more from Southern California - Jonathan Homidan

So we've been out here in Southern California a couple of times in July, first for the Pacific Southwest Open right at the LAX airport and then 2 weeks later at the Pacific Coast Open in beautiful Agoura Hills.  A chance to play with different players without missing any school and get in some vacation time and see friends and relatives.  In these tournaments, I have witnessed what is perhaps the greatest run to a FIDE title that has ever occured.  I defy any chess historian to come up with any player who has had a run like Jonathan Homidan has in the last 30 days.  In brief, the 16 year old to-be high school senior has gone from a USCF rating of 2146 to 2364 in the last month.  Rating gains like this are done at the lower levels, never at this level.  He not only smashed his way to his first title (USCF National Master), he may have just gotten himself all the way into an FIDE FM title, from being FIDE unrated this month.  Or if not, he'll be pretty darn close.  Now there have been a few players who have gone from unrated to getting a FIDE FM title, but almost all are earned the so-called easy way, via winning a prestigious tournament. 

His run started innocently enough at a local club tournament at the end of June, winning all his games and beating an NM in the process.  Nice tournament, gained almost 50 points in the process.  Then, at the Pacific Southwest Open over the Fourth of July weekend, his scorecard went like this:  win against IM Amanov (2444), win against NM Krishnan (2346), draw against IM Peters (2446), draw against FM Beelby (2375), draw against NM Brown (2343), win against FM Duckworth (2313).  Unbeaten, 4.5 out of 6 with 6 titled players.  In the process, he got his USCF National Master title.  He didn't sneak across 2200 like how most players who get there do it, he smashed through it in style, gaining 85 points to 2279.  Ironically, Jonathan inadvertently screwed up my kid with pairings and possibly mentally in the tournament - Kevin had just come off of a very tough long game in the 1st round against NM Brown in which he could have held on for a draw, and his reward for the loss was an even tougher pairing in Round 2 against IM Amanov - who had lost to Jonathan in the first round.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later.  If the results wasn't impressive enough at the PSO, his encore at the Pacfic Coast Open was one for the ages.  Win against FM Akopyan (2296), draw against IM Matikozyan (2577).  Surely his streak would end soon since he was now in the GM pool.  But sure enough, he beat GM Maghami (2613), then beat IM Yankovsky (2531).  Ok, the streak must end now that he was going to play super GM Timur Gareev (2768), one of the top players in the world.  Nope - draw.  Then another draw against a very active GM Sevillano (2559).  Another 4.5 out of 6 against titled players - high titled players.  Another 85 point gain, to 2364.

If you're keeping score at home, in those 3 tournaments - 16 games, 12 wins, 4 draws - 2.5 out of 3 against NMs, 3.5 out of 4 against FMs, 2.0 out of 3 against IMs, 2.0 out of 3 against GMs  (3 out of 3 against untitled players).

When you look at his record, he hasn't played in many tournaments. Well, you say, there have been many who have gotten a high rating after a few tournaments.  Well, most if not all of them generally have played in many tournaments in another country before playing in the US.  From the looks of it, it looks like Jonathan started in 5th grade.  At the end of 6th grade he had a pedestrian rating of 1267, and at the end of 8th grade, he was at 1760 - an excellent rating but certainly a rating that wouldn't lead one to believe that he would be smashing records a scant 3 years later.   So to you parents out there, there's always hope.  Perseverance and confidence along with talent can go a long way.

A number of young Northern California players decided to skip the People's Tournament in NorCal last weekend and go for the big money in SoCal. They succeeded at the 18th Pacific Coast Open at Agoura Hills.  Eighth grader Kevin Moy, former Weibel student and now an instructor at Weibel Chess, went undefeated--4 wins and two draws--for a clear first place.  He won $1800 in the under 2100 section and is now 2107.  The big question is will he or seventh grader Michael Wang (2173) become the second former Weibel student to obtain the National Master title?  Former Weibel student Rohan Agrawal obtained his National Master's title a few years ago at 16 and still holds the distinction of being the only student from any Fremont school to obtain a Chess Master's title. Also finishing in the money was NorCal player Ojas Chinchwadkar who also won first and took home the same amount of money, $1800, in the Under 1900 moving his rating to 1967. Ojas along with his father have been tournament directors at many of my tournaments.  Seventh grade student Tina Chatterjee tied for second in the under 1500 division without losing a game--4 wins and 2 draws. She moved her rating from 1345 to 1549. KUDOS!
Chess is Forever,
Alan