The 2024 edition of the Taxing Quads is complete, as all round robins finished regularly scheduled round 3 play on April 4 at The West Central Abbey.
Access the crosstable here: https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202404046182-12720375
Four groups of players (three quads and a 6-player mini-swiss) battled in tightly contested play that featured several upsets, including, to mix seasonal metaphors, a bracket-buster in the top quad.
From the third slot, Dave Rowles scored a perfect 3 in the event’s most challenging bracket, offing both 2000+ players, Cam Leslie and Michael Cambareri. A final-round game between the top seeds resulted with Michael scoring 2-0 and Cam finishing 1-0. Walter Van Heemstede Obelt also notched a perfect score.
The second quad aligned neatly along rating contours, with Keith Brownlee winning with 1.5, Vibi Varghese scoring 1, and Craig Moore ending with a half point. In a self-inflicted error, the TD erroneously entered a fourth player who had withdrawn with plenty of notice. As long as the auditors don’t come auditing, these results should stand just fine.
The third quad lived up to its billing as the most tightly packed round robin. Recently returned to the chess scene, top seeds Jeff Hazen and Paul Bundy were separated by only 1 rating point. Third seed Ben Shedlock was only 10 points behind. The unrated wild card Ryan Plouse made a strong tournament debut, splitting the two prizes with Ben Shedlock at 2 points apiece, though Plouse won the head-to-head. Hazen and Bundy shared third place with 1.5 points each after drawing their match.
The mini-swiss included an even spread of six players ranging from 1034 to 1306. Fourth-seeded John Stilley, with a rating of 1183, overperformed and took the group with a perfect score. Stilley’s performance, while impressive, was not shocking as he has been barely losing great games to higher rated players in the latest tournaments. Hopefully, this breakout moves him comfortably into Class D play. Stilley’s accomplishment was all the more satisfying as his path included a 120-point upset of the top seed, Carl Peterson, who shared the second- and third-place purses with Pat Kirlin, scoring 2 points each. Club stalwarts Jim Burney and Cecilia Valeriotte scored a point each, with 6th seed Nick Guerra rounding out the group.