Soto, Rosario, Sugiyama, Musser and Karwas win other division 8-ball titles

 

Three days after winning the 7th Steinway Classic in a thrilling, double hill final match against Fedor Gorst (Oct. 17), Thorsten Hohmann, at the same location, won the Grand Master Division of the NYC 8-Ball Championships (Oct. 20) with a slightly less dramatic 6-1 finals victory over Ruslan Chinakhov. The Grand Master division of the annual event, which drew 22 entrants to Steinway, was one of six division 8-ball tournaments held on the weekend of October 19-20. In all, under the sponsorship of Michael Fedak, the NYC Singles 8-Ball Championships added $15,000, divided among the six divisions, which drew 151 unique entrants.

 

It was Jose Soto who won in the 16-entrant Mixed Master’s Division, Abel Rosario in the 32-entrant Mixed Advanced Division, Akiko Sugiyama in the 32-entrant Women’s Leisure Division, and Maxwell Musser in the 32-entrant Men’s Leisure Division. The largest field, 48 entrants, was the Mixed Open Division, won by Sebastian Karwas.

 

Hohmann’s path to the winners’ circle in the Grand Masters event went through Chinakhov twice. He opened with a double hill win over Joey Korsiak and then, sent Chinakhov to the loss side 6-4. Hohmann then defeated Del Sim 6-4, to draw Damianos Giallourakis in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Nick Ekonomopoulos in the meantime, after being awarded an opening round bye, downed the Steinway Classic’s runner-up, Fedor Gorst 6-2 and Jalal Yousef 6-4 to draw Jimmy Rivera in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Hohmann defeated Giallourakis 6-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Ekonomopoulos, who’d sent Rivera west 6-1. Hohmann claimed the hot seat 6-3 and waited on the return of Chinakhov.

 

On the loss side, Chinakhov was working on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would give him a second chance against Hohmann. He got by Raphael Dabreo 6-2, Ryan Hsu 6-4, Tony Robles 6-2 and survived a double fight versus Burgos to draw Giallourakis, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Rivera picked up Roland Garcia, who after being defeated by Giallourakis ended Gorst’s run 6-1 and  by the same score, Del Sim’s.

 

Chinakhov and Giallourakis battled to double hill before Chinakhov advanced to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Garcia, who’d eliminated Rivera 6-2. Chinakhov took the quarterfinal match 6-2.

 

He completed his loss-side run with a double hill win over Ekonomopoulos in the semifinals. Hohmann, though, shut Chinakhov down early in the finals and completed his undefeated run with a 6-1 victory over Chinakhov.

 

Soto is the only competitor to come from the loss side to win Mixed Masters Division

 

Five of the six divisions of the NYC Singles 8-Ball Championships featured winners who went undefeated through their respective fields. Jose Soto, in the smallest field (16), competing in the Mixed Masters division, was the only competitor to win a division by coming from the loss side to defeat the hot seat occupant. And he did so, by losing in his first round and winning six loss-side matches to down Cesar Turcios in the finals.

 

Soto lost 5-1 to Tim Edmonds in the opening round of play. Edmonds was subsequently defeated by Brooke Meyers, who advanced to face Turcios in the hot seat match. Turcios claimed the hot seat in a double hill win over Meyers. On the loss side, three of the six matches Soto played, forced him to play a single deciding game to advance; matches against Eddie Kunz, Matthew Harricharan and his quarterfinal match against Miguel Laboy. Soto downed Meyers 6-3 in the semifinals and then, claimed the title with an 8-4 win over Turcios.

 

The largest field of 48, in the Mixed Open division, was won by Sebastian Karwas, who went undefeated. It took Karwas as many matches on the winners’ side of the Mixed Open bracket to claim the title, as it took Soto on both sides of the Mixed Masters bracket to win his. Karwas got by Jim Gutierrez, Keith Stefanowitz, Omar Chavez, Alex Kent and Marco Daniele to face Paul Lyons in the hot seat match. He claimed the hot seat 6-1 over Lyons, who moved to the loss side and downed Daniele in the semifinals 5-3. Karwas took their second match 6-4 to claim the title.

