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Area Event Updates
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Spokane Area Scholastic Tournaments
2011-2012 School Year We will post all local tourney flyers as we receive them. For the most current listing of tourney dates, check the St. Georges chess calendar link: http://dragon.sgs.org/webs/chess/chess_calendar.htm
Posted below you will find flyers for the GSL Individual (to be rescheduled) and Team (Feb. 3) tournaments, as well as the Groundhog Gambit (Feb. 4). ___________________________________________________________________________________
The Rogers H.S. Chess Club
Will Proudly Host
The 2012 GSL Individual Championship
Friday, ??????
A tournament in the Rogers HS Library
3:15-9:00pm
Students in grade 9-12 only
4 round Swiss, Game 30
Pizza provided - $8 cost per person
Make checks payable to Barb Silvey. Bring your payment to the tournament.
Register teams via email: barbs@spokaneschools.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Gonzaga Prep Chess Club
Will Proudly Host
The GSL Team Championship
Friday, February 3, 2012
A team tournament at Gonzaga Prep Library 3:30 to 9:00pm
Teams of 5 High School players
3 round swiss, game 45 (or possibly 4 round swiss, game 30)
$10 cost per team Make checks payable to Gonzaga Prep Bring your payment to the tournament.
Register teams via email: kmkorsmo@comcast.net -------------------------------------------------------------------- Groundhog Gambit Chess Tournament February 4, 2012 Saint George's School, Spokane
2012 Washington State Elementary Chess Championship Qualifier Trophies awarded to top players and top teams
Email: chess@sgs.org Include player’s name, school, and grade. Entry Fee: $10.00 if preregistered (pay at check in); $15.00 at door Schedule: First round begins at 10:00 a.m. Check in 8:30 to 9:30. Players not checked in by 9:30 a.m. will not be paired in the first round. Format: 5 round Swiss paired by computer, G/30, NWSRS rated Divisions: K-3, 4-6, 7-12 (strong younger players may elect to play up).
Mark your calendar now: Black Knights’ Quest, March 10 Dragonslayer, March 31 Washington State Elementary Championship, April 21
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Scholastic Event Reports 2011-2012 Winterfest (January 21, 2012) by Dr. James Stripes Eight schools were represented by forty-four players at Saturday's Winterfest Scholastic chess tournament, the tenth time that this annual tournament has been held. Aside from a single player who made the trip north from Pullman, all the others were from north Spokane. Friday's freezing rain deterred others who had planned to attend. Northwest Christian playes were unbeatable until they were forced to play one another. They easily captured the team trophy. Nick Seleski won the Grand Champion trophy in K-6 on tiebreaks, as he dispatched two of the players scoring 4.0. The next five places all received trophies: Nathan Sacpopo was first in grade 5, Jacob Gray was second in grade 5, Ray Johnson was third in the same, Torrey Casper was fourth in grade 5, and Kenny King was first in grade 4. The top 3.0 player was Tristan Udby, winner of an in-house tournament at his school last spring. First place in grade 6 went to Zeph Johnson, who edged out the other sixth grader with 2.0 on tiebreaks. Competition between Saint George's School and Arcadia was strong in the K-3 section that had well over half of the entries from SGS. The top SGS second grader elected to play in the K-6 section where he earned valuable lessons from the Northwest Christian players before earning two wins against Arcadia players, helping secure second place in the team competition for his school. James Gunn won the Grand Champion trophy in K-3 with slightly stronger tiebreaks than Zac Johnson. The two drew each other in the second round. Zac won first place in grade 3. He was followed by Dana Mogensen was second in grade 3, and Holden Adams was third in the same. My admonition to the third graders at a previous tournament that age does not always prevail and that the second graders were the hard ones to beat in that section appears to have spurred a few to improve. Jack Morris and Tariq Ravasia won first and second in grade 2 behind their classmate, the Grand Champion. Sam Morris, also with 3.0, was first place in kindergarten. Gabe Gustafson was first in grade 1 with 2.5. The MS/HS section was small. Peter Schumaker easily won all six games in the double round robin. Dane Lindh won all his other games, taking the second place prize. The cross table link: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report11-12/DeerParkWinterfest.html The K-6 team champions:
