FAQ, Metro Class Championship, Adult Beginner Recaps

By on February 22, 2013 in

By Mike Kummer

The Chess Club hosted three tournaments over President's Day weekend: The Friday Action Quads (FAQs), the Metro Saint Louis Class Championships and our standard monthly Unrated Beginner Tourney for Adults. The FAQ, a quick-rated tournament held every Friday night, kicked off the weekend in style and featured a larger-than-normal prize fund. Usually, the winner of each quad earns $36, which is more than 3.5 times their $10 entry, but on this night a generous anonymous chess enthusiast donated an extra $200 to the overall prize fund. With 18 players forming four sections, the winner of each quad received an extra $50.

In quad 1, reigning Club Champion Iskandar Aripov continued his assault on the Saint Louis chess scene. He easily got through his first two opponents and was paired with FIDE Master Doug Eckert. Eckert had been in a mini-slump to start 2013, but he finally busted out of it last week. Like Aripov, he was on a roll with a 2-0 score going into the final round. The game ended in a draw, and they split the $86.

In quad 2, CCSCSL Scholastic Coordinator Alex Vergilesov continued his winning ways to collect the cash.

Two favorites, Julian Proleiko and Nozima Aripova, battled each other in the first round of the third quad. Due to his fencing lesson, Julian was more than 15 minutes late for the game-in-26-minute (G/26) encounter. Nozima, perhaps overconfident with the time advantage, sacked a pawn early and got into a worse middlegame. Eventually, she got Julian's pawns "cubed"with one big pawn island of doubled pawns. With Julian in time pressure and his pawns a mess, the players agreed to a draw. Julian and Nozima proceeded to smash the competition to split the first-place prize. The payday was all profit for Julian as he received free entry to the event by winning the raffle at the Ladder Night on Tuesday.

The fourth quad was converted into a small Swiss as six players competed. FAQ regular Ronit Kirumaki and Michael Spindel each had two points going into the final round and agreed to a draw to share the inflated prize. The Friday Action Quads are a great way to play competitive games for a chance at quick cash.

5th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championships

The main event of President's Weekend was the 5th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship. A total of 43 players spanning 7 classes came out for a chance to claim class supremacy. In the Master/Expert Class, FIDE Master Eckert went undefeated to win the section along with his FAQ nemesis Aripov and Nick Karlow. Karlow and Eckert both received invitations to the 2014 Club Championship.

In Class A, after a five-month tournament hiatus, Steve Bange returned with a bang. He defeated two quality opponents then was paired with the surging Vergilesov. "The Verge" had 1.5 points after getting lucky to draw Wash U. student Dan Aldrich. Bange was able to secure the draw to get a share of first place with Aldrich, who won his final round match-up.

In Class B, only four players showed up, so they played a de facto quad. In round 1, Julian "the pro" Proleiko got off to a slow start. His opponent played good defense in blocking Julian's passed pawn. Julian couldn't make any progress and agreed to a draw. But according to the computer, he missed a forced win in 25 moves. In round 2, Julian offered a draw in the middlegame, but his opponent declined. Julian proceeded to play the end game much better than his opponent to advance to 1.5 points. Going into round 3, Julian was in a must-win situation as his opponent was sitting pretty with a 2-0 score. A draw would do no good for "the pro." Playing white, Prolieko transposed into a Smith-Morra Gambit out of the Sicilian. His opponent played some inaccurate moves and on move nine, Julian sacrificed his bishop on the weak f7 square. His opponent screamed out, "Ahhhh, I fell into a trap." Indeed he had. Proleiko was on the precipice of winning his opponent's queen and the $115 top prize.

In Class C, Joseph Bean toppled the top seed in the first round, and then got to play the two lowest seeds in the ensuing rounds to go 3-0. Five evenly matched players competed in Class D. Gabriel Sison managed to outmanuevered the field to go a perfect 3-0.

In the Under 1200/Unrated division, three players were 2-0 heading into the last round. Nigina Aripova, little sister of Iskandar and Nozima, drew her last round to finish with 2.5 points. Now, she needed the players on Board 1, Abdul Abdus-Shakoor and Ryan Deering, to draw to get a share of the money. Lo and behold, little Nigina's plan worked out as the two played down to king vs. king.

