NM Daniel Lowinger Wins 2023 Independence Day Open
National Master Daniel Lowinger won the 2023 Independence Day Open with a score of 4.5/5. The tournament was held from June 30 - July 2, 2023 at the Washington Dulles Airport Marriott in Dulles, VA. FM Valeri Semenov, FM Andrew Samuelson, and Elvin Baim all tied for 2nd place with 3.5/5.
The event started on Friday, June 30 with a three-day schedule, before merging with the two-day schedule at Round 2. Lowinger took an early lead, dispatching Ananya Ananth, Walden Lambert, and Baim in the first three rounds. Then, in the fourth round, he beat Srdjan Darmanovic from a worse position to go 4/4. Finally, he solidified his standings by agreeing to a draw against Semenov. Here’s Lowinger’s clash with Darmanovic which essentially decided the outcome of the tournament:
Meanwhile, Semenov, Samuelson, and Baim took second place with 3.5/5. Baim’s last-round game against Mark Hyland was a nail-biter, lasting over 4 hours and coming down to the wire:
Other section winners are as listed below:
| Premier | NM Daniel Lowinger | FM Valeri Semenov | FM Andrew Samuelson | Elvin Baim |
| U1900 | Philip Leszczynski | Architsai Ramnath | Gregory Lanzo | Sunmay Padiar |
| U1600 | Yash Date | Dominic Wallington | Alex Kim | Caden Liu |
| U1300 | Iqraa Manuel | Isabella Incontrerra | ||
| U1000 | Lucas Tan | Abbos Yusupov |
The Scholastic Championship was held on July 1st, from 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM. It was a five-round Swiss, with K-3, K-5, K-8, and K-12 sections. These sections were won by Boaz Gong, Darsh Murarka, Caroline Jiang, and Dhyaan Vijily respectively. The Scholastic Championship boasted over 40 participants, with even one participant from the country of Luxembourg!
Full scholastic winners are as listed below:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
| K-12 | Dhyaan Vijily | Rohit Sircar | Eric Cabezas |
| K-8 | Caroline Jiang | Anthony Shvets | Zelman Zhang |
| K-5 | Darsh Murarka | Skandan Mukka | Allan Li |
| K-3 | Boaz Gong | Lucas Yi | Oliver Deng |
The blitz event was held Saturday night. Kent Slate and Brian Tay were the co-winners of this event both with 4.5/5. Noah Joseph Pope won the U1600 section also with a score of 4.5/5. The results came down to the very last game with Slate’s victory against Lowinger:
Special congratulations to Slate who broke the USCF 2200 rating barrier. We are excited to see his progress in the future!
The 2023 Independence Day Open took place June 30 - July 2, 2023 in Dulles, Virginia. The format was a five-round Swiss with a time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. The total prize fund was $5,600. Additional information is available at www.atlanticchessassociation.com.