Solstice Sacrifice (December 10, 2011) by Dr. James Stripes Fifty-five players from nine schools competed in the Solstice Sacrifice chess tournament at Saint George's School on December 10. The team competition was a repeat of last month's Black Knight's Joust, pitting Northwest Christian fifth graders against Saint George's School second graders. However, this time Northwest Christian prevailed 19-18. Arcadia again took third. In the K-3 section, second grader Tariq Ravasia was grand champion with a perfect 5-0. First grader Seth Arthurs and third grader Holden Adams were next at 4.0. Arthurs' only loss was to Ravasia, and Adams lost only to Arthurs. James Gunn, Zach Robertson, Jack Morris, and A.J. Stenbeck each had 3.5. Katherine Gunn was the top kindergartner with a very impressive 3.0. All players scoring 3.0 or higher qualify for the Washington State Elementary Chess Championship in Pasco, April 21. In addition, kindergartners Sam Morris and Josh Lubanski (2.5 each) qualified for state. In K-6, Jacob Gray defeated his teammate Nathan Sacpopo in the final round to earn grand champion. The top five fifth graders were the top five in the section and all won trophies. Sacpopo, Daniel Arthurs, and Nick Seleski each scored 4.0. Shawn Lewis had the strongest tie-breaks of the seven players with 3.0 in the upper elementary section, which included four more fifth graders and sixth graders Katie Thew and Connor Cremers. First place in fourth grade went to Kenny King, who scored 2.0. The high school/middle school section had one more player than last month's tournament in Deer Park with seven players. Lincoln School teammates won the top two prizes. Nathan Arthurs beat Peter Schumaker in their individual encounter to capture first. Brothers Drew and Dane Lindh tied for third. Notably, there were only two draws in the fifty-five games played in the K-6 section. In contrast, several draws in the K-3 section revealed players not yet able to deliver checkmate with a queen and king against a lone king. Beginning players are advised to have a look at http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2011/11/lesson-of-week_08.html, which offers a useful technique for learning this elementary skill. SGS Alum Michael Cambareri, and his father John Cambareri ran the pairings for this event, the first SGS tournament directed by SGS Lower School coach James Stripes. The NWSRS cross table link: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report11-12/Solstice.html
Black Knights Joust (November 5) by Dr. James Stripes The Black Knights' Joust was slightly larger than any of last year's Spokane area scholastic tournaments, although the MS/HS section was the smallest in memory. Forty-eight players from a handful of schools competed. Players from Idaho comprised half of the six-player MS/HS section. Savanna Naccarato beat all the others, easily capturing first place. Post Falls senior Michael Fellegy finished second In the elementary sections, four Northwest Christian fifth graders dominated K-6, while five Saint George's second graders finished in the top eight in K-3. Only two players in K-3 were from schools other than Saint George's School and Arcadia. One of these two was a late entry who had another activity to attend in the morning. Her participation in the last two rounds as Northwest Christian's fifth player produced the points needed to lift NWC into second in the team competition, one point ahead of Arcadia. Saint George's captured first. Individual champions Torrey Casper (K-6) and Ethan Wu (K-3) took home nice trophies. Both had perfect 5.0 scores. All players in the elementary sections who scored three or more took home a trophy or a medal. An unusual number of teammates who had to play each other due to the small number of schools represented, and in the final round the Naess sisters were paired. That game ended in a hard-fought draw, which benefited Casper, the only other K-6 player with 4.0 going into the final round. The NWSRS cross table link: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report11-12/BlackKnightsJoust.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2010-2011 The Last Hurrah (April 16) The last Chris Copeland-produced tournament at St. Georges was held April 16, 2011. Chris is moving to Portland this summer after more than a dozen years of leading scholastic chess in Spokane. There were 37 players in this event. Zach Countryman (4.5) topped the K-12 section. Shawn Lewis and Drew Lindh each scored 4.0 to tie for first in K-6. Ethan Wu was a perfect 5.0 in winning the K-3 section. The NWRS cross table: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report10-11/LastHurrah.html