Standings: Metro Class Championships: M/X

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	NICK W KARLOW	2129	W5	D3	D2	2.0
2	FM DOUG ECKERT	2272	D4	W6	D1	2.0
3	ISKANDAR ARIPOV	2198	D6	D1	W5	2.0
4	JAMES MCLAUGHLIN	2108	D2	L5	W6	1.5
5	ALEX MARLER	2026	L1	W4	L3	1.0
6	MATTHEW W LARSON	2045	D3	L2	L4	0.5

Standings: Metro Class Championships: Class A

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	STEVEN D BANGE	1833	W4	W5	D3	2.5
2	DANIEL ALDRICH	1898	W7	D3	W5	2.5
3	ALEX VERGILESOV	1951	W6	D2	D1	2.0
4	DAVID BENJAMIN ASKIN	1928	L1	D8	W6	1.5
5	THOMAS GAUL	1917	W8	L1	L2	1.0
6	SERDAR AYKENT	1878	L3	W7	L4	1.0
7	TIAN LU PENG	1803	L2	L6	W8	1.0
8	JOSEPH F WOJCIK	1809	L5	D4	L7	0.5

Standings: Metro Class Championships: Class B

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	JULIAN PROLEIKO	1634	D4	W3	W2	2.5
2	JAMES OSLICA	1752	W3	W4	L1	2.0
3	AKALPIT K GADRE	1711	L2	L1	B---	1.0
4	ASHOK KIRUMAKI	1733	D1	L2	U---	0.5

Standings: Metro Class Championships: Class C

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	JOSEPH MICHAEL BEAN	1547	W5	W7	W3	3.0
2	LOREN A LENZEN	1421	W8	D4	W7	2.5
3	ANDREW STEVENS	1403	B---	W6	L1	2.0
4	RUSS HAMILTON III	1575	W9	D2	D5	2.0
5	JUSTIN GM HULL	1578	L1	W10	D4	1.5
6	MICHAEL K SIEBENHAAR	1480	H---	L3	W8	1.5
7	SANDY SMITH III	1411	W10	L1	L2	1.0
8	DENNIS E HOURCADE	1555	L2	W9	L6	1.0
9	TED C FISCHER	1441	L4	L8	B---	1.0
10	STEPHEN R WHYTE	1551	L7	L5	H---	0.5

Standings: Metro Class Championships: Class D

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	GABRIEL R SISON	1202	B---	W5	W2	3.0
2	SEAN A MALONE	1393	W3	W4	L1	2.0
3	BRETT ECKERT	1329	L2	B---	D4	1.5
4	DIAMOND ABDUS-SHAKOOR	1289	W5	L2	D3	1.5
5	ERIK TKACHENKO	1335	L4	L1	B---	1.0

Standings: Metro Class Championships: U1200/UNR

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	ABDUL ABDUS-SHAKOOR	1186	W6	W4	D2	2.5
2	RYAN DEERING	1094	W8	W5	D1	2.5
3	NIGINA ARIPOVA	875	W10	W6	D5	2.5
4	IRIS YI-XIAN ZHOU	1096	W9	L1	W7	2.0
5	LIAM T STORAN	881	W7	L2	D3	1.5
6	JAMES H SMITH	750	L1	L3	B---	1.0
7	SALVATORE FALCONE	unr.	L5	W8	L4	1.0
8	JOSHUA WOLK	567	L2	L7	B---	1.0
9	RONIT KIRUMAKI	676	L4	W10	U---	1.0
10	ADAM C BOWERS	unr.	L3	L9	H---	0.5

Unrated Adult Beginner Tournament

To top off the holiday weekend, 11 players competed in the Unrated Adult Beginner Tournament. The winner of the event would receive an annual membership to the Chess Club or the USCF.

In round 1, the pre-tournament favorites all got off to a good start. Chess veteran Stoyan Tashev won his first game. Roman Makhov, playing in his third consecutive Beginner tourney, got off to a good start.

The Venn brothers both got on the board with a point in the first round. but then Venn brothers both went down in defeat by the hands of Tashev and Makhov. That set up a final round showdown between Tashev and Makhov. As most beginner games go, even between "good" beginners, the games are very topsy-turvy. Makhov took advantage of Tashev's mistakes and was up two pawns early in the game. Then Makhov dropped a knight. Then it was Tashev's turn to blunder. He gave back a bishop. With the game coming down to the wire and material about even, whoever would blunder next would lose. Who would it be?

Spectators crowded around the board hanging on every move. The two traded down pieces into a king-and-rook endgame. Tashev checked and checked as the two repeated the same position 12 times!? Neither wanted a draw as only 3-0 would win a prize. Ultimately, tournament director Alex Vergilesov stepped in and declared the game a draw. Vergilesov granted both Tashev and Makhov a six-month membership to the club for their hard fought draw.

A bizarre end to a great weekend of chess.

SwissSys Standings: Adult Beginner

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Stoyan Tashev	unr.	W10	W3	D2	2.5
2	Roman Makhov	unr.	W7	W11	D1	2.5
3	Wayne Venn	unr.	W9	L1	W4	2.0
4	Dominic Baker	unr.	W8	W6	L3	2.0
5	Thomas Fitzgerald Jr.	unr.	L6	W8	W9	2.0
6	Sal Falcone	unr.	W5	L4	D7	1.5
7	Alec McGarry	unr.	L2	W10	D6	1.5
8	Melvin Tann	unr.	L4	L5	W11	1.0
9	Sam Memari	unr.	L3	B---	L5	1.0
10	Jack Lynn	unr.	L1	L7	B---	1.0
11	Nicholas Venn	unr.	B---	L2	L8	1.0