Thursday Chess Club

Tournament Board Raffle:  Congratulations Nick Wilson
Tournament Board Donation:  Congratulations Alex Aspuro
Chess Workouts Winner: Congratulations Taylor Walton
WRHS Bughouse Champions:  Congratulations Andrew Uriarte & Chris Ellis
WRHS Blitz Champion:  Congratulations Nick Bruck

It has been an active chess month for WRHS Chess Club and the momentum seems to be building.  Thirteen Blitz players competed for the WRHS Blitz Champion position on Thursday and the winner wasn't even going to sign up!  We played 10 rounds G/5 games in my classroom with two sections, K-6 and 7-12.  The first rounds were without much hoodoo, but as the night wore on, players were gradually crowding me and my computer more and more as they attempted to predict their next round opponents or to see where they were in the standings.

In the K-6 section, elementary students faced off with high schoolers and in numerous cases came out victorious.  Dylan Porth(4th grade, 4.0) began the tournament with a draw against Max (12th grade, 6.5) and then ended the night with a win against Andrew (11th grade, 7.0).  Her win against Andrew was just what Desmond Porth (7th grade, 7.0) needed to secure second place in the upper section.   Nathan (3rd grade, 5.0) earned a point against tournament newcommer Liam (11th grade, 6.0).  Nathan won 1st place and Dylan won 2nd place in the K-6 section.

The 7-12 section was very dynamic for the 2nd and 3rd place trophies.  Nick (11th grade, 9.5 pts.) was not going to enter but then in the last minute decided to.  He felt he played better long games than the time pressuring blitz games, but you can't win if you don't play, and he did.  In a surprise upset, Miles (11th grade, 6.5 pts.)  took a perfect tournament away from Nick and that proved to be his "trophy" that he went home with.  In the last round, Andrew  succombed to Dylan leaving both Andrew and Desmond tied with 7 points.  However, Desmond beat Andrew previously allowing for the head-to-head tie-breakers to work.  Without the head-to-head tie-breaker, Andrew would have won second place.  Other than the occasional illegal move, I only had to research what to do about a clock that broke during a game.  All participants received a Chess dogtag in addition to their earned hardware.  In addition, the Bughouse and Blitz Champions will have their names engraved on the perpetual plaque of WRHS Chess Champions.  Great job to all who participated!

The next tournament will be January 12 & 14, K-Adult Scotch Tournament.

Standings: 2009 WRHS Blitz Championship
1 Nick Bruck        W6 W11 W2 W3 W7 W5 D4 W8 W9 W10   9.5

2 Andrew Uriarte  W4 W8 L1 W11 L3 W7 W5 W6 W10 L9      7.0

3 Desmond Porth   W13 W7 W5 L1 W2 L4 W9 W10 W12 L6   7.0

4 Miles Hendrix      L2 B--- W8 L6 W11 W3 D1 W12 W7 L5    6.5

5 Max Bates          W10 D9 L3 W12 W6 L1 L2 B--- W8 W4     6.5

6 Liam Skye           L1 W10 L7 W4 L5 W8 W12 L2 B--- W3    6.0

7 Riley Neel            W12 L3 W6 W13 L1 L2 W10 W9 L4 W12 6.0

8 Nathan Stouffer     W9 L2 L4 W10 W12 L6 W13 L1 L5 B---  5.0

9 Dylan Porth            L8 D5 L10 B--- W13 D12 L3 L7 L1 W2  4.0

10 Garrett Stouffer    L5 L6 W9 L8 B--- W13 L7 L3 L2 L1       3.0

11 Taylor Walton       B--- L1 W13 L2 L4 U  U  U   U U           2.0

12 Jake Whitlock       L7 L13 B--- L5 L8 D9 L6 L4 L3 L7        1.5

13 Matt Lichtenberg    L3 W12 L11 L7 L9 L10 L8 U  U  U        1.0