Black Knights Quest (March 5) Girls Top Black Knights' Quest by James Stripes Chess is a sport in which girls and boys compete as equals. Two girls contested this notion at the Black Knights' Quest in Deer Park by beating all the boys. In the K-12 section, Savanna Naccarato won her first round game, as expected, and then went on to beat four boys with higher ratings. She took out the top seed, Nikolay Bulakh in round two, then dispatched a trio of boys from Pullman. For her success, Savanna won a $50 gift card. Another girl in the top section, fourth grader Sara Naess playing up for tougher competition, finished in a four-way tie for third, but fourth on tie-breaks. From Norway, Sara and her sister from Norway brought an international dimension to an event that had players from across Washington state—Whatcom and Whitman counties, as well as Spokane and Grant. Savanna lives in Idaho and did well in the Idaho Scholastic Girls Championship last Saturday in Boise. Maria Naess swept the K-3 section with a perfect 5.0, winning the grand champion trophy. Behind her was Koh Micek, who lost to her alone. The four-way tie for third in K-3 was topped by Sarah Wu on the basis of slightly stronger competition. The other players with 3.5 each were top in their grade: Joey Aho in second grade, Tariq Ravasia in first grade, and Seth Arthurs in kindergarten. In K-6, Alexandra Elkins won her first three games, including beating the top rated player in the section in round three. Alas, she lost to a determined Daniel Arthurs in round four, and then in round five played Reo Reyes, who had beat Daniel in round three. Reo finished with 4.0 and tied with top seed Cyril Berndt who recovered from his loss to Alexandra to win the rest of his games. Cyril's victory over Reo in round two and stronger opponents gave him the grand champion trophy for K-6. Reo was the top fifth grader, Daniel the top fourth grader, and Alexandra won a trophy for biggest upset. The team competition in elementary was a repeat of Winterfest with host school Arcadia outscoring Saint George's School in K-6 and Saint George's triumphing in K-3. The competition combined the sections with the top five scores for each school counting. It came down to the fifth player, and Saint George's won by one-half point. GSL Team Championship (Feb. 4) Powered by the GSL co-champions on the top two boards, Lewis & Clark won its first GSL team championship with a perfect match score of 3.0. In board order, their team was Zach Countryman, Alex Chow, Elliot Chow, Andrew Kovash, and Will Dittman. Alex Chow was perfect on board two and claimed the trophy for the outstanding individual performance. Gonzaga Prep and a combined Mead-North Central team tied for second with 2-1 scores (both falling to LC), with Mead-NC edging Prep in tiebreak 10-9 to win the second place trophy. A total of six teams representing six schools competed in the event held at G-Prep on February 4. The cross table: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report10-11/GSLteam.html
Winterfest (Jan. 22)
James Stripes reports:
Nikolay Bulakh prevailed in the Winterfest Scholastic. Five seventh graders and one third grader not only comprised just under half of the entries, but also made up just under half of the group scoring three or more. Behind senior Bulakh was seventh grader Peter Schmaker in second place. Places three through seven were shared by high schoolers David Blue, Titus Berndt, and Dane Lindh, as well as seventh grader Nathan Arthurs and third grader Braxton Casey. Blue had the strongest tiebreaks and was one of two in that group rated under 1200, so he won the best under 1200 prize. Lindh had the biggest upset. Casey beat Blue who beat Arthurs who beat Casey, and Casey and Arthurs had almost identical tiebreaks. Because of their individual encounter, Arthurs took home the third place prize (best under 1200 was more gilt) and young Casey went home only with additional experience and knowledge gained competing with the older players.
The elementary divisions featured the
usual battle between Arcadia and Saint George's for the team trophies.
Arcadia prevailed in 4-6, while Saint George's dominated K-3 so strongly
that the combined team score between the two elementary sections gave
Saint George's clear first. Although seven other schools had players,
none had enough to be competitive in team scoring. Certainly there must
be other school chess clubs in the Spokane area that could be part of
the competitive scene.
In the K-3 section, Ethan and Sarah Wu
tied for the top prize with Ethan winning the Grand Champion trophy on
tie-breaks and his older sister taking first place in grade three. Their
teammates Tariq Ravasi and James Gunn were the top first and second
graders. Seth Arthurs was the only kindergarten player, but his three
points demonstrated that he certainly earned the trophy for top in his
grade. In 4-6, or K-6 as we call it because younger players sometimes
play up, Connor Cremers was the sole five-point-zero and won the grand
champion trophy. Cyril Berndt was second overall and the top sixth
grader. In third, Nikhil Chaudhry won first in fourth grade. First place
in fifth grade (because fifth grader Connor won a taller trophy) went to
Alexandra Elkins who was part of the pack sharing fourth though seventh.
All elementary players scoring three or
more went home with a trophy.
