The New Year Open was organized by Salman Azhar on 4-6th January 2013 at Santa Clara Marriott, 2700 Mission Blvd, Santa Clara CA 95054.
The tournament was held over 6 rounds of Swiss system in three sections: Under 1500, 1500-1999, and Open 2000+. Open section is FIDE rated.
GM Julio Sadorra convincingly won the New Year Open Championship with perfect score to claim the top prize of $1213.
NM Hayk Manvelyan and Edward Li tied for 2nd place ($566) and U2300 1st place ($566). These prizes were distributed evenly so each one earned $566. Hunter Klotz-Burwell won 1st U2100 prize ($243).
Michael Heifetz won clear first place in the U2000 section with 5,5/6 points and first prize of $808.
Alexandre Birguer won clear 1st place and the unrated title and won the maximum unrated prize ($200) in the U1500 section. He scored 5,5/6 points. Full standings.
The prize fund was slightly reduced from the projected $10,000 (based on 167 entries) but was still above the guaranteed $6,000.
Santa Clara Marriott