Tag Archives: #chesstournament

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News 5/26/21 – Free Unrated Tournament Results

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Change of Scene

In a stroke of good fortune, the main room of Mario’s Five Points was rented out this week, so the participants of the free unrated tournament were forced to brave the fresh air and beautiful weather in their journey for the 2nd clock prize offered this year for the winner of our free unrated tournament.

Tomasz Nielsen tried his hand at Tournament Director duties for the first time and there were no casualties! He also graciously provided a chess clock to the victor of the event and sent photos for this blog. Chess Organizers are difficult to come by, but events like these would not happen with out them, so please make sure to thank him for his efforts in keeping our Tuesday night events going strong the next time you see him.

As with other events occurring all throughout the country, there has been a large number of unrated (but very strong) participants, and this tournament was no different. Of the 15 players, only 3 have established USCF ratings. This indicates not only that the growth of our US chess population is very healthy, but that the new players are eager to get in the ring for some competition!

Results

Sarah May was the winner of the 2nd clock prize for 2021.

When the smoke cleared after Round 4, the top seed, Sarah May, had earned the victory and highly coveted chess clock. Finishing strong and proving that rating is “nothing but a number,” were Ryan Cobb, Thomas Gilbreath, and Patrick Farnham.

We learned that this week is Thomas Gilbreath’s last week in Huntsville, as he’s moving out of town for a new gig. We’ve really enjoyed having him around since he relocated to the area just prior to the pandemic and wish him the best of luck in the future. Thomas is easily one of Alabama’s most dedicated tournament participants, so we know we’ll see him around.

Final Standings

PlaceNameRtngRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Tot
1SARAH MAY2041B—W14W6W2 4.0
2-4RYAN COBBunr.W15W8W7L1 3.0
THOMAS GILBREATH1330W13L7W5W10 3.0
PATRICK FARNHAMunr.L5W11W9W7 3.0
5-6JOEL NIC FRIEDMAN1842W4D6L3W11 2.5
BROCK SEABAUGHunr.W11D5L1W8 2.5
7-10NICK DAVISunr.W9W3L2L4 2.0
JIMMY MCHUGH500W12L2W15L6 2.0
AARON HOUINunr.L7B—L4W12 2.0
CALEB WOODSunr. —W13W12L3 2.0
11-14PABLO MAYAunr.L6L4W13L5 1.0
MICHAEL KIDDunr.L8W15L10L9 1.0
GARY HERRINGunr.L3L10L11B— 1.0
JOSH BATCHELOR300B—L1 — — 1.0
15-19MATTHEW JONESunr.L2L12L8 — 0.0
Huntsville Chess Club Information

Carpool Opportunity – This Saturday 8/10/19 Montgomery Tournament

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Tomasz has graciously offered to carpool on Saturday to Montgomery for the Chris Bond Memorial Tournament. Please email huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com if you’re interested.

You’ll plan to meet in the library parking lot at 5:15AM on Saturday and return late that evening (I think we got back between 10PM and 11PM last time). Only 3 people will fit, and spots will be first-come, first-serve, so email now! If more than 3 people want to go, we may take another vehicle, so please let us know even if you don’t think you got the message in time.

Tournament Details –

Email caesarchess@gmail.com to register no later than tonight to avoid the late fee!

Pre-Registered Wallchart

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News – Quick and Blitz Training, New Equipment

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We’re just a couple of months away from the Quick and Blitz State Championship. It would be a great first tournament for our newer members, since we’re organizing it and it isn’t a standard rated event, we’ll be there to help you through the process. Why not sign up here today?

In the lead up to this event, the club has planned to conduct free, unrated Quick and Blitz tournaments using the time controls that will be used in the State Championship. We’ll plan to sign up onsite (like we do for our usual free events). We’ll plan to start as close to 6pm, as possible and conduct as many rounds as we can until the library closes or we get tired. If you want to participate, please just try to get to the library by about 5:45 so that we can get the pairings done.

By popular demand, we’ve added to our selection of discounted chess equipment here. We’ve added score sheets and a new deluxe chess bag both with multiple color options. Just make sure that you are an official HCC member and are logged in to receive the proper membership discount on this equipment. When you place the order, we’ll bring it to the club the following Monday. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News – HCC to Broadcast tournament games Live

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Starting with round 2 of our G60 tournament, we’ll be broadcasting Board 1 live from of all our standard rated events! The pairings are subject to change, but right now it looks like the first game will be between Miles and Bill Melvin on Monday 3/25 at 6pm. If you can’t make it out to the club, you can still watch their game live from anywhere in the world!