The NWSRS cross table link: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report10-11/Winterfest.html
GSL Individual Championship (Jan. 21) LC juniors Alex Chow and Zach Countryman won the GSL Individual Championship held at Rogers on January 21. The two each scored a perfect 4.0 to claim first place. Using their own unique tie-breakers, Alex took home the first place trophy and Zach the second place. Mead senior David Burke won the biggest upset trophy. A field of 22 took part. The NWSRS cross table link: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report10-11/SpokaneLeague.html
Solstice Sacrifice (Dec. 18) The re-scheduled Solstice Sacrifice, postponed from its original December 11 scheduled date, drew only 31 players to St. Georges on the opening weekend of Christmas break. The NWSRC cross table link: http://chess.ratingsnw.com/report10-11/SolsticeSacrafice.html
Black Knights Joust (October 15) Your editor lost the story of this Deer Park event that kicked off the season. The site will be updated when it is retrieved!
This was another fine scholastic season, with a record number of local tourneys.
Scholastic Event Reports 2009-2010 STATE TOURNEY WRAP-UP The state elementary championships drew 1200 players to the Tacoma Convention Center on April 24. Dr. James Stripes filed the following report on local participants: Spokane Area Players and Teams Win State Trophies Garrett Casey is the kindergarten co-champion and took first on tie-breaks over the other two with perfect scores. Tariq Ravasia placed sixteenth with the strongest tie-breaks of all the 3.0 scores; his teammate James Gunn also had 3.0. All competitors with 3.0 or more earned trophies. In first grade, Dawson Jury finished without a loss, and had stronger tie-breaks than the player he drew in the final round, placing him third. Second grader Braxton Casey had a disappointing loss against last year's third place finisher in their grade, Max Wu (whose rating has improved 500 points over the past year), but bounced back to win his last round game and finish with 4.0. In second grade, 4.0 was good for places 7-26, and Braxton's tie-breaks put him at sixteenth. Wenatchee's Gregory Berndt, a regular at Spokane area tournaments, scored 3.0 at placed 106 in third grade, and Pullman's Daniel Arthurs, also with 3.0, finished at 111. With 3.0 (places 44-105) and eighty-fifth on tie-breaks, Alexandra Elkins was the top placing fourth grader from the Spokane area. Reo Reyes was five places down from her. Brandon Hill's twenty-fourth place finish in fifth grade with 4.0 put him at the top of the Spokane contingent in that section. His teammate Jacob Gifford had 3.5 and placed thirty-eighth. Drew Lindh's 3.0 placed him in seventy-sixth place, and earned a trophy. In sixth grade, Pullman teammates Nathan Arthurs (eighth) and Peter Schumaker (nineteenth) both finished with 4.0, as did Shay Hutyler (twenty-first) and Collin Cremers (twenty-third). Lake Spokane Elementary won twelfth place in the team competition in 4-6. Saint George's strong kindergarten contingent led them to twenty-first in K-3 team scoring.
Eagle Quest (April 10, 2010) This Eagle Scout service project by Ryan Ackerman served as a last chance opportunity to qualify for the state elementary championships. There were 47 in attendance, with 19 taking part in the K-12 section. Jack Martin (4.5) edged Nikil Chaudhry (4.0) to win the 15 player K-3 section. Braxton Casey (5.0) swept the 13 player K-6 section by two points! Alex Chow was perfect in the K-12 and defeated both runners up -- Nickolay Bulakh and Richard Schumacher. The cross tables: SwissSys Standings. Eagle Quest: K-12
SwissSys Standings. Eagle Quest: K-6
SwissSys Standings. Eagle Quest: K-3
Dragonslayer (March 20, 2010) There were 73 players in attendance at the annual Dragonslayer at St. Georges on March 20. Third grader Gregory Berndt turned in the only perfect score of the tourney in winning the K-3 section. Five tied for first (4.0) in winning the K-6 section (listed in tiebreak order): Cyril Berndt, Garrett Casey, Jacob Cifford, Jesse Aves-Foss, and Ryan Walker. Alex Chow (4.5) won the K-12 section. The cross tables: SwissSys Standings. Dragon Slayer: K-3
