A highlight of Thanksgiving weekend is always the National Chess Congress in Philadelphia. This year numerous people who play in TBCC events such as club or tournaments, participated in this event. (The list I worked off of for this write up can be found at – National Chess CongressStandings for Premier (chessevents.com) ) These players ranged from IM Tom Bartell who generously donates to the Holly Heisman every year and this year, as he often does, participated in the event as well, to several players in the Under 600 section. If I missed anyone, my apologies, please feel free to let me know.
IM Bartell had an excellent result with 4 out of 5 (players routinely miss the last round(s) of this event for a wide variety of reasons.) Kevin Chen who often works with Tom at Main Line Chess and Games scored 1.5. Joe Mucerino who regularly plays in our events when we have an Open section scored 1 out of 4, one of his losses against the tournament winner. Jack Lieberman, a former student and now a college freshman, who played with us when he was a little kid, I still remember having a birthday cake for him when his mom let him come to the club for the first time (they live a bit further away than most of our players), scored 0.5, but wasn’t able to play the last day.
We didn’t have any club regulars participate in the Under 2200 section, though former student of mine Kevin Zhang Li finished with 4 out of 6 (2 wins and 4 draws), tying for 8th to 19th place.
In the Under 2000 section, another former student and college freshman, Vasishta Tumuluri, who regularly played with us before he went to UNC and whose brother sometimes helps us with events scored 2 points, but he didn’t get to play the last round.
In the Under 1800, Stephen Conner who regularly participates in club activities and teaches numerous students who participate in club activities, had a fabulous result of 5 out of 6, not losing a game. He came in 2nd place in the section. The highest finisher in any section who regularly does stuff with the club.
The Under 1600 section was the only section where we didn’t have anyone.
In the Under 1400 section we had a wide variety of connections to players in the event. Xingkai Fu tied for 3rd to 9th with 4.5 points. He came to club a couple months ago but hasn’t been able to make it back. Hua Ma, father of Paul and Wen Ma, who regularly participate with us, scored 3.5 – 2.5. Vahini Sadhu Venkata regularly plays with us on Tuesday nights and also plays in some of our tournaments scored 3.5 points. Allen Wang who played in a couple of tournaments with us and Hrtha Rajiv who played with us regularly before Covid both scored 3 points. Jingyi Lu, playing up a section, picked up two points.
In the Under 1200 section, Paul Ma who sometimes plays on Tuesday and in our tournaments scored 3.5 – 2.5. He lost or split points only with players who finished in the top 6.
In the Under 1000 section, Max Leung who occasionally joins us for tournaments finished with a 3 – 3 score.
In the Under 800 section, three kids who play in our tournaments finished in the top 10! Gideon Sunjay Richard and Felix Feng finished with a 4 – 2 score and were part of a group that tied for 5th to 7th. Ethan Yu Wang, finished half a point back, in a group that finished 8 – 10.
In the Under 600 section, Sanjitha Krishnan and Hannah Lu bother scored 4-2, to be part of a group that tied from 6th – 13th. Both lost to the eventual winner and another person. Wen Le Ma finished with a 3 – 3 score and in a tie for 17th to 26th!
In the mixed doubles section, Vahini and Steve scored an impressive 8.5 (out of 12) to tie for 3rd through 5th.
Congrats to everyone on their fine performances and I hope to see you all at club meetings or tournaments soon!
