Charlotte Chess Network

April 10, 2016

A new monthly series of chess tournaments kicked off with 19 players at the Sunstone Learning Center of Fort Mill, SC.

See USCF Rated Results

In the Unrated Section, trophies were awarded to: 1st place - Stewart Sandvoss, 2nd place - Srihari Suraj, 3rd place Sriswanooj Kaundinya

In the U600, trophies were awarded to: 1st place - Matthew Lopez, 2nd place - Amrit Sachdeva, 3rd place - Sai Karanched

In the U1200, trophies were awarded to: 1st place - Arjun Rawal, 2nd place - Richard Sandvoss, 3rd place - Sampson Piermattei

The Sunstone Sunday Scholastic will contine to be held on the first Sunday of each month.

April 2, 2016

Here are the results for the Charlotte Spring Scholastic Championship 2016.

The A Star is Born section was small this time with just 1 participant. Leila Moudarrir was awarded a USCF Membership, a star-shaped trophy and merged into our Express Challenge U500. 

The Express Challenge U500 was completed (for the second time in a row!) by Sophia Mascia. Honorable mention goes to Emma Ryan, who came in with a 101 rating yielded only a 1st round draw on the way to 2.5 out of 3 points.

The Express Challenge U1000 trophy was claimed by Jay Bhatt. Along the way, Jay defeated our eventual Deep Thinkers champion, Nastasha Rousseau.

Our Deep Thinkers Championship was won by Virginia's Natasha Rousseau with 3.5/4. Natasha is our first late joining participant to win the Open section trophy! Along the way, Natasha avenged her loss to Jay Bhatt in the Express Challenge. Natasha's older brother, Andrew, claimed the U1400 trophy with a score of 3/4. Also scoring 3/4 was Nikhil Kamisetty. Nikhil took home the U1100 trophy. Our U800 trophy was won by Sophia Mascia. Sophia (USCF 460) scored the upset of the tournament when she downed Andrew Rousseau (USCF 1199)! Jay Bhatt stood an excellent chance of winning one of these trophies but withdrew before the last round.

January 30, 2016

40 players participated in the Charlotte Winter Scholastic Chess Championship.

Three players were eligible for the A Star is Born section. All three were awarded 1 year USCF memberships and merged into the Express Challenge U500. Prachetas Yeri finished highest in the section and was awarded the 1st place A Star is Born trophy. Second and third place trophies were earned by the brothers Andy and Jaden Choi. 

The Express Challenge section was again divided in two, producing a much improved competitive experience. Successfully completing the challenge and earning the elusive trophy were Sophia Mascia (last edition's A Star is Born winner!) in the U500 and John Smith in the 500-1000. Other notable performances included undefeated 2.5s from Jacob Barner, Rafael Lopez and David Keeling in the U500. 

The premier section, the Deep Thinkers Championship, again provided the highest quality chess. Jacob Grinberg was the overall champion with a 4-0 score. His brother, Julian Grinberg, took the U1400 prize. Sam Hanley seized the U1100 prize & Henry Nguyen took the U800 trophy. Zi'yon Marton, Preston Miller and Damien Langhorn participated in their first USCF tournament at this event.

November 14, 2015

24 players participated in the Charlotte Fall Scholastic Championship.

The A Star is Born section was won by Ben Bello. Owen Rosenthal and Sophia Mascia finished 2nd and 3rd. Each received a trophy and a year's membership to the USCF.

The Express Challenge was successfully completed by Branden Lauren in the U1000 and Natasha Rousseau in the U500.

The Deep Thinkers Championship was taken by Mark Boyd with a pefect 4-0 score. The U1400 trophy was won by Andrew Rousseau. Paul Munday and Ian Russell won the U1100 and U800 trophies.

June 19, 2015

Creative Chess Camp concluded with a mock Olympiad. Campers competed for trophies and medals under the flags of mythical countries. The mythical countries & their flags were designed by the campers themselves. Campers also wore team t-shirts they designed & created earlier in the week.