 

Rosario and Schreiber battle it out for Mixed Advanced title

 

Two of the New York area’s better competitors in their respective ranking divisions battled twice to claim the 32-entrant Mixed Advanced title. Abel Rosario and Thomas Schreiber hold top positions in the standings of both the Tri-State and Predator Pro Am Tours. Rosario is #10 on the Tri-State’s A+/A standings list and the #3 B+ player on the Predator Pro Am Tour. Schreiber is #5 on the Tri-State’s list of B players and # 2 on the Predator Pro Am Tour’s list of B players.

 

After four victories each, they met first in the hot seat match. Rosario claimed the hot seat 6-3. Schreiber moved to the loss side and downed Matthew Rezendes 5-1. He and Rosario fought to an appropriate double hill game 11 before Rosario finished it to claim the title.

 

In the 32-entrant Women’s Leisure division, Akiko Sugiyama won five straight to claim that title. She faced Melissa Schleifer twice and gave up only a single rack over the two matches; that one, coming in Sugiyama’s victory in the hot seat match. Schleifer shut Debra Pritchett out in the semifinals, but punctuating her undefeated run through the field, Sugiyama shut Schleifer out in the finals.

 

Completing the six-tournament event, it was Maxwell Musser, who went undefeated through the 32-entrant Men’s Leisure field. Musser faced separate opponents in the hot seat and finals, defeating Brian Schell to claim the hot seat, and after Henry Chan had downed Schell double hill in the semifinals, Musser shut him out to take the title.

 

As always, event director Tony Robles thanked Manny Stamatakis and his Steinway Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as Dr. Michael Fedak for his continuing financial support for this event (Fedak finished in the tie for 13th place in the Mixed Open tournament). Robles also noted sponsorship support from Predator Cues, and Blatt Billiards. According to Robles, the 2020 NYC 8-Ball Championships are going to be even better. It’s being planned as a three-day event on Columbus Day weekend and Dr. Fedak will be adding $20,000.

 

“This event wouldn’t be possible without the support of Michael and Marilyn Fedak,” said Robles.

As C-player Raymond Ortiz sat in the hot seat, awaiting his opponent in the finals of the eighth stop on the New England 9-Ball Series Tour on Saturday, December 2, Kajone Ky was in the midst of a five-match, loss-side winning streak that would make him the challenger. On his way, Ky encountered increasingly difficult (higher-ranked) opponents commencing with a fellow C+ player, and moving on through two B-players and two A-players to reach Ortiz. And so it was, that the C-player and the C+ player, having swept aside the presumably stronger competition, faced each other in the finals. Ortiz completed his undefeated run and won it to claim the title of the $500-added event that drew 31 entrants to World Championship Billiards in Manchester, CT.

 

As always, the players were divided at the start into upper and lower brackets, separating the higher-ranked and lower-ranked opponents at the beginning. As the event whittled down to its final 12 competitors, the two brackets merged, showing a broad range of handicaps; two A-players, one B+, five Bs, two C+ (Ky and Josh Berube), one C (Ortiz), and one D-player. Both finalists, Ortiz and Ky, came out of the lower bracket. Ky was sent to the loss side 6-4 by Frank Porto, who advanced to an overall winners’ side semifinal against Ortiz. Ryan Cullen (A) faced Sal Modolo (B) in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Ortiz downed Porto 5-1 (Porto racing to 7), as Cullen squeaked by Modolo, double hill (7-4; Modolo racing to 5). With Cullen racing to 9, Ortiz claimed the hot seat 5-5 and waited in it for what turned out to be the return of Ky.

 

Ky opened his loss-side campaign against fellow C+ competitor, Josh Berube, downing him 5-2, and moving on to defeat Dan Novak 5-3 (Novak racing to 6). This set Ky up for a re-match against Porto. Modolo ran into the youngster, Lukas Fracasso-Verner (An A player, playing in his Connecticut backyard, so to speak), who’d defeated Jose Soto and Ian McKelvey, both 7-2.

 

Fracasso-Verner flexed his muscles a bit and shut Modolo out. He was joined in the quarterfinals by Ky, who’d eliminated Porto 5-1.

 

With Fracasso-Verner racing to eight, Ky took the quarterfinal match 5-4, and then downed his second straight A player (Cullen) by the same score 5-4. He was not so fortunate in the finals.

 

In possession of the higher handicap (C+), Ky had to win an extra game against Ortiz; a 6-5 race. They fought to a double hill, 4-5 tie. Ortiz won the tying, and with the handicap, winning rack to claim the event title.

 

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff of World Championship Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. Stop #9 on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Sunday, December 10, will be a partners’ event, hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.