/photos/2010_Saratoga_Chess/

The crosstables for the tournament are posted at:http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201008017481