Overall first place was taken by Alex Rambo-Navarette with a 3-0 score. The U1000 prize was won by John Smith on tiebreak over Sampson Piermattei.The U400 prize was captured by Arjun Anilkumar on tiebreak over Logan Smith. Tiebreaks were decided with a blitz game.

All participants won medals and shared in a pizza lunch.

May 23, 2015

The A Star is Born section was won by David Mond, 2nd place went to Charles LaLiberte. Each received a trophy and a year's membership to the USCF.

The Express Challenge was successfully completed by Nikhil Kamisetty. He seized his second elusive Express Challenge trophy in a row. Robert Murray-Gramlich was a narrow miss at 2.5 out of 3.

The Deep Thinkers Championship went to Audrey Zhoe with a perfect score of 4 out of 4! The U1400 trophy was earned by John Smith, scoring 2.5 out of 4. Nikhil Kamisetty and Aditya Vadakattu took home the U1100 and U800 trophies respectively.

All participating children received a gift card to our host, McAlister's Deli of Quail Hollow.

Action from the Deep Thinkers Championship. Audrey Zhou was this summer's star, scoring a perfect 4-0.

March 7, 2015

38 children from 3 states attended the Charlotte 2015 Spring Scholastic held at the Morrison Farms Cafeteria (next to the South Park Mall).

The A Star is Born featured 9 participants vying for star-shaped trophies and United States Chess Federation memberships. Aryan Srestha went an undefeated 3-0 to capture 1st place! Rahul Nallajarla finished in 2nd place with a score of 2.5 out of 3. Cameron Cutler finished ahead of Max Norton on tiebreaks to capture 3rd place. All trophy winners received a year long membership to the USCF! 

Twenty one children took part in our popular Express Challenge. 3-0 scores were posted by Nikhil Kamisetty and Andrew Rousseau of Virginia. It is not easy to complete the Express Challenge! A lot of rating points were gained across the board. Gabriel Dodds and Gerard Altarejos attained ratings above 500 for the first time. Also, Athul Vikas made it above 300 for the first time.

The Deep Thinkers Championship attracted 12 contestants. The overall championship trophy was earned by Jack Iles with a 3 out of 4 score. The U1400 trophy went to Andrew Rousseau, also with 3 out of 4. The U1100 trophy went to Julian Grinberg. John Smith captured the U800 trophy.

All participating children received a gift card to use at Bojangles, Dairy Queen or Donatos.

 

This spring's Deep Thinkers Champion Jack Iles vs two-time Deep Thinker Champion Pradhy Kothapalli. Jack held the draw in a Sicilian defense to secure the title.

January 31, 2014

4th Myers Park Scholastic Complete Results

K-3 Results: 1st Ojas Panda (Barringer) 2nd Nimalan Arulvelan (W R Odell) 3rd Jake Baugh (Eastover)

K-5 Results: 1st Vishnu Vanapalli (MRSA) 2nd Sean Thien Huynh (Waddell) 3rd Pradhy Kothapalli (Endhaven)

K-8 Results: 1st Jaiden Chuang (Providence Day) 2nd Aditya Shivapooja (McAlpine) 3rd Austin Chuang (Providence Day)

K-12 Results: Daniel Cremisi (Myers Park High) 2nd Kireet Panuganti (Mallard Creek) 3rd Pierre Lipton (Myers Park High)

The final round of the K-5 Section in progress!

December 29, 2014

The Charlotte Winter Scholastic drew 29 enthusiastic participants. 

In the A Star is Born section we had 6 participants. Sampson Piermattei finished in first with a score of 3 out of 3. Second Place went to Ian Shepherd who scored 2 out of 3. The 3rd place trophy went to Mateo Ferro who scored 1.5 out of 3. All won trophies and year long memberships to the USCF.

The Express Challenge was again the most popular section with 16 combatants. Alex Rambo-Navarrete and Jacob Nguyen went 3-0 to complete the Express Challenge and earn trophies.

The top two boards of the final round of the Express Section. Trophies are being decided!

The Deep Thinkers section drew 7 participants. 2nd seed Sahith Tanubbodi claimed the overall championship cup with a score of 4-0 by surviving a very dangerous 4th round encounter with Alex Rambo-Navarrette. The U1400 trophy was earned by Jack Iles (3-1). Henry Nguyen and Zachary Greek claimed the U1100 and U800 trophies respectively.

