Thirty years after his last Winter Championship title in 1995 (but also having won the past two Fall Championships), Dave Rowles is again King of the cold weather chess season. Dave dispatched Ben Legard, who already had two Expert scalps this event, early in the final round to score 4.5 and finish a half game ahead of three players. — Mathew Buchanan, Michael Cambareri, and Asa Wadden. Michael’s 4.0 score won the Expert/A category prize, while Mathew and Asa won both prizes in the E/unrated category. It was an unusual event in that regard, with the top two boards scoring only four points, and the lower half of the draw presenting several players with winning scores and multiple upset victories in every round.
There were lots of other prize winners. The Class B prizes were split by John Frostad, Matt Goodale, Walter van Heemstede, and Vibi Varghese. Ben Legard claimed the Class C prize with his 3.5 score, and Jeremy Burnett’s 3.0 netted him the second place category prize. Ethan Rowe (3.0) won the class D category, and Khai Le (2.0) claimed the second category prize.
The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for 25 WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP (Event 202502130922)
Round 4 recap:
When the dust settled on round four, two players top the 28 player field with 3.5 scores — club veteran Dave Rowles, the fourth seed, and recent high school grad Ben Legard, the sixteenth seed. Rowles stopped John Frostad on board 2, while Cam Leslie defeated the only undefeated player, Vibi Varghese, on board 1. Legard, however, had an amazing day. He started out the day defeating top seed Leslie, in a late makeup game from round three, and then defeated second seed Antonious Raelund in the evening to make it two Expert scalps in one day! That is likely a first for a club championship event!
Round 3 recap:
Vibi Varghese topped Michael Cambareri on board one and became the only perfect score after three rounds of the Winter Championship. The other perfect scores met on board two, where Matt Goodale and Dave Rowles battled in a knight and pawn endgame to a draw with each player having less than 25 seconds remaining. It was an exciting end to a round that featured lots of action!
Round 2 recap:
Two more players entered the Winter Championship in round two, pushing the tally to 28. As with the first round, there were several upsets. This time, the upsets claimed the top two boards. On board 1, Walter van Heemstede Obelt drew with Cam Leslie who, despite a huge time deficit was able to set up a mating net while under severe attack and force Walter to draw by repetition. On board 2, Matt Goodale upended Antonius Raelund. The other upset of the night saw Jim Burney down Craig Moore. There are only four perfect scores after two rounds!
Round 1 recap: The always popular Winter Championship began its five-week run on January 9 with 26 players taking part in the g/90 (d5) event. There were two first round upsets, and several talented first-time players will make this a strongly contested event.
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