Wednesday, January 21, 2015

2015 National Dragon Day Tournament


January 16th is National Appreciate a Dragon Day and to celebrate, the BCSD Chess Club (under the guise of Silver Creek Dragons!) showed their appreciation with a celebratory tournament.  This is the second year of the tournament which features the Sicilian Dragon opening lines:  1. e4 c5  2. Nf3 d6  3. d4 cxd4  4. Nxd4 Nf6  5. Nc3 g6
Dragon Chess Set as prize

The G/15 0d tournament proved to be a favorite of some of the players as I heard them exclaim, "I love this defense!"  I try to offer theme tournaments in order to expand and challenge players to learn and try new things on the chess board.  The game is meant to be a scientific, hypothesis, prediction, and experiment-ridden smorgasbord of openings, middle game tactics, and endgame strategies.  The kids I work with appreciate my philosophy and our style remains flexible, creative, and fun.

Wesley Brimstein vs. Journey Iverson

The tournament was held in the Silver Creek High School science classroom where I hang my hat most of the time.  Twelve players showed up to play with most of the high schoolers curiously absent due to jobs.  The time proved fun and the tournament started strong for Desmond Porth and it appeared that he was going to stay on top.  G/15 games can take a nasty turn and in the 3rd round, he had an unexpected loss to Otto Olsen.  Otto used time to his advantage and capitalized on Desmond's temporal deficit.  Desmond withdrew and attended a lecture for educators and parents by Daniel Pink.  I was sorry to be missing the presentation.

Wikipedia says, Pink has written five books that focus on the "changing workplace," and that have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list:

  • To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
  • Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
  • The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need
  • A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future
  • Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself

His articles on business and technology have appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Wired.  As of 2012, Pink's 2009 talk on The puzzle of motivation was one of the 10 most-watched TED Talks.  In 2011, Thinkers50 named Pink as one of the 50 most-influential management thinkers in the world.

The games continued and Levi Catangcatang, Wesley Brimstein, and Spencer Gaudereau shifted to overdrive.  By round 5 Levi and Wesley were tied for first place (though Wesley had 0.5 point lead in the first tie-breaks).  They agreed to play an Armageddon Match to settle the placement and win the Dragon Chess board graciously donated by Tyler Avila last year.  An Armageddon Match is decisive in that white has time odds and black has draw odds.  That is, white has 3 min. on the clock and black had 2 minutes on the clock.   If black draws then it is considered a win.  Wesley was white and Levi was black.  
Levi Catangcatang vs. Wesley Brimstein
Wesley calmly moved like a machine with constant intervals between moves.  Levi chose a fast opening and then slowed too much to think about some middle game tactics and finally lost on time.  A fun, energizing, and heart-racing end to a tournament.

CrossTable
No.
Name
Pts
Rnd1
Rnd2
Rnd3
Rnd4
Rnd5
1
Brimstein, Wesley
4.0
W5
L9
W3
W6
W4
2
Catangcatang, Levi
4.0
W3
L4
W5
W8
W6
3
Gaudereau, Spencer
3.0
L2
W10
L1
W11
W7
4
Iverson, Journey
3.0
W10
W2
L6
W7
L1
5
Llantoy, Bayro
3.0
L1
W11
L2
W12
W8
6
Porth, Darwin
3.0
W7
W8
W4
L1
L2
7
Enriquez, Froilan
2.0
L6
W12
W10
L4
L3
8
Olsen, Otto
2.0
W12
L6
W9
L2
L5
9
Porth, Desmond
2.0
W11
W1
L8
-U-
-U-
10
Quesnel, Zach
2.0
L4
L3
L7
-B-
W12
11
Quesnel, Skade
1.5
L9
L5
D12
L3
-B-
12
Cross, Kaiden
0.5
L8
L7
D11
L5
L10

Tiebreaks
Place
Name/Team
Score
Solk
CumOp
Cum
MMed
 1
Brimstein, Wesley (1)
   4.0
  15.0
  46.0
  11.0
  12.0
 2
Catangcatang, Levi (2)
   4.0
  14.0
  45.0
  11.0
  12.0
 3
Porth, Darwin (9)
   3.0
  15.0
  48.0
  12.0
  13.0
 4
Iverson, Journey (6)
   3.0
  14.5
  43.0
  11.0
  13.0
 5
Gaudereau, Spencer (5)
   3.0
  12.5
  32.5
   7.0
  11.5
 6
Llantoy, Bayro (7)
   3.0
  11.5
  33.0
   7.0
  11.0
 7
Olsen, Otto (8)
   2.0
  13.5
  40.5
   8.0
   9.5
 8
Enriquez, Froilan (4)
   2.0
  11.0
  33.5
   7.0
   8.0
 9
Quesnel, Zach (12)
   2.0
   8.5
  26.5
   2.0
   5.5
 10
Porth, Desmond (10)
   2.0
   7.0
  20.5
   9.0
   3.0
 11
Quesnel, Skade (11)
   1.5
   9.5
  24.5
   1.5
   6.5
 12
Cross, Kaiden (3)
   0.5
   9.5
  25.5
   1.5
   6.5

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