Max Wiegand, a sixth grader from the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Mass., achieved one of the greatest tournament triumphs in his life by winning first place in the Elementary Varsity section of the 45th annual Greater New York Scholastic Championship, held January 29-30 at the The New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
The 12-year-old MACA member (ed. and Bolyston Chess Club regular) scored a perfect 5-0 in a field of 65 rivals, mainly from New York and New Jersey. He was the sole Massachusetts entry in the Elementary Varsity section. The championship, which is sponsored by the Kasparov Chess Foundation, is the USCF's longest-running scholastic tournament and one of the toughest events for scholastic players in New York. Max played up against higher rated players in three of his five wins and four of his wins were against competitors who finished in the top 8.
Max got to meet former world champion Garry Kasparov, who attended the tournament to sign autographs and make the ceremonial first move on board 1 in the third round. Kasparov specifically asked Max (who was playing on board 2 in that round) his name, which was pretty exciting for the Cambridge player. Also exciting for Max was his raising his USCF rating by nearly 150 points! In addition to the trophy and title, Max won six months of free entry (worth hundreds of dollars) to Chess Center of New York events at the legendary Marshall Chess Club in Manhattan.
The two-day championship drew a total of 672 players in 12 sections and was directed by renowned TD Steve Immitt of New York. His chief assistant was Sophia Rohde. Also assisting in the large event were TDs Joe Lux, Harold Stenzel, Walter Brown Jr., Polly Wright, Hector Rodriguez III, Steven Flores, Aaron Kiedes, Hal Sprechman and Jabari McGreen.
George Mirijanian
MACA President
MACA President
1 comment:
Congratulations to Max. Well done. This is a really big accomplishment.
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