SwissSys Standings. Dragon Slayer: K-6
SwissSys Standings. Dragon Slayer: K-12
Black Knights Joust (March 6, 2010) by Dr. James Stripes The Black Knights’ Quest ended with an exciting sudden-death blitz game between two of the area’s top players. After drawing their round four game, and both winning their other four games, Alex Chow and Ryan Ackerman finished atop the 7-12 section with 4.5 each. All three of the tie-breaks failed to resolve the equality. They drew for colors, and Ackerman got White. Thus Ackerman started with five minutes and Chow with four, but Ackerman had to win. A draw would be a victory for Chow. The tough battle for advantage ended in a race to move faster; Ackerman had six seconds left when Chow’s clock expired. Ryan Ackerman succeeded in winning his third event in three days! Ryan won a $50 gift card, while Alex took home $25 for second. Third place in 7-12 went to Nikolay Bulakh with 4.0. Two Idaho players and one from Pullman finished next with 3.5. Kairav Joshi and Peter Schumaker took home medals for their performance, while Savanna Naccarato won a $25 gift card for best player under 1300. Second place under 1300 was David Burke, who earned a $15 gift card. Trevor Joireman scored the biggest upset and took home the last of the gift cards. The twenty-one player 7-12 section included two sixth graders, a second grader, and one kindergarten player. These young players averaged nearly three points each against the older kids. Mead was the top high school, and Lincoln of Pullman the top middle school. In the K-6 section, Lake Spokane prevailed over Arcadia. The top two schools finished with 15.5 each, but Lake Spokane had stronger tie-breaks so took home the first place trophy. Saint George’s settled for third for the first time this year (they usually win first). Cyril Berndt was the only perfect 5.0 in the entire tournament, and was the Grand Champion for 4-6. One point behind him were Shay Hutyler, Jacob Gifford, and Drew Lindh, all winning trophies. Leading the pack of 3.0 finishers was the top fourth grader, Katie Thew. Also with 3.0 were Ali Hartley, Zeph Johnson, Jehan Ravasia, and Alexandra Elkins. Matt Nelson showed that he is becoming a stronger player by scoring the biggest upset. The 4-6 section had only a single draw among the forty-five games played. In K-3, first grader Dawson Jury was the Grand Champion with 4.5. Close behind were Alex Herron and Nikhil Chaudhry with 4.0, taking the top two trophies for third grade. Shawn Lewis was the next in third grade with 3.5, and scored the biggest upset. Also finishing with 3.5 was Koh Micek. Sixth place overall with 3.0 in order of tie-breaks were Joshua Joireman, Augustus Beeler, and Daniel Arthurs. The top kindergarten player was Tariq Ravasia. There were quite a few draws in this section, many due to the young players not yet skilled in delivering checkmate The cross tables: SwissSys Standings. BK Quest: K-3
SwissSys Standings. BK Quest: 4-6
SwissSys Standings. BK Quest: 7-12
GSL Team Championship (March 5, 2010) FERRIS HIGH SCHOOL TEAM CHAMPIONS Ferris (2.5) edged Lewis & Clark (2.0) to win the GSL team championship on March 5. The south hill schools ended Mead's (1.5) hopes of a repeat championship. Six schools competed in the event hosted by Gonzaga Prep. Rogers, North Central, and Prep finished tied for fourth with 1.0 scores. The Ferris team consisted of seniors Khoi Thai, Daniel Parkison, and Khai Le, junior Daniel Berg, and sophomore Montana Killpack. Mead senior Ryan Ackerman was perfect (3.0) on board one to claim the trophy for the outstanding individual performance. LC's Alex Chow (board 2) and Will Dittman (board 4) were the perfect scores on their boards. Khai Le of Ferris was perfect on board 3, and Rogers senior Klint Minnameier was perfect on board five.