A tense last round encounter! Despite a material disadvantage, our champion Sahith's determination (visible above) never waned.

The 2014 Charlotte Winter Open drew 20 participants from at least 4 states.

The winner of the Carlsen Section and $200 cash was Keith Eubanks. He overcome a first round bye to defeat early tournament leader NM Patrick Sciacca (clear 2nd place and $70 cash) in the last round. 

Upsets in the Carlsen section included a draw of NM Shawn Pealer by Vignesh Sekar and a win by George Stone over Xiaodong Jin.

The Caruana section ended in a 3 player tie between Phillip Billings, Eric Hartung and Byron Butler. Phillip Billings defeated early leader Eric Hartung in the last round. All three won $45 cash for their efforts. Sahith Tanuboddi scored a last round upset over Debs Pedigo.

Full Results

November 15, 2014

Results(excluding our unrated section)

The Charlotte Fall Scholastic set a new series record by drawing 53 participants.

In the A Star is Born section we had 12 participants. Benjamin Wilson finished 1st (on tiebreaks) with a score of 3 out of 3. Benjamin won a trophy and a year's membership to the United States Chess Federation. Brian Ratledge also finished with 3 out of 3 but was awarded the 2nd place trophy, He also received a year's membership to the United States Chess Federation. The 3rd place trophy (on tiebreaks) went to Grant Luebbe. He also received a year's membership to the United States Chess Federation. A further USCF membership was raffled to Julia Cruz-Solano.

The Express Challenge drew 27 young combatants. No less than 3 players completed the Express Challenge by scoring 3 out of 3. Zachary Greek, Alex Rambo-Navarrete and Micah Baldonado all took home the Express Challenge trophy. Free Lessons with National Master Shawn Pealer were also raffled off to Anastasia Dai and Jacob Nguyen.

The Deep Thinkers section drew 14 participants. Pradhyumna Kothapalli repeated as the Open Championship Cup trophy winner with a score of 3.5 out of 4. Ojas Panda finished with 3 out of 4 to claim the U1400 Championship Cup trophy. The U1100 Championship Cup trophy winner was Max Nemecek for his strong 3 out of 4 performance. The U800 Championship Cup trophy was awarded to Micah Baldonado. 

  

 
 





The following game was contested during the last round of the Deep Thinker’s Section. Aditya was in contention for the U1400 trophy. Both Jack and Adi took their time in the instructive positions that occurred in the game. On this day, Jack exhibited superior poise in time pressure to capture the point. Still, it was a very narrow miss.

Iles,Jack (1292) - Shivapooja,Aditya (1356)

