NJ Open Results

The 60th New Jersey Open Chess Championship was won by rising star NM Evan Ju (featured here in May), who drew IM Dean Ippolito in the last round to take the title. Second place was shared by Ippolito and FM Steve Stoyko (who drew in the last round with last year's champion, FM Tom Bartell, who was a half-point back). Ju, who turned fifteen this summer, has had some excellent results of late, including winning the NJ Junior Championship in May. He is the first player to hold both the NJ Junior and NJ Open titles at the same time. I hope to have some more games up later this week and invite contributions by any of the participants.

Update: I was contacted by Evan's parents, who corrected his age (which I mistakenly had as 16 rather than 15). Their message prompted me to research the past winners, and it appears that Evan is also the youngest NJ Champion in history. Bobby Fischer won the tournament at age 14, but as a New York resident he could not claim the title. A list of previous NJ Champions can be found at the NJSCF website. I hope to have more information in a future post, which may also include a game from the new champion.