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Ronit Rolls at Summer Slam Bash

The Summer Slam Bash kicked off the Chess Club’s Summer Scholastic Tournament Series. A total of 22 kids in grades K-8 competed for the nine different trophies. 

When No. 1-ranked Ronit Kirumaki arrived at the tournament Hall late, a murmur rolled through the tournament playing hall. “There goes my chance at first place,” whispered one student.Others just begrudgingly cried, “Not Ronit!”  Ronit’s first victim of the day was Alexander Lundy. Alexander objected to how fast Ronit was moving. So Ronit played it cool, and took his time in carving out the victory. But Ronit wasn't the only oen who came to play. Kids’ Beginner winner Charlie Pitt had so many pieces surrounding his opponents’ king when checkmate occurred, it was comical.  Ben Liu crushed his round 1 opponent, and Aaradhya Diwan scored the only upset of the first round.

In round 2, Ronit marched on, Ben defeated the youngest player in the field, Alexander got on the scoreboard, and Charlie  came through in the endgame. Aaradhya took down another higher-rated player to score a second staright upset. 

In round 3, Ronit put an end to Charlie’s dreams of the championship.  Ben advanced to 3-0, and Alexander  got the better of the youngest student this time around. The only question was, could Aaradhya keep his upset streak alive against a player rated 400 points higher?  The game went down to the wire.  Aaradhya had no winning chances as he had just a bishop vs. his opponent’s lone rook.  But Aaradhya ran his king to the corner, so whenever his opponent checked him he would just block with the bishop. It sounds like a strange strategy, but it worked. His opponent couldn’t break through the little defense set-up and a draw was agreed.

In round 4, Ronit  took on Ben, who repeatedly asked for a draw, but Ronit just kept pressing and won.  “Rocket” Ronit took home the Championship.  Before the tournament, he joked that he would gain four points from the tournament but instead only got one improving his rating to a robust 1822.  It’s no surprise that Ronit won: He takes full advantage of living in the Chess Capital of the United States. Ronit plays in every adult tournament at the club and all the Friday Action Quads. He's also very active on the Chess Club Ladder, and regularly attends the Grandmaster lectures. That’s the reason “Rocket” Ronit’s rating has blasted from 764 to a whopping 1822 in 15 months.

Aaradhya took clear second place (3.5/4) after scoring another upset victory, this time agaisnt Charlie . He increased his rating from 350 to 730. Aaradhya has been taking Grandmaster lessons to get better and is a regular at the Friday Action Quads.  

Alexander continued his surge to finish with 3 points.  He took home the Top U800 prize despite being rated just 384. He improved his rating to 608.

The next scholastic tournament, The Royal Rumble Bash, is Saturday, July 5.  The Friday Action Quads are every Friday night from 7-9:30.  The entry fee is just $10 and the winner of each Quad earns $36.  Players are seeded into their four-player section by rating.  The three rounds are USCF quick rated as each side has 20 minutes to start. 

The Chess Club offers plenty of opportunites to keep those studetns sharp throughout the summer. Come on by to see all of our great summer programming!

Standings: Summer Slam Bash

# Name Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Tot Probable Prize
1 Ronit Kirumaki 1877 W6 W4 W9 W3 4.0 1st Place
2 Aaradhya Diwan 351 W5 W13 D8 W9 3.5 2nd Place
3 Benjamin Liu 1047 W14 W12 W10 L1 3.0 3rd Place
4 Braden Starck 710 W22 L1 W15 W11 3.0 4th Place
5 Yuvan Chali 830 L2 B--- W14 W10 3.0 5th Place
6 Alexander Lundy 384 L1 W21 W12 W16 3.0 Top U800
7 Sushen Kolakaleti 1098 W13 L10 W16 W8 3.0  
8 Cade Barth McGeehan 770 W17 W16 D2 L7 2.5  
9 Charles D Pitt 720 W19 W11 L1 L2 2.0  
10 Matthew W Yee 708 W21 W7 L3 L5 2.0  
11 Jaden P Meyerstrom 661 W15 L9 W17 L4 2.0  
12 Siddharth Manikandan 687 W18 L3 L6 W17 2.0  
13 Derian Ryker 649 L7 L2 W21 W18 2.0  
14 Erik Ely 610 L3 W18 L5 W19 2.0  
15 Benjamin Effron Shoykhet unr. L11 W19 L4 W21 2.0 Top Unr.
16 Callan S Sukanek 661 W20 L8 L7 L6 1.0  
17 Matthew Lewis 347 L8 W20 L11 L12 1.0 Top U600
18 Dominick Austin unr. L12 L14 W20 L13 1.0  
19 Roman Ryker 298 L9 L15 B--- L14 1.0 Top U400
20 Rebecca Hornberger unr. L16 L17 L18 B--- 1.0  
21 Sam Jerauld unr. L10 L6 L13 L15 0.0  
22 Joseph Hornberger unr. L4 U--- U--- U--- 0.0