by Chris Y Kim
Day 2 of the 2020 Maryland Sweet 16 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country (UMBC) exhibited some excitement at the top in addition to extra sunshine courtesy of the Daylight Saving Time change. There were three players undefeated after two rounds, and one player, top-rated Bijan Tahmassebi just 0.5 points behind. In Round 3, co-leaders Benjamin Shoykhet and Shane Jayasundera met with Shoykhet prevailing in a long game. Bijan Tahmassebi and Ryan He also were paired, and despite being the longest game of the round, Tahmassebi could not escape the draw result. This set up a round 4 matchup with between the top ranked players - Shoykhet and He with He needing a win to capture the title. The two players played a relatively quick draw - leaving Shoykhet with the 2020 Maryland Sweet 16 titile. Shoykhet is the recepient of a tuition scholarship to UMBC. He has moved from the St. Louis, Missouri area this past summer.
In tiebreak order, here are the final standings with the USCF ratings:
3.5: Benjamin Shoykhet (2061)
3.0: Ryan He (1941)
2.5: Joseph Tarantin (1917); Bijan Tahmassebi (2176); Andrew Diep (2075); Shane Jayasendera (1983); Chen-Chen Ye (1964); Neel Jay (2087)
2.0: Sean Power (1933)
1.5: Anish Mariappan (1804); Jacob Jones (1906); Gabriel Joshi (1710); Max Mathura (1996)
1.0: Tad Mrozek (1853); Dylan Booth (1890)
0.5: Ariel Joshi (1847)