Saint Louis Class Championship Brings Strong Turnout

By on February 27, 2014 in

The 6th Annual Saint Louis Class Championship brought 65 players out to compete in their respective sections for a share of the prize fund. A single-day event, the Championship consisted of three G/85 rounds and five sections: Master/Expert, Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Under 1200/Unrated.

In a typical open tournament, the rating differential of two opponents can vary greatly, so having many sections gave players an excellent chance to compete against others close to their own skill level. A veritable flood of lower-rated and unrated players turned out for the U1200 section, including a group of players from the Pyramid Chess Club who travelled all the way from Cairo, Ill.!

The Master/Expert category featured five expert players and GM Ben Finegold. After two rounds, expert David Askin and GM Finegold were tied with two wins each. Askin petitioned the tournament directors to include a special prize for the top expert, to which the organizers agreed -- a good thing for Askin, as the Grandmaster scored a positional victory in their round three game. CCSCSL Executive Director Tony Rich made a respectable showing with 1.5/3, losing only to GM Finegold in the first round.

In the Class A section, young Julian Proleiko, a regular face at the CCSCSL, continued his meteoric rise, leading the field with two wins going into the third round. However, Proleiko drew 2010 Class A winner Todd Plagemann in round three. This paved the way for two other players, Paul Goddard and Matt Hosler, to win their last games and tie Proleiko at 2.5/3, splitting the prize three ways. All three plan to put their winnings towards entry fees to future CCSCSL tourneys such as the upcoming March Knights.

CCSCSL instructor Harper Evan Smith seemed dominant in the Class B section, leading the pack at 2.0/3 going into the final round. He scored a lucky point in the first round when his sick opponent was forced to withdraw. Unfortunately for him, Smith’s luck ran out in round three when William Lee Little handed him his first defeat of the tournament. Little jumped to 2.5/3, good enough for top honors. The last game of the tourney to finish was a marathon slog between Dennis Taylor and James Oslica in round three, eventually ending in a draw.

Class C was rather one-sided, with Harold Hadman completely dominating. Hadman, having previously scored wins in the June 2013 Beginner tourney, the 2013 Thanksgiving Satellite, and the U1400 Section in the 2013 Thanksgiving Open, racked up a perfect score for the day. All three of his wins were against higher-rated players -- icing on the cake for an already sweet day.

In Class D, Mario Coronado scored victories in the first two rounds before bowing out with a half point bye in the final round. Coronado may have thought he could rest on his laurels with a comfortable 2.5 points, but club regular Sean Malone, sitting with 1.5 points after round two, managed a win in the third round to create a two-way tie for first place.

The massive U1200/Unrated section saw seven (!) players enter round three with two wins, including myself and Jonathan Israel, as well as former Kid’s Beginner tournament winner Wilson Gao. In the end, Israel and I both managed wins in round three, while CCSCSL newcomer Tim Doonan also went 3-0, resulting in a three-way tie for first.

A total of 11 players walked away with prize money at the end of a long day of chess. The 6th Class Championship proved once again that chess is a sport for beginners, masters, and everyone in between. Thanks to all the participants for another amazing Class Championship!

SwissSys Standings. 6th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship: Master/Expert

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Benjamin P Finegold	2578	W4	W3	W2	3.0
2	David Benjamin Askin	2000	W6	W5	L1	2.0
3	James McLaughlin	2100	W5	L1	D4	1.5
4	Tony D Rich	2025	L1	W6	D3	1.5
5	Tianlu Peng	2001	L3	L2	B---	1.0
6	Alexander Vergilesov	2056	L2	L4	U---	0.0

SwissSys Standings. 6th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship: Class A

