In preparation for the South Carolina Open to be held this weekend (6/27 – 29), GM Lubomir “Lubo” Ftacnik completed his tour across the state, playing a total of seventy games with only one loss (James MacDougall – Columbia) and four draws (Paul Farb – Columbia; Philipp Lamby – Columbia; Ian Morton – Charleston; Josh Nissenboim – Charleston).
The big finish was held at the Greenwood Mall in Greenwood, SC, where twenty-seven boards were filled including fifteen scholastic players!
The final tally:
Florence 8 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws
Columbia 19 wins – 1 loss – 2 draws
Charleston 11 wins – 0 losses – 2 draws
Greenwood 27 wins – 0 losses – 0 draws
FINAL SCORE out of 70 games:
Lubo 67 points, South Carolina 3 points
One of the draws was earned by Josh Nissenboim against the Grandmaster. The GM finally offered the draw with three extra pawns. Josh is the only player to score against Lubo twice in a row, having drawn the GM last year.
The South Carolina Chess Association would like to thank the following club directors for making all this happen: Dan Johnson/James Baxley of Florence; Bob Halliday of Columbia; David Causey of Charleston; and Mike Games of Greenwood.
He’s a very cool GM.