Michael Cambareri scored a perfect 5.0 to win the club’s Spring Champioonship. Second place was shared by five players with 3.5 scores. The tournament kicked off Thursday, April 24 with two dozen contenders and ran through through May 22. This 24-player field was well distributed, with four Expert/A-Class players, eight B-Class players, 9 C-/D-Class players, and three F-Class players.
A couple of Swiss surprises rankled the first round results. Newcomer Josh Maulolo (1220 (p)) played to a draw against Joe Ong, achieving a 200+ rating point upset. Nick Guerra, with a rating below 1000, scored an even more impressive result, notching a draw versus B-Class player Craig Moore. A third game looked headed for a split result when the chronically underrated C-Class player Khai Le battled third seed Nikolay Bulakh to a drawish endgame, with a rook and a bishop halting the progress of Bulakh’s two pawns supported by a lone rook. In the end, Bulakh’s patient and precise play slowly ramped up the pressure, and Le resigned when the conversion became inevitable.
The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for SPRING CHAMPIONSHIP 2025 (Event 202505227842)