Thought I would open the kibitz comments on Mike Brooks.

Michael Brooks has been a FIDE International Master since 1989 and has had many of his games published in Chess Life. Space does not permit listing all his accomplishments, but since 1981 he has been the Missouri state champion six times, and lost out on five other occasions due only to tie-breaks. In 1982 Mike tied for first place in the first annual Midwest Masters tournament in Chicago, and in 1989 he tied for second in this event with a score of 5-1/2 to 2-1/2, defeating IGM Eduard Gufeld and drawing with IGM Sergei Kudrin. His performance in this event was the subject of an article in the August, 1989 issue of Chess Life, featuring Michael's picture and two annotated games. He was one of 16 players in the field competing for the 1990 U.S. Championship. In 1994 Mike won the North American Open in Las Vegas, with wins against IGMs Alex Yermolinsky and Smbat Lputian. His highest achieved USCF rating was 2630. In the 2003 Missouri Open Championship Mike scored a last-round draw with IGM Pavel Blatny; this game and his others from that event are annotated in the Winter 2004 issue of the Missouri Chess Bulletin. Mike resides in the Kansas City area and is a supporting member of the Westport Chess Club.

<Six players tied for first place in the National Open Tournament at the Holiday Inn O'Hare in Chicago.

They were the grandmasters Mikhail Tal of the Soviet Union, Sergey Kudrin of Stamford, Conn., and Leonid Shamkovich of Brooklyn; the international masters James Rizzitano of Chicago and Calvin Blocker of Cleveland, and Michael Brooks, a Kansas City, Mo., master.

Each winner scored 5 1/2- 1/2 in the six-round, 380-player, Swiss-system competition and each was awarded a $1,417 slice of the prize fund.

Brooks, in virtue of his superior tiebreak points, also received the Edmondson Cup. This was his first major tournament victory.>