The February Loopalalooza looked to be an uphill battle for Charlotte
players. The top 3 rated players were visitors: 1944 Yuriy Boyko,
1924 Guido Schnabel & 1922 Chris OBrian. If our 1700 & 1800 level
players had a chance, they would have to step up their level of play
against the visitors who also brought an arsenal of assorted weapons:
Boyko's short pips/antispin, Schnabel's long pips/inverted & OBrian's
inverted/inverted; different strategies needed against different opponents.
The question was, where was Charlotte's big hitters?
We have quite a few 1900+ & 2000+ players, they opted not to attend
this tournament for different reasons: some were in China for the
World Teams; some has scheduling conflicts; & some were just protecting
their rating. I can understand a person of any rating preferring an
event where they had opportunity against players 100 & 200 points
greater, but the sad truth is North & South Carolina do not have any
active 2200+ players. When we offer more prize money & the 2350 rated
players come out, no one else has a chance. It is the black rating
hole of the Carolinas. Our thanks to those players attending that
value competition over ego.

Tournament staff John Pahl & Tom Miller were helped out by visiting
player David Girdner from Kentucky who umpired matches when needed.

Under 1400 RR

Group 1
Alfredo Azpurua won over John Traino, Christian Amidi & Nick Nicholson.
Group 2
Bill Englebreth won over Richard Rowland, Khoa Vu & Andy Bain.
Rowland, Vu & Bain ended up in a 3 way tie, all with 1 & 2 records.
Final
1199 Azpurua over 1120 Englebreth 8,-7,-8,9,6 for $30 1st & $10 2nd.

Under 1600 RR

Group 1
A Auriemmo over Alfredo Azpurua, Richard Rowland & Wujian Xue.
Group 2
Marcus Miller advanced over Alek Vodopyanov, Chris Amidi & Bill Englebreth.
There was a 3 way tie between Miller, Amidi & the unrated Vodopyanov.
Group 3
Gerard Schreuders over Mike Stroupe, Khoa Vu & Nick Nicholson.
Group 4
John Pahl advanced over Andy Bain, Elias Gomez jr & John Traino,
only because Bain was unrated & ineligible to move on.
Semi Finals
1475 John Pahl (playing at a carreer low) won over 1542 Marcus Miller 6,5,4.
1592 Armadillo Auriemmo won over 1507 Gerard Schreuders 8,7,5.
Final
-12,-9,9,8,9 was the winning scores as short pip/inverted Auriemmo chopped
down Pahl. Don't you just hate losing 3 after winning 2?
$40 1st place & $15 2nd.

Under 1800 RR

Group 1
Salil Surendran advanced over Bryan Mackenzie, Armadillo Auriemmo, Bill
Englebreth & Nick Nicholson. A 3 way tie between the 1st 3 gave Surendran
the nod: 8/4 is better than 7/5 & 6/5.
Group 2
Russell Buxton (1606) surprised Tom Miller (1724) 9,9,8 & also advanced
over Wujian Xue & Alek Vodopyanov.
Group 3
Eric Bailey (1661) upset David Girdner (1698) -8,8,12,7 & also advanced
over Trez Robertson & John Pahl.
Group 4
Ling Fan advanced over Dennis Lee, Dave England & Gerard Schreuders.
Group 5
Yishan Zhao advanced with the best win/loss ratio in the 3 way tie with
Wilson Blair & Victor Plugovoy. Marcus Miller came in 4th.
Finals
Top seed Salil Surendran (1764) received a bye for the 1/4's.
Ling Fan (1694) won over Yishan Zhao (1664) 6,7,6.
Russell Buxton (1606) won over Eric Bailey (1661) 9,-9,8,7.
Buxton then received a bye while Fan beat Surendran 9,12,-6,6.
In the final match, Russel Buxton, who never practices & only shows up
to play our tournaments once or twice a year, won over Ling Fan -9,9,6,11.
His play from the start was shaky & ridden with unforced errors but he
managed to scrape by.
His quality of play & confidence improved with every match.
In the final the UK lefty was able to counter & spin through Fan in an
unexpected upset & exciting match.

Under 2000 RR

Group 1
Top seed Yuriy Boyko (1944) short pipped/anti spun his way through
Ling Fan, Wilson Blair & John Pahl.
Group 2
Guido Schnabel (1924) inverted/long pipped David Girdner, Yishan Zhao
& Armadillo Auriemmo into submission.
Group 3
Tom Miller (1724) upset Chris OBrian (1922) & advanced over Dennis Lee
& Victor Plugovoy.
Group 4
Min Xu advanced over Elias Gomez sr, Eriv Bailey & Marcus Miller.
Group 5
Edem Komlanvi advanced over Salil Surendran, Wujian Xue & Trez Robertson.
Group 6
Van Vu advanced over Bilal Soylu, Bryan Mackenzie & Dave England.
Quarter Finals
Min Xu (1882) won over Edem Komlanvi (1850) 9,8,9.
Van Vu (1824) won over Tom Miller (1724) -7,6,-7,8,9.
Semi Finals
Min Xu (1882) won over Guido Schnabel (1924) 9,-9,8,9.
Yuriy Boyko (1924) won over Van Vu (1824) 8,-8,8,8.
Final
Min Xu over Yuriy Boyko 9,-9,8,-7,9.
This is Min's 2nd tournament & will land him in the 1900's where he belongs.
He plays hard & smart, not fooled by Boyko's pips & good serves, blasting
with the forehand & angling away winners from his penhold backhand.
$60 1st place & $30 2nd.

Open Single Elimination

The top 16 players squared off through 4 rounds of competition.
In the end it came down to 1924 Guido Schnabel & 1882 Min Xu.
It was 10:00 pm & everyone was tired. The match would surley go to the
player who could muster up the most energy & stay focused.
The player who attacked 1st usually ended up winning the point but not
always. Xu could block back for winners unless Schnabel's loops were
perfect & out of reach. Xu's kills often won a point untouched.
Points started out the same: tricky serves with safe pushes until
one player made the smallest of errors instigating the attack.
In the end it was Schnabel victorious: 8,-8,12,-9,9.
$80 to Schnabel, $40 to Xu.