Walker Griggs has picked up 159 rating points from April 10 to June 5, 2011 moving from a rating of 2048 to a rating of 2207. Not bad for a 15 year old.

First, in the Ohio HS Championship he tied for first picking up only 9 rating points. Then in the Mulligan Masters & Experts III, May 22, he finished with three out of four points, but picked up 49 rating points. Next in the Chicago Open in the U2100 section, he finished in a four way tie for first with six out of seven points (one loss, the rest wins) and picked up 45 rating points.

At the 53 Gem City Open he scored four and one half out of five, drawing an IM, and picking up 56 rating points pushing him into National Master territory with a rating of 2207. At the end of the tournament he bought all the Klondike bars and handed them out to friends and strangers alike.

I asked Walker if he would annotate his games for the Dayton Chess Club website and for submission to the Ohio Chess Bulletin. He graciously agreed to do so and his games follow along with his analysis. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Riley D. Driver

Round 1 – June 4, 2011, G/75, td/5
Walker Griggs 2151 vs Narasimhan Madabusi 2212

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.O-O-O Qc7 9.Be2 Bd7 10.Kb1 Be7 11.f4 O-O-O
Vishy Anand once said, “If Black castles queenside in the Sicilian, White is better, unless there is some mitigating factor”. That is true here.

12.Nb3 Be8