Chess Tournaments

By Alex Marler 

By Alex Marler

The 2011 edition of the Holiday Bash proved quite exciting with unexpected results across all the boards, along with crushed dreams of victory. Okay, maybe I was the only one suffering hallucinations of first place. Considering how trying the Holiday season can prove for everyone schedules, 47 joyful souls still managed to turn up for this festive event, which featured three sections: the Open (1700+), U1700, and the U1300.

Despite the festivities in Soulard, the real party was going on at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.

The 2nd Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship brought out 58 players on Mardi Gras weekend. The club once again flirted with the 60-player mark as word of the best club in the country continues to spread.

Grandmaster Ben Finegold took first place overall with a perfect score, and Todd Plageman, Tony Rich and Steve Landrum split first place in Class A with 2.5 points each.

SAINT LOUIS, Oct. 31, 2009 – The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis agreed to  sponsor the U.S. team in the 2010 World Team Chess Championship being held Jan. 4-13 in Bursa, Turkey.

“One of the primary purposes of the Chess Club is to promote top-level chess," said Tony Rich, Executive Director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. " What better way to do that than by sponsoring the U.S. team in this international event.”

 The Friday Action Quads were well attended with 16 participants vying in 4 quads for top honors.  In Quad 1, blitz afficianado Joseph Garnier started off with a bang, taking down top rated Kevin Cao on his way to a 3.0/3.0 performance and a $36 payday.  In quad 2, Stephen Zang recovered form a first round loss with Jialin Ding to finish strong with 2.0 points and tie with Ding for 1st after William Thompson was able to notch an impressive underdog victory of the youngster.  Quad 3 saw Sathya Anand (no relation to the renowned GM and world champion) turned in an impressi

 Brad Schlosser, of Chesterfield, Mo., will represent Missouri at the 2009 Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions.

The national tournament will run from Aug. 1 to Aug. 4 in conjunction with the U.S. Open in Indianapolis, Ind.

Brad, a student at Parkway Central High School, earned his invitation to the prestigious tournament by winning the Denker Playoff with a score of 3.5 out of 4 in March. 

The recent success of the first CCSCSL tournament of 2009, the Winter Open, has brought new hope for the success of tournament chess in the Saint Louis region. Forty One players braved the cold to ensure a full prize fund payout on January 17th. With the apparent equation for success firmly in hand, the CCSCSL tournament directors have focused their attention to the "Knights" tournaments.

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