Groundhog Gambit (St. Georges, Feb. 6, 2010) Groundhog Gambit has International Flavor The annual Groundhog Gambit drew 96 players to St. Georges on February 6. The event had an international flavor when Azerbaijani ten-year-old Ayshan Aliyeva made her second local scholastic event a success with a perfect 5.0 score and first place in the K-6 section. Alysahn is staying in Pullman for a month while her mother completes work on a Fulbright Fellowship. Her previous foray into local play was a successful tie for first at Winterfest. Her success there made its way on to an Azerbaijani news website: http://www.news.az/articles/7665 Regional players also did well! The 23-player K-3 section title was shared by three who scored 4.0 (listed in tie-break order): Koh Micek, Nathan Arthurs, and Joshua Joierman. Koh goes to school at Moran Prairie, while Nathan and Joshua are teammates at Pullman's Jefferson school. North Central senior Ben Blue followed his victory at Winterfest with another perfect 5.0 score to win the K-12 section. The section featured 43 players, which is the largest for the K-12 section at any local open scholastic tourney in your editor's recent memory (the 53 player GSL individual championship at Mt. Spokane in 2001 may be the largest). The standings: SwissSys Standings. Groundhog's Gambit: K-3
SwissSys Standings. Groundhog's Gambit: K-6
SwissSys Standings. Groundhog's Gambit: K-12
Winterfest (Deer Park, Jan. 23, 2010) by Dr. James Stripes Arcadia Elementary School's eighth Winterfest Scholastic attracted eighty-seven players from more than twenty schools. Competitors included an unrated player that has competed in her hometown of Baku, Azerbaijan, but is new to scholastic chess in the United States. Those that travelled far played well, as did some of the younger players. In the twenty-three player 7-12 section, the three elementary age competitors all scored at least three points. Sixth grader Nathan Arthurs placed second behind North Central senior Ben Blue. Gonzaga Prep junior Nikolay Bulakh tied Arthurs, but had weaker tie-breaks. In fourth place Sandpoint seventh grader Savanna Naccarato won the prize for best under 1300. Second grader Braxton Casey—likely the youngest competitor ever in the 7-12 section of Spokane area tournaments—placed second in under 1300 as one of seven players tied for fifth through eleventh place. Deer Park sophomore Dane Lindh, also in that group, won the prize for biggest upset. Teams in high school/middle school were small, and the top middle school teams benefitted from the participation of elementary students playing up. Three teams finished with the same score. North Central took home the trophy for top high school. Northwood triumphed on tie-breaks over Lincoln of Pullman for the middle school trophy. In the Elementary team competition, the top three teams finished in the order that has become a pattern through recent tournaments. Saint George’s won first with players averaging four points each. Lake Spokane was second, and Arcadia placed third. Individual trophies in elementary went to grand champions Ayshan Aliyeva in 4-6 and Nikhil Chaudhry in K-3. Shay Hutyler was the top sixth grader. Cyril Berndt finished without a loss, drawing Aliyeva in the final round to win top fifth grader (Aliyeva had better tie-breaks as all of her opponents scored at least three points). Zeph Johnson earned the trophy for top fourth grader (the only other player in his grade that scored three or more was the grand champion). Due to the strength of the fifth graders at the top, trophies went to Brandon Hill, second in fifth grade; Jacob Gifford, third; and Ryan Walker, fourth. Kindergartner Garrett Casey won a trophy for fifth place overall in the 4-6 section. Robert Bolton won biggest upset in 4-6. Bolton’s teammate Lucas Keller won biggest upset in K-3. Those scoring four points in K-3 each won first in grade: Jack Martin, third grade; Jacob Keyes, second grade; and Dawson Jury, first grade. The top kindergartner in K-3 was Ethan Wu, playing in his first tournament. Trophies also went to second graders Connor Lester, second place; Sarah Wu, third; and Marshall Starbuck, second place in third grade. All players scoring three or more that did not win trophies took home medals, as did kindergartners scoring two or more. The cross tables: SwissSys Standings. Winterfest Scholastic: Winterfest K-3
SwissSys Standings. Winterfest Scholastic: Winterfest K-6
SwissSys Standings. Winterfest Scholastic: Winterfest K-12
GSL Individual Championship (Ferris H.S., Jan. 22) Mead Junior Taylor Coles captured the title with a perfect 4.0 score to best the field of 19. Second place resulted in a five-way tie among Ryan Ackerman, Nikolay Bulakh, George Joslin, Richard Schumacher, and Khoi Thai. A single elimination blitz play-off ensued, with Ackerman and Joslin meeting in the end. It took three games before Ryan broke through in a sudden death game (Ryan, with white, had an extra minute on the clock, while George had draw-odds). That left Mead with the two top trophies! The biggest upset trophy went to Ferris's Dan Berg, who claimed a 781 point upset victory. The cross table: SwissSys Standings. 2010GSL: 2010GSL
