Queen City Chess Association

CHRISTIANSEN AND POHL = 1ST AT GREATER CHARLOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP

CHRISTIANSEN WINS QUEEN CITY CUP IN BLITZ PLAYOFF!



Welcome to the Queen City Chess Association!

(Sixty three players from North and South Carolina traveled to the beautiful campus at the University of North Carolina Charlotte to compete in our “kickoff” event…The Greater Charlotte Championship. After the last pawn was pushed and the last flag fell, Wayne Christiansen had won the Queen City Cup in a one game blitz playoff against his friendly rival Klaus Pohl.


WAYNE CHRISTIANSEN RECEIVES THE QUEEN CITY CUP


TWELVE-TIME SC STATE CHAMP KLAUS POHL

Christiansen and Pohl completed the 19 player Championship section (which included 3 masters and 5 experts) with perfect 3-0 scores. Pohl’s score was noteworthy as he pulled a “minor” upset by defeating top seeded Timur Aliyev in the final round to gain his berth in the playoff. Top scoring Charlotteans were Patrick McCartney and 13 year old Samuel Xin, each of whom scored upset victories en route to their result.

Eighteen players competed for the Amateur Championship and it came down to a last round game between Colette Wheeless and Dr Gil Holmes. A victory by either would have produced a clear winner, but their game was a hard fought draw, which allowed Derek Smith to catch up with a last round win over Robin Yopp. A three-way playoff ensued and was won by Holmes.


DR. GIL HOLMES…CHARLOTTE AMATUER CHAMPION


SPEED CHESS PLAYOFF GAME WHEELESS-SMITH

In the fourteen player Booster section, two perfect scores were recorded, by Tim Champion and Andrew Turner. Title and trophy were won by Dr Champion in the speed chess playoff. Turner had a noteworthy tournament as he played "up" all three rounds and gained more than 140 rating points!


DR CHAMPION SHOWS OFF THE HARDWARE AND CASH

The eleven player scholastic section ended in a four way tie among John Custer, Shuvethan Sivagurunathan, Rajiv Kanumilli, and Sujay Vallapalli. A four player blitz chess knockout tourney was called for and in the end six year old Shuvethan, a new Charlottean, came out victorious. Word of warning to Charlotte chessplayers…watch out for this young man, he showed a lot of potential.


SHUVETHAN SIVAGURUNATHAN…SCHOLASTICS CHAMP!


SCHOLASTIC WINNERS DUKING IT OUT FOR CHESS GLORY

Trophies and gift bags were provided by tournament sponsor Chess Central (visit their website at www chesscentral.com for a great assortment of chess books, software, and equipment…and they’re based right here in Charlotte!). A special cash prize of $15 was offered by Sid Pickard of Chess Central, a long time player and analyst of Bird’s Opening (1.f4) and the Nimzovich Defense (1.e4 Nc6) for any game won by a player using one of these openings. Several attempts were made, but only one player was victorious…Daniel Dodds with his win over Amelia Wheeless in Round 1. (See games section for the score).


ARTIST AT WORK.DODDS PLAYS HIS PRIZE WINNING GAME

All in all it was a successful start for our new organization. The playing conditions were good, though not as pristine as our usual location, which (as we found out at 6PM on Friday), had mistakenly been given to another group. We actually didn’t know exactly where the tourney would be held until about 8:30AM on Saturday! Fortunately, we were able to play in a different location of the same building the tourney was scheduled in. It was spacious, but with a few more distractions than we would have liked. (Many players are now in the process of attempting to develop a silent ping pong ball!) So, a disaster was averted, and the tourney went off without a hitch. You can count on our next tourney at UNCC to be in our original location, with superb lighting and no noise!


CHIEF TD PETER GIANNATOS DISPLAYS THE TOOL OF THE TRADE
"THE OFFICIAL RULES OF CHESS"


WE WERE GRACED BY A VISIT FROM CHARLOTTE CHESS ICON LELAND FUERSTMAN

We at the QCCA thank you for supporting our efforts to rejuvenate the Charlotte adult chess scene. You can expect more effort and ideas from our group to continue to promote chess in our area. We are doing this on a volunteer basis, and we would love to have help from anyone who is so inclined. Don’t forget that all participants are now members of the Queen City Chess Association. We hope to see you at the club this Friday night for Round one of the Queen City Weekly #1!