Beginner Tourney, Scholastic Tourney Recaps

[imagefield_assist|fid=15351|preset=fullsize|title=|desc=|link=none|origsize=|align=left|width=700|height=484]

By Ken West

Saint Louis Chess Club member Clark Zhang Berry flashed his long red hair in Samsonian fashion and lived up to his top rating (1506) in the K-8 section of the Second Annual Summer Slam Bash Saturday. Berry scored a perfect 4/4, good for the first place trophy in the 24-person field.

David Kim (984) took the first place trophy in the high-school division, which had no perfect score among the six competitors. David scored 3/4 as did second place prize winner George W. Liu (1080) and third place finisher Joey D. Albertson (623). Club regular Julian Proleiko (662) came in fourth with 1.5/4 and Harrison Gimenez (603) placed fifth at 1.5/4.

Berry took the win in the K-8 section based on tie-breaks, finishing ahead of Akshay Srinivasan (871), who also had a perfect score to take the second-place trophy. Eric Tkachenko (1039), another Saint Louis Chess Club stalwart, scored 3/4 with his sole loss coming at the hands of Srinivasan, good for the third-place cup. Also scoring 3 points each and taking home trophies were David Braton (1102), good for fourth; Bo Hylan (713), fifth place; Vishnu Arun (top under 1000) and Shawn Pernik (top under 800).

Liam Storan (unrated) scored 2/4 to take the top under 600 trophy.

The scholastic tournaments have become a summer hit for the younger crowd with more turning out to play this year, a 50-percent increase in player attendance compared with last year’s turnout. The excitement meter is definitely hitting high marks for these events.

In a payback ladder game played after the tournament, George Liu gained back some of his lost rating points by beating his friend David Kim. But David still kept his first-place trophy.

The summer scholastic action is not over. On July 21, the Royal Rumble Bash will again see the scholastic players battle for prizes followed by the Back-to-School Bash on Aug. 11. Both tournaments are four-round Swiss with each side having 30 minutes.

Click here to learn more about the Royal Rumble Bash!

Summer Slam Bash: K-8

Summer Slam Bash: High School

Unrated Kids Tournament Recap

By Mike Kummer

A total of 26 players braved the summer heat to compete in the Unrated Kids Tournament on June 24. In the 3rd Grade and Under Section, Andre Pardue gave hope to the potential of the quality of the tourney when he placed his knight on the back row to deliver a nifty checkmate.

But the hope was quickly dashed, when the final two of games of round 1 were simultaneously decided by stalemate. Ugh!

In round 2, Adin Zaidel defeated February Beginner tourney winner Marc Levin. In Round 3, Marc's younger brother, Avi, tried to avenge the loss to Adin, but came up short. Also in the round, The Ryker brothers both won their matches. Derian got the win over Andre Pardue and Roman somehow avoided putting his opponent in stalemate to earn the full point over Christopher Lee. In the fourth and final round, Adin Zaidel got the better of Felipe Rey to finish clear first. He won the book Back to Basics: Tactics.

Also of note, Roman Ryker notched another win to finish with 2.5 points. The Levin brothers both finished strong and entered into the Royal Rumble Bash, a USCF Scholastic tourney scheduled to be held on July 21.

In the 4th grade and Over section, Ben Boaz took clear first place with 3.5 points. In round 3, he figured out how to checkmate his opponent with just a rook and a king. Good Job, Ben! 

All players in both sections received a medal for finishing the tourney.

Click here to learn about our next Unrated Kids tournament!

Kids Beginner Tournament: 3rd Grade and Down

Kids Beginner Tournament: 4th Grade and Up