Click here to check it out on the evening of 3/25. The remaining rounds will be broadcast using the same link on the following dates and times:

Round 3 – 4/1 @ 6pm

Round 4 – 4/8 @ 6pm

Round 5 (Final Round) – 4/15 @ 6pm

For ease of locating the link, we’ll also add it under the main menu: Events->G60 D5 03/18-4/15 2019 PAIRINGS, STANDINGS, AND LIVE GAMES LINK and on the home page.

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News 03/04/19 – Misc News Updates (Plus Lots of Cool Pics)

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The HCC has been busy!  Our Chess in a Cave event made National News!  Thanks to David Hayes for publicizing what’s become our flagship scholastic annual event.  USCF Online Magazine

We fielded 2 teams for the Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championship.  We had 3 organic HCC members and were thankfully able to “borrow” a player from the MCCL for our K-6 Club team, who played board 2, and a board 4 from the Chess Kids Nation for the High School club team.   We were very happy to join forces to allow some kids to play on Sunday of the tournament, who otherwise would not have been able to.  They all played their games as though they were playing for their original clubs.

It was kind of a spur of the moment thing to put a team together, so we went in looking to have fun without a lot of expectations, but both teams performed really well for their first 4 vs 4 team tournament.  Noteworthy achievements were a draw against Expert Om Badhe, and a win over an 1800+ player, on Board 1 by Joel Friedman and a near perfect score 3.5/4 by Patrick Dowd on Board 1 in the K-6 Club section.

The K-12 Club team – Joel, Logan, Jonathan, and Varash.

 

 

 

 

The K-6 Club team – Patrick, Joseph, Clate, and Connor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joel Friedman placed 4th in the K-12 (Open) Individual Championship on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

Stuart Rachels (USCF 2605) vs Joel Friedman

No chess player is too good for a pick-up game on the hallway floor of a tournament!

 

Both Patrick Dowd and Larisa Friedman from the HCC served as TDs for the K-3 and K-6 sections of the tournament on both days.  It was hard work, but a lot of fun!

John Morash ponders his next move against a talented Raytheon crew of engineers.

In our last post, we detailed the Raytheon Engineering Week Simul led by John Morash, but we failed to include a photo.  Here it is!

 

 

Our typical library meeting crowd is growing.

Last week we attended our normally scheduled chess meeting at the Huntsville Public Library and 22+ people showed up to play!  There was a great mix of all ages and skill levels.  We held a free, unrated G10; d0 tournament, won by Tomasz Nielsen.

 

 

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News – Raytheon Simul / HCC Returns from Murfreesboro Winter Congress Victorious!

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On Thursday, February 21st, NM John Morash emerged from a tournament Chess retirement of nearly 22 years to represent the HCC as part of National Engineering Week’s Simultaneous Exhibition at Raytheon in Huntsville.  He faced-off against talented Engineers/chess players playing on 10 boards at a time and completed the event without losing or drawing a single game!  The HCC is extremely grateful for his participation.  We may even see some future members recruited from the event (hint hint: Tomasz, tell your buddies they’re welcome anytime)!

On Saturday, February 23rd, an HCC contingent of 6 players consisting of David Hayes, Pat Dowd and son, Ashish Acharya, and Larisa and Joel Friedman traveled the 100+ miles to Murfreesboro, TN to compete in the Murfreesboro Winter Congress tournament.  In addition to the opposition, they battled fatigue and threats of severe weather, but emerged unscathed.  When the scores were tallied, the HCC brought home every prize awarded.

Ashish Acharya, playing in his first ever rated, USCF tournament, took clear first with a perfect score and initial rating of 1843!  Congratulations to all.  Look for more road trip tournament carpool opportunities in the future.  It was a lot of fun!

Results:

Ashish Acharya – 1st

David Hayes and Pat Dowd – 2nd (tie)

Larisa Friedman – 1st U1600

For official results click here.

We hope to see you at the club on Monday evening!  We’ll probably hold a free, quick, unrated tournament.  Stay tuned for upcoming event announcements.

 

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News 2/18/19 – The HCC Returns from US Amateur Team South Undefeated!

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The Huntsville Chess Club emerged battered but unbeaten from the Southern Team Championship Feb 9th and 10th in Kissimmee, Florida.  HCC’s Team of David Hayes, Pat Dowd, Joel and Larisa Friedman earned the 3rd Place Team trophy and Amazon gift cards in the U1500 Section.

Joel also won the top-performance prize for the 3rd board.  HCC’s Team went undefeated in all rounds, but was unable to shake a string of 4 straight draws after winning their first round with wins on all 4 boards.  In the last round, HCC played what could have been the winning team.  However, Pat’s opponent on the second board accepted a draw offer in a complex position insuring our 4th team draw and their second place finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is David’s commented game from the last round.