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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
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| 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.
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| 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:
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.
- 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.
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| 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
|
