Spencer Carran and Jason Scott surprised the experts in the John Devereaux Memorial played at the Ramada Inn on August 26. Spencer (pre-tournament rating: 1856) and Jason (pre-tournament rating: 1500) prevailed over the pre-tournament favorites, Joe Mucerino and Vlad Getman, to split the first and second place prizes with 3.5 points. However, both were held to draws by Emily Hu who finished in clear third place at 3-1.

After three straight wins, Spencer stood alone in first place going into the last round. In an exciting struggle, Emily had Spencer on the ropes in a bid to win it all. However, with the clock a factor, a stumble allowed Spencer to find a unique two-knight combination that led to a draw by repetition. Meanwhile, Jason scored the last-round upset over Vlad to catch up with Spencer at the top of the chart.

Mark Confer and David Komar tied with high scores under 1600 while juniors Jerry Zhang and Evan Zhang claimed the K-8 trophy and the U1000 prize, respectively.

The crosstable is posted at http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201708263462.