Solstice Sacrifice (St. Georges, Dec. 12) by Chris Copeland Seventy six scholastic players found refuge from a very cold December day pushing wood at Saint George’s School. In both the K-3 and 4-6 divisions, the champions repeated their perfect performance at the Black Knight’s Joust in Deer Park. Kindergartener Garrett Casey continues to be unflappable, defeating the number two and number three players in the last two rounds. Garrett is now over 300 points higher rated than the next best players in the K-3! Knocking at his door though were Saint George’s team mates, Nikhil Chaudry and Jack Martin, both third graders. Although Jack was on board one for the final round and both players only lost to Garrett, he took second in 3rd grade behind Nikhil based on tiebreaks! Better root on your opponents after you beat them. By coming into the tournament with a higher rating than Jack, Nikhil got to play slightly more challenging opponents. The big news in both the K-3 and the 4-6 was the huge turnout from Lake Spokane Elementary : 20 players out of the field of 51! This caused team restrictions to be turned off as early as round 2 and several Lake Spokane kids found themselves playing their teammates. Over a third of the K-3 were playing in their first tournament and one, Koh Micek from the newly formed Moran Prairie club took 2nd in 2nd grade. We are told we’ll see a lot more tough competition coming out of Moran Prairie. In a move made possible by the new supply of chess clocks from last year’s State Championship, the entire 4-6 section was required to play their games on clocks. Inevitably many kids played more quickly than they should have just because the clock made them think they had to hurry, but by the third game the pace of play had returned to normal. We hope this tournament practice better prepares our area kids for State. By the time they get there they should be quite comfortable with the clock ticking away beside them and we won’t see people throw their brains out the window just because they are being timed! It was notable that most of the losers used considerably less time than their opponents. 4 point winner Braxton Casey playing in the 4-6 as a 2nd grader(!) consistently used more of his 30 minutes than any other player in the section …Hmmm. The chess Club from Grace Lutheran in Wenatchee also brought a strong contingent with all the Berndt’s (Gregory – 3rd grade, 4th place; Cyril, 5th grade 4th place; and Titus, 2nd place Middle School). For the first time in many years we saw the Desmarais brothers (also Grace Lutheran) show up at a scholastic tournament. Not surprisingly, they were paired in the final round and …DREW in an opposite colored bishop ending. Peter Schumaker, playing up in the 7-12 went undefeated, drawing two games and coming in third overall and number 1 for Middle school. Notably absent this week were Ryan Ackerman of Mead who broke his shoulder the day before snowboarding and Richard Schumaker who was at a swim meet. A notable break through tournament was had by SGS Junior John Gunn, winning 4 points to take 3rd in HS and scoring the largest upset (312 points). Even more spectacular, fifth grader Andrew Akins from Evergreen Elementary popped off a 466 point upset in the first round followed by two others over 200 points for a cumulative of 923 upset points in a single tournament. I guess his rating is going up! Many thanks to the parents who volunteered to act as judges and run the concessions – these tournaments would not be possible without your support. Adam Attwood was much appreciated running the High School section and as ever, Dr. John Cambareri kept the tournament smoothly running on his laptop.
The prize winners: Solstice Scholastic 2009 AWARDS Kindergarten 1st Gina Hill 1.5 points Lake Spokane 2nd David Thew 1 point Saint Georges 1st Grade 1st Hana Hill 2 points Lake Spokane 2nd Nicholas Dawson 2 points SOP 2nd Grade 1st Connor Lester 3 points Grace Lutheran 2nd Koh Micek 3 points Moran Prairie 3rd Grade 1st Nikhil Chaudry 4 points Saint Georges 2nd Jack Martin 4 points Saint Georges 3rd Nicholas Akins 4 points Evergreen 4th Gregory Berndt 3.5 points Grace Lutheran 5th Everett Pierce 3.5 points Arcadia K-3 Champion: GARRETT CASEY Kindergarden Homeschool 5 points
4th Grade 1st Connor Cremers 3 points Saint Georges 2nd Bleu Sidell 3 points Lake Spokane 3rd Branson Garske 2 points Saint Georges 4th Alexandra Elkins 2 points Evergreen
