(by Steve Hopkins) For several years, Dimitrij Ovtcharov has been the anchor on a Russian League team called Fakel Gazprom Orenburg. That Fakel team has been one of the strongest in the European Champions League and has been the dominant team in the Russian League.  Last week, Ovtcharov announced he would be leaving that team […]

(Steve Hopkins) Most articles aren’t written about the author – the journalist is more of a background observer.  In this case, I actually competed in the 2022 Butterfly Puerto Rico Open Teams Tournament – and I brought my family along for vacation.  For those of you that didn’t make it to San Juan this year […]

(by Steve Hopkins) At the top of the 2022 Butterfly Puerto Rico Open Teams Tournament were some of the best players in the hemisphere – Zhou Xin and Brian Afanador and Adriana Diaz and Lily Zhang all competed in the top division (and all advanced to the Semifinals). The tournament, however, extended out for six […]

(by Steve Hopkins) The final eight teams in the Puerto Rico Open matched up starting on Sunday.  The format in that top division was best 3 out of 5 matches.  The top seeded TTA/888 team beat Soderhamns UIF 3-0.  Soderhamns was a Swedish team with Casper Strindberg, Elliot Lundqvist, and Daniel Lindso – but they […]