The following update can be found at the Dean of Chess website.
Surprise Leaders At The 2nd Annual Dean of Chess Academy FIDE Invitational
Many upsets at this year’s FIDE Invitational have led to many surprises in the standings at the midway point. Last year’s winner with 7.5/9 IM Dean Ippolito, has begun this year’s event with a 5-0 score. Second place is a huge surprise though, with the lowest seed, FIDE unrated Daniel Zhu at 3.5/5 on pace for a high FIDE rating. NM James West is tied for third with the second lowest seed, FIDE unrated Andy Walker with 3/5. Last year's 2nd and 3rd place finishers respectively, NM David Grasso and Rahul Swaminathan currently find themselves in the middle of the pack with 2.5/5. One of the pre-tournament favorites FM Steve Stoyko stands at 2/5 with FIDE unrated Matthew O’Brien. Steve Ferrero is currently ninth with 1.5 and Kevin Chen stands at 0.
The tournament will conclude this coming Saturday and Sunday. The mission of the FIDE Invitational is to give NJ residents, who previously haven’t had the opportunity to achieve a FIDE rating, such an opportunity. Also, young up and coming players will get the opportunity as well as higher rated Dean of Chess Academy members. The Dean of Chess Academy hosts FIDE rated quads three Monday nights each month. A second Dean of Chess Academy will be opening next month in Flemington and will also feature more such events. Between the two academies, Dean and his staff are scheduled to run over 50 events per month, one at each center just about every night and weekend. Here is the leader’s favorite game of the tournament so far.
Stoyko (2209) – Ippolito (2458) [E42] 2nd DOCA FIDE Invitational (5) , 15.08.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 c5 6.a3 Ba5 7.f3 0–0 8.Rb1 Qe7 9.Kf2 Bxc3 10.Nxc3 cxd4 11.Qxd4 Bb7 12.e4 Nc6 13.Qe3 Ne5 14.Be2 Rac8 15.b3 d5 16.exd5 exd5 17.cxd5 Rfe8 18.Re1 Qc7 19.Nb5 Qc2 20.Rb2 Neg4+ 21.fxg4 Nxg4+ 22.Kg1 Nxe3 23.Rxc2 Nxc2 0–1
