2008 Chicago Open
| 2008 Chicago Open | |
|---|---|
| Edited by | Ryan Westbrook, Matt Keller |
| Champion | Refugees From Junior Nationals |
| Runner-up | The Tournament Beings |
| Third | A Lousy Night to Be An Atheist |
| Fourth | Comrade Goodbar's Sestina |
| High scorer | Brendan Byrne, A Lousy Night to Be An Atheist |
| Site | Chicago |
| Field | |
| Stats | |
The 2008 Chicago Open was won by Refugees From Junior Nationals, consisting of Jonathan Magin, Eric Mukherjee, Matt Weiner, and Jerry Vinokurov over The Tournament Beings, consisting of Andrew Yaphe, Seth Teitler, Mike Sorice, and Selene Koo.
Tournament results
The tournament had a record number of teams participating (17), necessitating a 16-game round robin followed by an advantaged final. In the end, the 16-0 Refugees faced off against the 15-1 Tournament Beings in an epic final, with the former winning 255-190 on what was regarded as one of the hardest legit packets ever written (featuring tossups on William Empson, the Free Officers Movement, and the DLVO theory of colloids).
The tournament itself was hailed as one of the greatest quizbowl experiences ever by most of its participants, as it had the perfect storm of excellent questions and near-perfect logistics. Another notable thing about the tournament was the amazing number of young talent present - an estimated 32 of the 64 participants were under the age of 20, while the winning team featured two undergraduate members.
Individual results
The top five scorers at the tournament were Brendan Byrne, Andrew Yaphe, Matt Lafer, Jonathan Magin, and Susan Ferrari. Brendan's field-leading total was 64.69 points per game.
The leading scorer for the championship team was Jonathan Magin, who finished fourth overall with 41.33 points per game. The team featured a balanced scoring distribution, with Matt Weiner and Eric Mukherjee each putting up 34.33 ppg in a tie for sixth place, and with Jerry Vinokurov's 27.67 ppg earning him a solid fifteenth. During the day, Weiner, Magin, and Mukherjee would often rotate between fourth, fifth, and sixth places in the standings, with Vinokurov slowly crawling upwards, beginning in the bottom 1/3rd of the standings and ending up much nearer to the top.