Pace Lykins uses the Ruy Lopez to score a key last round victory.

Kai Lewis finally breaks into the win column in round 5 in a wild Sicilian.

In round 4, Zoey ignores history and successfully defends a position that Henrique Mecking was unable to defend against Bobby Fischer in the 1970 Palma de Mallorca Interzonal. But then again, who was able to successfully defend against Bobby in that tournament? This is not a rhetorical question - the correct answer is Bent Larsen.

Emel beats Calvin Chang in a battle between the leaders. Going into the final round, Emel is tied with Pace Lykins with 3 points, closely followed by Neil Natarajan with 2.5. Neil and Pace play in round 5.

In round 3, Calvin Chang goes old school with the Evans Gambit. Emel Bayrambeyli obtains an isolated queen's pawn attack from a 2.c3 Sicilian to score a win over Pace Lykins, creating a three-way tie for first among the three mentioned players. With two rounds to go the Challengers section is wide open.

For those who do not have time to review 82 move positional games, Round 2 produced a Zoey Tang lightning attack. Apologies to Will Nobles for publishing both of his losses. Thanks to Will Nobles for providing a stubborn defense in round 1 and an ambitious opening choice in round 2.

Round 1 produced some epic battles, much to the dismay of the parents who had to wait for the conclusion of the games.