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REVERSE ANGLE 5 A LITTLE SNOW AND A LOT OF CHESS CHUMACHENKO DOMINATES TOP SECTION. COLLETTE WHEELESS AND DAVE EADIE TRIUMPH IN MIDDLE. WILLIAM CAMPBELL AND DAVID STAMPER WINS LOWER.
Twenty-nine players ranging from Charlotte and Statesville NC to Columbia and Greeneville SC, braved the potential weather conditions and participated in three sections. The tournament was directed by Peter Giannatos, assisted by Gary Newsom and Ashraf Azihan. The hour prior to the start of the tourney was hectic as usual, due to the fact that we don’t get to walk in the building until 9AM sharp and it’s always uncertain whether the room will be set up for us when we arrive. ( This time it was! ) Peter was very thoughtful in bringing Danish and orange juice for everyone to enjoy prior to the first round.
There was much anticipation about the turnout for this event. Snow was in the forecast, though if you listened carefully to the weatherman, you would deduce that the chance of slick roads was very slight, and even if there were problems they would probably only come late in the evening, however this IS North Carolina and the word "snow" can strike fear into our hearts like nothing else. As it turned out, we got about our average number of players, and I breathed a sigh of relief when the pre-advertised appearance of Andrey Chumachenko ( Russians aren’t intimidated by a little snow! ) became a reality and Andrey strolled into the building at about 9:55. Ten o’clock came, and the first round was ready to begin. The top section featured FM Chumachenko, followed by four experts ( Christiansen and Eubanks from South Carolina. Newsom and Liu from NC ) plus two players who we are used to seeing with a 2000+ rating (McCartney and Lovelace ). The field was rounded out with "A-player on-the-rise" Thomas Paradis, the always-tough Ken Ivens, and finally, returning to the game after a long layoff, Chad Eller. In the very competitive second section, it was hard to pick a favorite. Top rated Gil Holmes was joined by Mike Eberhardinger, Ankit Jivan, Peter Giannatos, Spencer Singleton, and Ashraf Azihan, all from the Charlotte area. In addition South Carolinians Bob Halliday and ( former Charlottean ) Pat Cunningham rounded out the field. Section three featured the brother/sister tag team from Statesville, William and Grace Campbell, along with Copeland Blackwell, David Stamper, Derek Zhang, Navaneet Galagali, and playing his first tourney in 10 years, Jimmy Humphrey. Round one saw four expected results in the top section with Chumachenko wrapping things up nicely against McCartney and Ivens gifting his queen early versus Liu. Eubanks turned the tables late against Lovelace, and Newsom had a solid performance against Eller. The upset occurred when Paradis defeated Christiansen in a long, difficult game. The middle section featured DeBell essaying the Evans Gambit and winning a nice game against Jivan. Halliday blundered a piece and lost to Collette Wheeless, and the other games had peaceful conclusions. The highlight of the lower section was Stamper’s nice win over Humphrey.
CHUMACHENKO-McCARTNEY
STAMPER-HUMPHREY
DEBELL-JIVAN
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