5th Grade 1st Brandon Hill 4 points Lake Spokane 2nd Jacob Gifford 4 points Lake Spokane 3rd Ryan Walker 4 points Saint Georges 4th Cyril Berndt 3 points Grace Lutheran 5th Andrew Akins 3 points Evergreen 6th Andy Ames 3 points Lake Spokane 6th Grade 1st Michael Thew 4 points Saint Georges 2nd Shay Hutyler 3 points Lake Spokane 3rd Jesse Alves-Foss 3 points MCD
4-6 Champion: COLLIN CREMERS 6th Grade Saint Georges 5 points Elementary Teams 1st Saint Georges 21 points 2nd Lake Spokane 17 3rd Evergreen 11
Middle School 1st Peter Schumaker Lincoln MS, Pullman 4 points 2nd Titus Berndt Grace Lutheran, Wenatchee 3 points 3rd Joseph Verchota Saint Georges, Spokane 2.5 points 4th David Joslin Centennial, Spokane 2.5 1st place team: Centennial Middle School Spokane
High School 1st Niles Desmarais Grace Lutheran 4.5 points 2nd Cyrus Desmarais Grace Lutheran 4 points 3rd John Gunn Saint Georges 4 points 4th Nikolay Bulakh Gonzaga Prep 4 points 5th David Blue North Central HS 3 points 6th Ben Blue North Central 3 points Best under 1000 James Eckart 3 points 1st place team: Grace Lutheran, Wenatchee
The cross tables: SwissSys Standings. solstice sac 09: K-3
SwissSys Standings. solstice sac 09: K-6
SwissSys Standings. solstice sac 09: K-12
North Idaho Fall Chess Tournament (Coeur d'Alene, Nov. 21)) Turnout was small, but big things are expected in the near future as scholastic organizers are already planning a second event. There were 15 players, spread across five divisions, in the inaugural event. The winners are:
Subject: North Idaho
Fall Chess Tournament Results
Adult Division: Score 1st James Stripes 5 2nd Eric Edmonds 4 9 - 12 Grades Division Score 1st Kairav Joshi 4 2nd Johah Gookin 3 3rd Matt Geddes 2 4th Jacob Dolan 1.5 5th Lauren Speirs 1 K - 8th Grade Division Score 1st Savanna Naccarato 3 2nd Jack Lyon 2 3rd Ben Geddes 0.5
* Each player played 5 games even though there weren't that many people in all divisions. Players played out of division but the best scorer in each division decided who won.
Black Knights Joust (Deer Park, Nov.7) Black Knights’ Joust Begins Season by Dr. James Stripes Seventy-nine players from fourteen schools participated in the Black Knights’ Joust in Deer Park on Saturday, November 7. The turnout was a little better than expected due to competition from alternatives that kept some of the area’s top players away: the Whitworth Writing Rally, swine flu vaccinations, karate, and debate. Rogers High School made its first appearance in chess competition is several years, and their top performer Riqi Silva scored a respectable three points. In the team competition, North Central edged Ferris by one-half a point to capture the high school trophy. Lincoln Middle School from Pullman, strengthened by two sixth graders playing up, prevailed over Saint George’s on tiebreaks for the middle school trophy. In elementary, team trophies went to the top three teams. Saint George’s won first place easily, while Lake Spokane took second by one-half point over third place Arcadia. The top seeds had a rough day in the individual competition. In 7-12, Ryan Ackerman drew second seed Richard Schumaker in their last round encounter, and Schumaker won first on tiebreaks—his opponents collectively scoring one-half point more than Ackerman’s. The top rated player in K-3 was kindergartner Garrett Casey. Casey beat the Grand Champion, Connor Lester from Wenatchee, in the final round but lost to third-grader Daniel Arthurs, and drew third-grader Jack Martin (first place, grade three). Casey placed third overall and won the first place kindergarten trophy. Lester’s fourth round victory over Jacob Keyes assured him of the Grand Champion trophy before his battle with Casey; Keyes placed second overall thanks to his victory over Nikhil Chaudhry in round five, and took home the trophy for first place in second grade. Ten of the sixteen players in K-3 were third graders, but Martin’s fourth place overall was the top finish for the oldest students in that section. In the 4-6 division, the top seed was second-grader Braxton Casey who opted to play up for the challenge. He lost to Collin Cremers, Grand Champion, in round three, then drew second seed Michael Thew (first place, sixth grade) in the final round. Thus, two sixth graders from Saint George’s finished at the top, and led their very strong team to victory. Two Lake Spokane fifth graders, Jacob Gifford and Andy Ames, placed third and fourth overall and took home trophies for best in their grade. Nine sixth graders and five fifth graders were added to the list of state qualifiers by scoring three or more. The top fourth grader, Connor Cremers, scored 2.5 in a strong field. The cross table: SwissSys Standings. Black Knights' Joust: K-3 Black Knights' Joust
SwissSys Standings. Black Knights' Joust: 4-6 Black Knights' Joust
SwissSys Standings. Black Knights' Joust: 7-12 Black Knights' Joust
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