Southern Cal Open final

GMs Melikset Khachiyan and Alejandro Ramirez shared first place with master Evgeny Shver, all on 5-1. Khachiyan takes the state championship title on tiebreak. They reached the winner's circle by different routes: Ramirez, in clear first, had committed to a last-round bye. Shver upset GM Jesse Kraai, in a game that went the full six hours. And Khachiyan, on board 1, defeated 11-year-old sensation Kayden Troff, who had previously upset an IM and two masters.

Other section winners included Esteban Escobedo (Premier), Reneray Valdez (Amateur), Sven Myrin (Reserve), and Leonard De Leon (Booster).

Full standings are posted here.

Prize Winners

Open

1st-3rd: GM Melikset Khachiyan, GM Alejandro Ramirez, Evgeny Shver, 5-1; 4th-7th: IM Enrico Sevillano, IM Dionisio Aldama, Joel Banawa, Alexandre Kretchetov, 4½-1½; U2300: 1st: Vadim Kudryavtsev, 4½-1½; 2nd: Ryan Porter, Avram Zaydenberg, 4-2; U2200: 1st-2nd: John Funderburg, Kayden Troff, 4-2; 3rd-4th: Robert Akopian, Konstantin Kavutskiy, Show Kitagami, Michael Brown, Raoul Crisologo, Leo Raterman, Jared Tan, 3½-2½.

Premier

1st: Esteban Escobedo, 5-1; 2nd: Jesse Orlowski, 4½-1½; 3rd-4th: John Badger, Luke Neyndorf, Madhaven Vajepeyam, Christian Glawe, 4-2.

Amateur

1st: Reneray Valdez, 5-1; 2nd: Mike Bynum, 4½-1½; 3rd-4th: Marcos Ferrer, Ronaldo Salenga, 4-2.

Reserve

1st: Sven Myrin, 5-1; 2nd: Craig Hilby, 4½-1½; 3rd-4th: Timothy Jao, Steven Dahl, Thomas Glazier, 4-2.

Booster

1st: Leonard De Leon, 5-1; 2nd: Willie Roy, 4½-1½; 3rd-4th: Ramon Umadhay, Jennifer Lu, 4-2; U1200: 1st: Claire Negus, 4-2; 2nd: Kenneth Xu, Shelley Anthopoulos, 3½-1½.