He hadn’t played a rated tournament since August 18, 2007, and chances are there wasn’t any snow on the ground when he played back then, but on a snowy Saturday at Augustana College, Louis Horton returned to the Sioux Falls Winter Open like a blizzard with his undefeated run in the Open section, including an upset of top-rated National Master Nels Truelson.  With his victory in the Open section, Horton took home the $160 top prize, and a new rating of 1848.

On a day when it appropriately snowed all day long for the Winter Open, 99 chess players registered to play in the one-day Winter Open, complete with three sections (Open, U1200, and U800) of play.  The number of players was easily one of the largest chess turnouts in South Dakota in recent years, and is clearly indicative of the re-emerging chess scene in the Rushmore State.  The U800 section was by far the largest to attract players with a whopping 72 players signed up to do battle across the 64-square battlefield.

With such a large turnout in the five-round U800 section, the competition to come out on top was intense, but in the end it was Garretson Middle School 8th grader, Thomas John Boland, who was the only player to go undefeated, as he defeated Discovery Elementary School 5th grader Malavika Nair in the final round. 

In the much smaller U1200 section, the home team was well represented as Augustana College Chess Club member Dillon Karras became one of only three players in the entire tournament to end the day undefeated with his 1st place finish.

The U800 & U1200 sections also featured a team competition and it was local Sioux Falls elementary school Garfield Challenge Center that bested many other teams in the packed U800 section to take 1st place honors.  In the U1200 team competition, the Augustana College Chess Club used their home field numbers to run away with the top team trophy.

This USCF-rated tournament was directed by Grandmaster Alex Yermolinsky, coordinated by Bob Boland, and sponsored by the Sioux Empire Chess Foundation and the Augustana College Chess Club.   The following is a list of the top individual & team finishers who received medals, trophies, or prize funds for their efforts:

U800 Section / Individual:
1st Place – Thomas John Boland, Garretson MS (5.0/5)
2nd Place – Swetha Saravanan, Patrick Henry MS (4.0/5)
3rd Place – Arjun Choudhry, John Harris ES (4.0/5)
4th Place – Malavika Nair, Discovery ES (4.0/5)
5th Place – Will Grevlos, Mark Twain ES (4.0/5)
Top U400 – Blayne Schliesman, Castlewood HS (3.0/5)
2nd Place U400 – Akshay Choudhry, John Harris ES (3.0/5)
3rd Place U400 – Lynette Blue Bird, Pierre Indian Learning Center MS (3.0/5)

U800 Section/Team:
1st Place – Garfield/Challenger Center ES
2nd Place – Mark Twain ES
3rd Place – Pierre Indian Learning Center MS

U1200 Section/Individual:
1st Place – Dillon Karras, Augustana College (4.0/5)
2nd Place – Jeff Waltz, Dell Rapids, SD (3.0/5)
3rd Place – Luke Rysavy, Patrick Henry MS (2.5/5)
4th Place – Nathaniel Boland, Garretson ES (2.5/5)
5th Place – Michael Stutelberg, Augustana College (2.0/5)

U1200 Section / Team:
1st Place – Augustana College
2nd Place – Patrick Henry MS
3rd Place – Garretson ES
4th Place – Memorial MS
5th Place – JFK ES

Open Section:
1st Place – Louis Horton (4.0/4), $160
2nd Place – Nels Truelson (3.0/4), $67, and David Gloe (3.0/4), $67 (Top U1800 also)
3rd Place – Paul Thronson (2.5/4), $54 (Top U1400 also), Terry Likens (2.5/4), $27, and Cameron Starr (2.5/4), $27

See the USCF cross tables.

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