BCC MARCH GRAND PRIX IN 2 SECTIONS
OPEN SECTION
11 yr old Jason Tang ( + 22, to 1996) hits the mark with black vs
Brandon Wu, 0-1 taking 3.5 points out of 4 and clear 1st place.
10 yr old Brandon had 2.5 points for 3-6th place and +2 to 1861 rating.
Alex Yu plays Nithin Kavi in Round 1. Nithin won the game
and clear 2nd place with 3 points, holding his expert rating
at 2002. Alex was +8 for a 1729 rating.
Luis A Baez-Rosario is dressed for battle.
Luis scored 2.5 points to share 3-6th place,
and a +12 to rating to 2053.
Robert Holmgren figures out this endgame for
win over Conway Xu in Round 1, and +45 rating
hike to 1850. Conway was 1.5 out of 3.
Will Ravn plays Ryan Sowa in Round 2 for full point,
and a total of 2.5 points, sharing 3-6th place, a rating hike of
+20 to 1798. Ryan broke even with 2 points out of 4 rounds.
(background): Alex Yu, black vs Robert Holmgren;
Eric Feng vs Professor Jerry Williams.
PHOTO PICK OF THE EVENT
11 yr old Carissa Yip and 91 yr old Harold Dondis.
Carissa was +7 for 2041 rating; Harold was +18 to 1686.
ADULTS PLAY CHESS TOO!
Professor Jerry Williams plays Natasha Christiansen, Esq.
Round 1. The game was drawn. (background): Nicholas Lesieur.
Nithin prevailed in this pivotal game, clinching 2nd place,
though Lawrence went 50 percent in the event with 2 for 4
and a +7 rating to 1823.
MOST EXCITING GAME OF THE EVENT
Mike Griffin plays Aidan Sowa in Round 3.
The game came down to 2 seconds on the clock.
Nerve-wracking! Mike prevailed with checkmate
before either flag fell.
U1800 SECTION
Down to the Wire
Phu Si Vo (3 points) vs Nicholas Lesieur (3 points), Round 4.
Hardly out of the middle-game, there ensued a time-scramble.
Vo lost his way and was checkmated with hardly a minute
on Lesieur's clock. [Interesting outcome. The result of this
game might have been very different with no 5 second delay!]
Nicholas was happy with 4 points for clear 1st place. Vo shared
2-4th place with Gabriel Birzu and Evan Welsh at 3 points each.
For Lesieur it was a +63 to 1799 rating; for Vo +11 to 1694.
Birzu rating went +1 to 1640, from provisional to permanent.
Evan Welsh's provisional rating was +63 to 1478.
Gabriel Birzu vs Sammi Pan, Round 4. Sammi had 2 points
on the day and a rating +49 to 1074.
NEW FACES AT THE BCC
Michael Trudell
Derek Chubo Zhao vs Julian Morris, Round 2.
Evan Welsh scored 3 points to share 2-4th place with
Phu Si Vo and Gabriel Birzu. Here he is playing black
vs Richard Alan Chen in Round 4.
(background): Tom Shneer, black vs Lucy Cai: draw
Photo: Hui Huang
Steve Stepak vs Rishi Jun-Kai Basu, Round 1.
Rishi's dad (glasses, cap) is watching the opening moves.
The Basu family is recently relocated from New York State.
Steve won this game and was happy to share a postmortem with
Rishi on the complexities of the D30 Queen's Gambit Declined.
Stepak scored 2 points out of 2 for +7 to 1607;
Rishi was 1 for 3 and a +16 to 1286 rating.
FULL HOUSE
43 PLAYERS SITTING AND THINKING!
PHOTO PORTRAIT PICK OF THE EVENT
Sammi Pan thinking hard in Round 4. She had
black against one of the strongest players in the
U1800 field. With a good position right through
the middle game, she got stuck towards the end.
Yet! Sammi Pan is a diligent student of chess and
little by little, she is learning good technique
which will bring her to chess mastery soon enough.
After all, she is only 9!
PHOTOS BY STEVE STEPAK
Nathan Smolensky, event TD, had his hands full with 43 players,
keeping track of the ins and outs in 2 sections and extra games.
Bravo, Nathan!
1 comment:
Steve, great photos and comments
Love your coverage of tournaments when I can't make it to the club. Wow, the grand prix is booming..
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