2005 Western Open on the STIGA North American Tour
October 15^th and 16^th, 2005
Ford Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA


I am delighted to tell you that I am at a loss for words, or, more accurately, at a loss for the right word. Brotherhood, comradeship, camaraderie, these all begin to give a sense, but not the complete sense, of the atmosphere at this exciting and satisfying tournament. Part of the warm feeling, of course, comes from the quality of the people you work with and with the work of Richard Lee and Wendy Troy, Tom Nguyen and Richard Mercado, Azmy Ibrahim and Michael Boot, Kenny Tien and Tom Miller, the tournament ran well.

It took a great deal of effort to pull off this particular love fest, in part due to the outstanding turnout. Three Hundred and Five USATT members opted to take the plunge for the Western, the largest turnout on this year’s STIGA tour. Keeping the tournament organized and on-time in Ford Center’s cozy confines of sometimes 24 sometimes 32 tables took a bit of doing! What I want to convey, however, is not the successful operation by the staff, but the incredible sense of community that existed.

Kyna Fong and her Stanford clubmates were instrumental in siting the tournament in the first place. They also came prepared to serve the participants with hot lunch delivery, which not only made the players happy but also gave the Stanford club a successful fundraiser. Northern California players showed an exceptional spirit, disputes were at an absolute minimum and everyone was seriously interested in everyone else’s results and well-being. Many people pitched in with assistance, Triscuit (aka Sean C. Lee) being the most joyful and light-hearted. Coaches, players, family members, visitors and dignitaries, they all exuded a sense of joy in the sport that was tonic to me and made the work of tournament operations much more bearable.

They also displayed a fine appreciation for the top-level play which permeated the upper levels of play here. Crowding the courts, they were respectful and knowledgeable about the games they were watching, simultaneously cheering local favorites while admiring the imports. Here, it seems, people have mastered the art of competing without becoming adversaries, of striving for personal bests without denigrating the opposition. We were treated to a pleasant stream of useful comments and suggestions, observations and compliments, as well as some great play by players new to us, most especially in the form of the Western Open’s Women’s Champ, Maki Tamaru. This lady showed she has the skills that more than justified her estimated 2300 rating. In Open Singles, she narrowly missed qualifying for the Second Stage RR, losing to the crafty veteran Loc Bao Ngo, 12, 6,-6,-9, 9. To earn the Women’s title, she defeated Jackie Lee, coming back from a 2-1 deficit, 7, -10,-7, 6, 5. Excellent play, Maki!

The Alto Brothers were also much in evidence, as Don James Alto won the Ying-Lo Junior competition for Boys U-16, and brother John James Alto double-dipped the U-1400 and Boys U-13 titles. John Leach found his way blocked not once, but twice, runner-up to Misha Kazantsev in both the U-18 and U-22 juniors. Misha had an excellent tournament, winning those two events, plus the U-2500 where he bested Yosmely Vadillo in the final. Vadillo, in his first STIGA Tour appearance, captured the U-2375 over Samson Dubina. Tomas Fuentes Afflick nailed down the U-1700 and came second to John James Alto in Boys U-13. Brana Vlasic was unflappable and modest in her winning streak, as she captured three of the Ying-Lo Junior titles. Brana defeated Colleen Lee in both Girls U-16 and U-18, and then bested Atha Fong to add the U-22 title as well.

The Sol Feingold Memorial Senior Events saw the venerable Peter Chen take the Over 50 title, defeating Kock Loe, Michael Greene besting Guang Kui-Dong in the Over 60, while Yong Ren, the exuberant Yong Ren, was the Over 40 champ, with a fine win over Tuan Le.

Saturday evening 16 players reached the Second Stage Round Robin of Open Singles where Sunday’s Quarterfinalists would be selected. These four round robin groups consisted of our Top 12 seeds and four qualifiers from the morning’s play. Loc Bao Ngo, Tuan Le, Nan Li and Kevin Au were the four who made it ‘the hard way’ to this point.