2012 Super Team Championship Recap

[imagefield_assist|fid=15387|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=GM Ben Finegold and NM Spencer Finegold made up 2/3 of team Winning!!, the victors of the Super Team Championship. Nick Karlow, not pictured, helped the Finegolds claim the crown.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=700|height=445]

By Alex Marler

The 2012 Super Team Championship proved to be one of the best yet! The event featured 17 fightin’ teams with more than 50 players! There were two sections for the event: the Open and the Under 4800 (4800 represents the sum of the three team members' rating). This tournament was the Chess Club’s first use of DGT boards for a local tournament, which allowed for the games to be displayed live on www.saintlouischessclub.org. I hope to make this a new standard in local tournament chess at the club. 

Team tournaments are often paired on the basis of the team’s performance rather than the individual's performance, which would be similar to a regular swiss. This sort of team-based pairing always produces interesting match ups, even in the later rounds, which would never happen in an open Swiss tournament.

The tournament produced many interesting upsets throughout the day! Club employee Michael Tabriz, defeated Life Master Jim Mclaughlin in round two. Tabriz has only played seven rated games. It is quite impressive for him to beat such a strong player with such little experience.

In other upsets, Lucas McCain (1988) delivered a thrashing to Nick Karlow (2112) and Clark Berry (1560) took down a solid strategist in Tim Nesham (1816). Club newcomer Alkalpit Gadre (1675) had the misfortune of being paired up in every round, but he dealt with it like a pro by crushing both Dan Coryea (1829) and Christopher Johnson (1821). A few months ago I played Gadre in a Quick Tournament at the club and I knew then that he was going places ... like the A-Class.

Winning!! completely ran over the competition. Their board one, GM Ben Finegold, and board two, newly minted NM Spencer Finegold, both won all of their games. Their board three, CM Nick Karlow, beat his first three opponents but lost in the last round to McCain. The Finegolds jokingly informed Karlow that he was officially off the team after that loss. The Wondrous Apricots, comprised of NM Victor Feldberg, Gordon Ruan, and Lucas McCain, earned second place after losing a tense last-round battle to Winning!!. Also with three points, but finishing third on tiebreaks, was Family. FM Doug Eckert, Jim Mclaughlin, and Selden Trimble were the Family members. The Under 4800 section was won outright by R to d2, comprised of Michael Tabriz, Shaz Iqbal, and Jonathan Schrantz. 

The prizes were paid out in full and everyone had a glorious time! Congrats to our winners, and thanks to everyone who showed up and played. I hope to see everyone at our next tournament, the Amateur and Premiere, which is on July 21!

Team Roster and Scores. 2012 Super Team Championship