Charlotte Fall Scholastic, Deep Thinker Charlotte, NC (4), 15.11.2014

C50: Hungarian Defence and Giuoco Pianissimo 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 d6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 0–0 8.Qe2 Removing a protector of d4 strengthens Black's next move. 8...Ng4 Adi takes advantage of his opportunity to trade off the important dark squared bishop. 9.f3 This move intensifies the weakening of the dark squares that will occur after Nxe3 and must be considered a mistake. 9...Nxe3 10.Qxe3 Bg5 11.Qd3 Another mistake - White gives an additional tempo to Black. 11...Ne5 Black is doing very well now. 12.Qe2 Nxc4 Probably not strictly necessary (the knight is well posted) but understandable. 13.Qxc4 Re8 14.g3 c6 15.f4 Bf6 Black had two other interesting possibilities; [15...d5 16.Qe2 dxe4 and the discovered attack on the knight at d4 secures a better position with a strong passed e pawn.; 15...Bxf4 16.gxf4 Qh4+ 17.Kd1 Qxf4 is dangerous for White] 16.0–0–0 Be6 Black shouldnt give his bishop back so easily. 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.e5 A nice move taking advantage of black's 16th. 18...d5 19.Qb3 Be7 20.Qxb7 White grabs a pawn but the queen may find herself losing time in retreat while Black's heavy pieces swing to the open b file. 20...c5 A reasonable reaction, creating a mobile pawn front. 21.Qa6 Bf8 I did not like this move. I think Qd7 retains more flexibility. The queen defends a7 and keeps the rooks free to move to the open b and/or f files.  22.Qd3 Qb6 23.Qb5 Qc7 A good decision. 24.Qd3 Rab8 25.Ne2 White's position is very stiff and Jack is having trouble finding a good plan. 25...Qb7 26.Qb3 Qa6 Black attacks more things than White can defend. 27.Qd3 A mistake that I didn't notice during the game. White should have played Qf3, out of range of the mobile black pawn center. 27...Qxa2 Too quick to cash in, playing c4 first would have opened the bishop against a3, and kept the White queen from forcing the coming queen trade. 28.Qa3 Qxa3 29.bxa3 c4 Black wins space 30.Kd2 Bxa3 31.Ra1 Bc5 32.Nc3 A mistake. Bb4 on the next several moves would have created an unbreakable pin. White would be helpless to prevent d4. 32...Kf7 33.Ra6 Re7 34.Rha1 Rbb7 Black's last chance to win with Bb4. 35.Na4 Bb4+ Black only plays Bb4 after the knight moves away. It would have been better here to play Bb6. Both players had very little time remaining. 36.Ke3 Another mistake in time trouble. [36.c3 would be better.] 36...Red7 37.c3 Here Black's flag was called before he could come up with Bxc3 Nxc3 d4 with a continuing struggle. 1–0

July 19, 2014

Results(excluding our unrated section)

Our Charlotte Summer Scholastic drew 21 participants.

In the A Star is Born section, Gerard Altarejos finished 1st with a score of 2.5 out of 3. Gerard won a trophy and a year's membership to the USCF. Sai Karamched won the 2nd place trophy and a year's membership to the USCF with a score of 2 out of 3. He edged out 3rd place trophy winner Aryan Srestha on tiebreaks. Adam Stallard won a raffled year's membership to the USCF.

In the Express Challenge, Karthik Dundigalla was our only perfect score! He took home a trophy for his accomplishment. The winner of our Charlotte Spring Scholastic A Star is Born section, Savielly Lopez finished 2nd with 2.5 out of 3 points.

In the Deep Thinkers section, Pradhyumna Kothapalli won the Open Trophy with a score of 3.5 out of 4! Andrew Chen finished with 3 out of 4 and took home the U1600 trophy. Ojas Panda also finished with 3 out of 4 to claim the U1200 trophy! Alex Rambo-Navarrete squeaked by Joseph Bostic, Aarush Chugh and William Campbell scoring 2 out of 4 to earn the U800 trophy. The Deep Thinkers was a particularly exciting section as every last round game had ramifications upon the trophies.

Andrew Chen vs. Ojas Panda



Last Round!

June 7, 2014

Results

58 of Charlotte's most dedicated young chess players participated in the final CMSCA tournament of the year.

In the Open Section, Daniel Cremisi (2083) went 3-0 to secure first place.

In the U1400 Section, Adharsh Rajagopal (1369) went 3-0 to secure first place.

In the U1000 Section, Rahul Jakati (892) scored 3,5 of 4 to secure first place.

In the U750 Section, Allan Miller (687) went 4-0 to secure first place.

In the U500 Section, Richard Sandvoss (335) went 4-0 to secure first place.

In the U250 Section, Sahith Tanuboddi (Unrated) went 4-0 to secure first place.

March 30, 2014
Charlotte Spring Scholastic Results

Feb 1, 2014

3rd Myers Park Scholastic Results

An outstanding turnout of 83 children participated in today's 3rd Myers Park Scholastic Tournament! 

Kydriana Carter finished an undefeated first place in the K-12 section. 

Emannuel Carter finished an undefeated first pace in the K-8 section.

Vishnu Vanapalli finished an undefeated first place in the K-5 section.

Arhan Amrith and Ian Rowe both finished undefeated in the K-3 section.

January 20, 2014

First Annual MACS Chess Championship Rated Results

108 children participated in the 1st Annual MACS Chess Championship, 32 of which played rated chess.

