The NY state junior championships and the I Love NY open which ran concurrently was truly a delightful experience, especially for me. The tournaments were held on January 5 and 6 at the New Yorker Hotel. I was finally happy to see a major tournament at the New Yorker Hotel again after the New York open had been canceled.

Cheers of joy and cries of a loss; nervous parents and even more nervous coaches paced up and down the lobby; chess addicts setting up impromptu chess games here and there was all part and parcel of this experience.

After a little delay on the first day the tournament got off to a flying start, considering the mayhem and all the commotion its amazing that it wasn't delayed even more than it was. As usual Steve Immit, the tournament organizer did a wonderful job. By the way, did I mention that he is donating all proceeds of the I Love New York open tournament to the Twin Towers Fund. He deserves our hearty praise for supporting such a noble cause. The TDs Polly Wright, Sofia Rohde,and Steve Imit were professional and courteous and did a wonderful job handling unique problems 5 and 6 years tend to present.

The junior championship and the I Love New York tournaments were held on 2nd and 4th floor respectively. Normal tense tournament atmosphere on the 4th floor; and cheering, jeering and some lighthearted chess on the 2nd floor.

There were 6 GM in the open section of --- players. ------- turned in a great performance and won the open section. The open section saw some fascinating games, especially GM-------'s ---- round win over --------- and ------------. -------- won the expert section with very good score of -----. In class sections ---------won the U2000, --------won U1800, -------- won U1600 and --------- took U1400 honors.
The junior championship saw --- kids participate. Our PS116 kids did exceptionally/very well and won K-3, --- and -K4-- sections. Paris Fineberg did particularly well and ended the tournament with --- score.

One cant be overly critical of the games played by these children; its not the technique or objectively good moves that we judge them by, its the energy with which they play their game that is of paramount importance. If they succeed in taking the this passion and energy outside of the tournament halls, it will be a lesson well learnt.

(Written by ---)