This tournament was the first of a series of tournaments organized by a prominent Los Angeles lawyer John Rowell. A strong expert himself, Rowell has a great appreciation for chess and chess professionals.

John donated his offices in beautiful Santa Monica for two weekends so we can make an IM title tournament for the best Californian chess players. Not only it was a great event with a good prize fund and lots of publicity, but Armen Ambartsumian ( now the US Youth Chess Coach and a prominent California coach ) and I got the required points for our an IM norms.

Tournament Results