A Novice November

A total of 30 students came out for the kid's section of the Unrated Beginner Tournament. Congratulations to all of the participants!

The November edition of the Beginner’s Tournament proved to be the largest yet! A record breaking 19 players showed up to battle it out first place in the adult section. The kid's section featured a massive turn out of 30 players!! With a combined field of 49 players, this tournament easily rivaled the attendance of any of the Club’s Saturday tournaments.

The kid’s section utilized the fast-paced format of four rounds, with a time control of fame in 15 minutes (G/15-both sides received 15 minutes for the entire game), which typically proves to be quite a long time for the children but seems blazing fast to many adults. Some typical strong performers of this tournament were knicked for point by surprising opposition proving that anyone can be taken down at any time. Yechiel Shulman, Shawn Pernik, Andrew Voelker, Uri Lev-tzion, and John Smith were all upset by some of the newcomers including Woody Walters, Brandon Stanfield, and Julian Proleiko. Julian is no stranger to the club. He has been attending GM Ben Finegold’s Intermediate Class on Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m. for several months, and clearly that effort is showing in his chess skill, especially considering his 3rd-place finish in this event! The champion of the event, Brandon Stanfield, is a product of the Club’s Chess in the Schools initiative. Brandon played in the Friday Night Action Quads prior to this Beginner’s Tournament, and to describe this kid as an “attacking player” would be an understatement. Watch out for young Mr. Stanfield in the future!

The adult section featured a slightly longer time control, G/25, with three rounds. This format resembles the Friday Action Quads, which makes the jump from the Beginner tournament to rated tournament play very easy (HINT...HINT). The field for the 19-player event was rounded out by tournament director/player, and long-time club member Rodney Vaughn. He also assisted that section as a floor TD. Club instructor and early favorite of the event, Ben Conover, suffered a surprising loss in the second round. This left the big first place prize up for grabs. Newcomers Terry Bledsoe, Dmitry Makarov and Gary Kagan took shared first place all finishing the event undefeated. Makarov stumbled upon the club while walking around the Central West End on Friday. After playing all night Friday, and then literally all day Saturday, he thought he would try his luck in organized competition and reaped the benefits with a first-place prize of a one-year membership to the club, valued at $80!

I would like to thank everyone for participating and making this event the best yet. Hopefully we can achieve an even greater turnout for the next Beginner’s Tournament, scheduled for December 18. Click here for more information!

Beginner's Standings: Kids

Beginner's Standings: Adults