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Julian Proleiko	1809	B---	W9	D4	2.5
2	Paul J Goddard	1867	W7	D5	W11	2.5
3	Matthew C Hosler	1887	H---	W6	W5	2.5
4	Todd A Plagemann	1950	D6	W8	D1	2.0
5	Ashok S Kirumaki	1854	B---	D2	L3	1.5
6	Albert Damont Howlett	1878	D4	L3	B---	1.5
7	Jonathan Patrick Schrantz	1907	L2	D10	W9	1.5
8	Steven D Bange	1840	W11	L4	D10	1.5
9	Ryan Polsky	1854	W10	L1	L7	1.0
10	Jeffrey J Kovalic	1907	L9	D7	D8	1.0
11	Andrew Yueyang Fei	1879	L8	B---	L2	1.0

SwissSys Standings. 6th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship: Class B

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	William Lee Little	1636	W8	D2	W3	2.5
2	Dennis G Taylor	1647	B---	D1	D4	2.0
3	Harper Evan Smith	1633	W11	W10	L1	2.0
4	James Oslica	1724	D10	W7	D2	2.0
5	Troy L Krimminger	1775	D7	D6	W9	2.0
6	Ronit Kirumaki	1771	D9	D5	D7	1.5
7	Christopher D Castellanos	1672	D5	L4	D6	1.0
8	Behrooz Vakil	1765	L1	W9	U---	1.0
9	Joseph Michael Bean	1640	D6	L8	L5	0.5
10	Craig L Hines	1785	D4	L3	U---	0.5
11	Justin Gm Hull	1748	L3	U---	U---	0.0

SwissSys Standings. 6th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship: Class C

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Harold L Hadman	1518	W5	W2	W3	3.0
2	Andrew Stevens	1529	W3	L1	W4	2.0
3	James Ivy	1582	L2	W4	L1	1.0
4	Erik Tkachenko	1468	W6	L3	L2	1.0
5	Dennis Emil Hourcade	1560	L1	B---	U---	1.0
6	Timothy W Barrett	1538	L4	U---	U---	0.0

SwissSys Standings. 6th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship: Class D

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Mario Coronado	1321	W3	W4	H---	2.5
2	Sean A Malone	1365	D6	W5	W4	2.5
3	Robert A Luckey	1246	L1	W6	H---	1.5
4	Jared Howard	1236	W5	L1	L2	1.0
5	Ken West	1306	L4	L2	W6	1.0
6	Brad D Baldridge	1285	D2	L3	L5	0.5

SwissSys Standings. 6th Annual Metro Saint Louis Class Championship: U1200/Unrated

#	Name	Rtng	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Tot	Prize
1	Tim M Doonan	1146	W13	W12	W6	3.0
2	Charles Andy Primm	1037	W8	W15	W7	3.0
3	Jonathan M Israel	1026	W22	W17	W5	3.0
4	Brian R Thompson	unr.	W20	W9	D12	2.5
5	Wilson Gao	1105	W25	W10	L3	2.0
6	Sachin Laxman Milli	1003	W14	W11	L1	2.0
7	Wayne Venn	unr.	W21	W23	L2	2.0
8	Joshua Wolk	635	L2	B---	W19	2.0
9	Chad Christopher Gutterman	971	W16	L4	W18	2.0
10	Timothy Weeks	929	W18	L5	W16	2.0
11	Jose M Galdamez	572	B---	L6	W17	2.0
12	Della Nicole Carter	937	W24	L1	D4	1.5
13	Sushen Kolakaleti	748	L1	W24	D14	1.5
14	Grace Foo	unr.	L6	W21	D13	1.5
15	Greg K Vanvalkenburg	671	B---	L2	H---	1.5
16	Curtis Venn	unr.	L9	W20	L10	1.0
17	Yasin A Hollis	858	W19	L3	L11	1.0
18	Thomas Tisby	unr.	L10	W25	L9	1.0
19	Terry Miracle	unr.	L17	W22	L8	1.0
20	Reza Mofidi	859	L4	L16	W23	1.0
21	James H Smith	881	L7	L14	W24	1.0
22	Joe Woodring	unr.	L3	L19	W25	1.0
23	Mario Roper	1039	H---	L7	L20	0.5
24	Zayn Hollis	unr.	L12	L13	L21	0.0
25	Isabel Yearian	673	L5	L18	L22	0.0