July Pride and Points Tournament

Mike Carrel (founder of the Carrel Chess Club) hosted a 5 round G/30 tournament Saturday, July 12th. The tournament was the second monthly action tournament for the Carrel Chess Club.

Here are some random observations:

1. 20 people showed up on a Saturday when there was a competing tournament in Toledo
2. Of the 20 players who played on 7/12/08, 8 were new to tournament play at CCC
3. 11 players ratings increased an average of 62.8 points each
4. 8 players ratings decreases an average of 36.8 points each
5. The 19 players gained an average of 21 points each
6. 1 player played his first tournament

Congratulations to the top 2 ratings gainers (both gained over 100 points)!
1. Alan Sun gained 341 points!
2. Mandy Lu gained 171 points

Alan Sun broke the CCC record of points gained in a single tournament. The old record had been set by John Zhang with 300 points at the June 28th Action.

Mandy Lu has gained over 100 points in both tournaments, and has now gained 325 points in 15 calendar days! Also, she is the only 2 time member of the 100 point club.

The complete 100 point club is:
1. Alan Sun 341 pts 7/12/2008
2. John Zhang 300 pts 6/28/2008
3. Jacob Schneider 188 pts 6/28/2008
4. Mandy Lu 171 pts 7/12/2008
5. Mandy Lu 154 pts 6/28/2008
6. Rodney Dison 141 pts 6/28/2008

Of note: The cumulative ratings gain from this tournament was 400 points, which lagged behind the 449 total points gained by the field in the 6/28/08 tournament.

June Pride and Points Tournament

Mike Carrel (founder of the Carrel Chess Club) and I teamed up to run a 5 round G/30 tournament yesterday, June 28th. The tournament was the christening tournament for the Carrel Chess Club in its new permanent location.

Here are some of the highlights as I see them:

1. 28 people showed up for the inaugural tourney
2. We were only 15m behind schedule in spite of a printer problem
3. In the top section:
--- 9 player ratings increased with an average gain of 43 pts each
--- only 5 players ratings dropped with an average loss of 36.8 pts each
4. In the bottom section:
--- 7 players played their first rated tournament (average rating 324)
--- 3 players ratings increased an average of 214 pts each
--- 4 players ratings decreased an average of 23 pts each
--- 1 player graduated from provisional

Congratulations to the 4 biggest ratings winners (all of them were up over 100 points):
1. John Zhang gained 300 points!
2. Jacob Schneider gained 188 points
3. Mandy Lu gained 154 points
4. Rodney Dison gained 141 points

Additional congratulations to:
1. Manmohan Das for winning the open section with 4.5/5
2. John Zhang for winning the U700 section with 4/5!
3. Joy Chen for the biggest upset of the day. Joy won her first game in spite of a deficit of 537 rating points!

Snow Day Chess: Part 3

This position came up in a 5 minute game I played today. I missed the winning combination. Black to move and win.

 

Snow Day Chess: Part 2

In this position I was black and had worked my opponent into a corner. At this point I I had mate in 4. I played the first 2 moves right, and then botched the mate in 2 and lost in the end.

 

Snow Day Chess

Since my school had a snow today, I had the day off and decided to get in some chess games this morning. This position came up in a 5 minute game, where I was black. It is black to move and mate in 4.

 

I missed the mate in 4, and instead found mate in 5.