by Tony Chen, Scholastic Coordinator
During Thanksgiving, many of us will reflect upon our blessings this past year. Here at the Saint Louis Chess Club, we are sincerely grateful for the support given by our chess players, family members, and community partners. As a result of everyone’s cooperation, the Turkey Tango Chess Tournament at SLU’s Center for Global Citizenship drew a record-breaking 207 participants! To better serve the growing field of competitors, the monthly scholastic tournament series has increased to 4 sections, creating deeper competition and providing more opportunities to recognize our players.
In the newly formed K-6 U400 section, 2nd through 5th place finishers all tied with 3.5 points. But due to tiebreaks, 2nd place went to Anish Shinde, with Keegan Nolin, Deetya Thummala, and Felix Zhang taking 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively. The 1st place trophy was awarded to Angella Zhang, who gave a dominating performance resulting in a perfect 4-0 score.
In the K-6 Open section, Saanvi Ramgounda edged out seven other players in a tiebreak to take 5th place. Austin Minute and Roman Kaminski took 3rd and 4th place respectively, both finishing the tournament with 3.5 points. The top two players both finished with perfect 4-0 scores, but tiebreaks gave 2nd place to Abhinav Rao and 1st place to Tarun Haribasker.
In the K-12 U1000 section, similar results happend with ties for the top five finishers. Like always, tiebreaks takes its toll and gave 5th place to Matthew Tranor, 4th to Charles Pitt, 3rd to Bobby Lewis, 2nd to Xander Van Horn, and 1st to Aahan Sharma.
In Turkey Tango's toughest section, the K-12 Open, the top seeded player Rowan Riney (1484) was expected to take 1st. But due to a exceptional performance by Joshua Fundler, with a draw in round 3, Riney was stripped of the top prize. With a score of 3 points, veteran Isabel Yearian took 3rd place. The 3rd and 4th places went to Rowan Riney and Josh Fundler, both finishing with 3.5 points. The top two winners both finished with perfect 4-0 scores. But tiebreaks awarded 2nd place to Cole Tatro, and 1st to Jenna Song.
The team competition, as expected, was the largest attraction. In the K-6 U400 section, the beginner Argo team took 3rd place with 8.5 points, Spoede Elementary took 2nd place with 10 points, and GF Chess Club took 1st with 12 points. In the K-6 Open section, 3rd place went to St. Gabriel’s with 9 points, 2nd to New City School with 12 points, and 1st to Babler Elementary with 13.5 points.
In the K-12 U1000, Roosevelt High School finished in 3rd with 7 points, the tenacious Gateway Middle School finished in 2nd with 8.5 points, and the advanced Argo team finished in 1st with 10.5 points. In the top K-12 Open section, Webster Groves High School took 3rd place with 6 points, Hixon Middle took 2nd with 9.5 points, and GF Chess Club continued their reign in 1st with 12.5 points.
Please join us again next month on Sunday, December 17th, at the Center for Global Citizenship on SLU Campus to help us continue our growth and set another record at the Holiday Classic! Register here >
