Round five report: Ryan Ackerman and Michael Cambareri are the co-champions of the club’s Winter Championship. The two drew with each other in round four and then held serve in their final round games to jointly finish with 4.5 scores and the title. One game is still to be played, but all of the prizes have been decided. Jeremy Burnett (3.5) was tops in the u/1600 category, while Logan Faulkner and Abe Kenney (3.0) tied for second in that section. Arnav Wadikar, who lost to Cambareri on board one in the final round, won the u/1300 section with a score of 3.5. Casey Bruer and Mike Byrne each scored 3.0 to tie for second in the section.
Congratulations to all prize winners! The event will be submitted for rating when the final makeup game is played.
Round four report: Ryan Ackerman saved a lost position late in his board one game with Michael Cambareri, and the parties agreed to a draw that left them tied with LC freshman Arnav Wadikar at 3.5 after four rounds of the five-round tournament. Those three, along with Logan Faulkner and Tito Tinajero (both 3.0), will be competing for the championship title in round five. A tie looks likely absent a rash of draws.
Round three report: Only nine games were played in round three, but most of them were played to the late endgame before resolution. The top two boards, Michael Cambareri and Ryan Ackerman, cruised to comparatively early victories in the middle game, but everyone else decided to enjoy some endgame practice. Those two have the only perfect scores and will battle in round four. The last three games of the round belonged to the lowest boards and exemplified some excellent endgame play. The struggle between Bed Shedlock and Stan Soderberg ended in a draw due to mutual flag falls! Jim Burney saved a position with a draw by repetition, while Dave Rowles drew Casey Bruner in another endgame. The final game of the night saw Abdul Hakkani and Brandon Arnold throw tactics and technique at each other, with one side and then the other having the advantage, until Abdul secured the win with about 30 seconds left on Brandon’s clock.
Round two report: There were several exciting finishes, some upsets, and lots of wild play during the second round. Logan Faulkner upended Dave Rowles on board two in a game that ended with both players under five minutes on their clocks. Not to be outdone, the board three contest ended with both players under 30 seconds as Ryan Ackerman salvaged the point despite being down a pawn entering the endgame. High school freshman Arnav Wadikar showed strong play in salvaging an endgame, playing dozens of moves with just seconds remaining on his clock, to gain the victory. Veterans Jim Burney and Dave Griffin fought to a draw when Burney was able to force repetition with his queen while a knight screened off both of Griffin’s queens! Board 4 saw another draw by repetition when Casey Bruner was able to fend off Tito Tinajero’s attack on the H-file and use his two rooks to force Tito’s King into repeating his moves. The evening was a treat for fans of endgame play!
Round one report: The first Winter Championship in two years drew a nice opening round turnout of 22 players at the River Park Square Kress Gallery on January 20th. There are a number of underrated provisional players and youngsters swelling the 1100 range who are going to do serious ratings damage to some of the veteran players. There were two “upsets” in the first round by players in that category, and there undoubtedly will be more!