Overall team standings with perpetual trophy(Top 5 kids points from each school went toward team trophy)

1.       St Gabriel (with 60 points): Buck Bryant, Hansford Curran, William Isom, Steven Shea, David Valenta

2.       Holy Trinity (with 57 points): Dalton Bridges, Ethan Cornett, Jack Iles, Migual Santigo, CJ Hellner

3.       St Matthew (with 48 points): Declan Bridges, Matthew Shooman, Payton Wildman, Cameron Heyer, Jack Parmley  

4.       St Mark (with 44 points): Chelsea D’Aloreo, Connor Milligan, Noah Murphy, Chris Seeber, Mikel Smalle

5.       St Patrick (with 39 points): Hunter Osterveil, Ryan Ma, Killian Norvell, Andrew Permiter, Jake Kernoodle

6.       St Ann (with 28 points): John Fuzia, Ronan Kerrigan, Taylor Barlow, Viginia Cornett, Nathan Peine

7.       Our Lady of Assumption (with 16.5 points): Angel Cordova, Eziafa Ilabss, Kevin Santschi, Jacob Santschi

8.       Charlotte Catholic High School (with 12 points): Nicole Hlebak

9.       Christ the King (with 8 points): Mikel Smalle 

Individual Medal Winners

Rated Group A Results:

1.Jack Iles / Holy Trinity Middle School

2.Nicole Hlebak / Charlotte Catholic High School

3.Kevin Siczek / Holy Trinity Middle School

Rated Group B Results:

1.Miguel Santiago / Holy Trinity Middle School

2.Ethan Cornett / Holy Trinity Middle School

2.William Isom / St Gabriel

2.Buck Bryant /St Gabriel

3.Andrew Permenter / St Patrick 

Unrated Grades 5-7:

1.Dalton Bridges / Holy Trinity Middle School

2.C J Hellner  / Holy Trinity Middle School

2.Connor Milligan / St Mark

2.Chris Seeber /St Mark

3.Henry Nguyen / Holy Trinity Middle School 

Unrated Grades 3-4, Red Group:

1.Matthew Shooman  / St Matthew

2.Payton Wildman  / St Matthew

2.Wojtek Lachowski / St Mark

3.Ronan Kerrigan / St Ann 

Unrated Grades 3-4, Yellow Group:

1.Declan Bridges / St Matthew

2.Chelsea D’Abreo / St Mark

2.Noah Murphy / St Mark

3.Nathan Losinksi / St Mark 

Unrated Grades 3-4, Green Group:

1.Hansford Curran / St Gabriel

2.Steven Shea / St Gabriel

2.William Craig / St Gabriel

3.Robert Miller / St Mark

Unrated Grades K-2:

1.David Valenta / St Gabriel

2.Maxwell Norton / St Gabriel

2.Brady Jones / St Gabriel

3.Adam Stallard / St Gabriel

MISC.Parent winners:

1.Susan Pingree / Ben’s Mom from St Matthew; won a book: How to Beat Your Kid in Chess Book

2.David Dietrich / Karen’s Dad from St Matthew 

Ethan Parr from St Matthew won the notation raffle and received a tournament chess board!

November 20, 2013

McAlpine Fall Intramural Results

Ben Felix went undefeated in this 18 player, 4 round intramural battle. Keala Salazar, Zachary Nnaji and Aditya Shivapooja tied for second place.

December 28, 2013

Charlotte Winter Open

41 players of all ages converged on the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte for the 2013 Charlotte Winter Open.

Wil Mahan and Kevin Chen tied for first in the Carlsen section.

Tony Hicks finished first in the Aronian section.

Robert Mahan and Locksley Young tied for first in the Nakamura section.

Richard Trela finished first in the Kramnik section.

July 25, 2013
UNCC Camp: Chess for Experts Results

Jacob Grinberg and Anastasia Dai tied for first place in this 8 player event held on the penultimate day of camp.

June 13, 2013
UNCC Camp: Chess and Board Games

Morgan Smiley went undefeated in winning this 5 round, 20 player event held on the penultimate day of camp. Her brother, Will Smiley, finished a close second. Garrett Brouwer finished 3rd in his first rated event.