Presenting Your First Annual NY Chess Club Olympiad Champions: Prospect Park Chess Club!

zdogpharizle

Sep 26, 2023, 8:26 AM | 6

Hey PPCC Folks,

I hope everyone had a great time over this rainy weekend - I know the PPCC Chess Club Olympiad team did!

NY Chess Club Olympiad 2023

In case you missed it, this Saturday was the first annual NY Chess Club Olympiad, hosted by the wonderful Bushwick Chess Club at BrookLAN (right next door to their usual Tuesday hangout, The Nook - check them out if you're nearby!). 8 clubs from across NY scraped together their 8 best (or available) regulars and competed for the gold crown, some cash, and their chess dignity!

Also, big shout out to our very own Rommel, who provided commentary of the tournament on the official Twitch livestream!

The Teams

The Olympiad was comprised of the following teams, in no particular order:

1. North Brooklyn Chess Club
2. Queers Gambit
3. Prospect Park Chess Club
4. Bushwick Chess Club
5. Chessmeet
6. Astoria Chess Club
7. Ridgewick Chess Club
8. The Renegades (free agents)

Prospect Park's Squad

Prospect Park Chess Club Lineup (in order of board number, I think...):

1. Kassa
2. Ilya
3. Bert
4. Luka (Captain)
5. Justin
6. Amatoj
7. Alex
8. Yaboi Z-Dog
Sub 1: Karan
Sub 2: Rob
Commentary: Rommel

Photos from the Olympiad

Highlights from the Olympiad

PPCC swept the first 3 rounds of the tournament, 8-0, to jump out to a lead on the competition.
After round 4, it was clear that the tournament was a 3-way race between PPCC, Bushwick Chess, and North Brooklyn Chess Club (although every team played really well - each of my games was a slugfest with tons of attacking chess on both sides of the board!)
Bushwick Chess whooped PPCC 6-2 in the 5th round on the tournament, closing the PPCC lead to only 2 points with 2 rounds remaining.
PPCC defeated North Brooklyn Chess in a close battle in the 7th and final round, but...
Bushwick Chess closed the 2-point gap over the last 2 rounds, leading to a tie-break round between PPCC and Bushwick Chess!
All the other clubs surrounded the main tables and watched the tense 5 min | 2 sec tiebreak for all the marble.
PPCC won the hard-fought tie-break by a score of 5-3 to hoist the crown!
The PPCC team celebrated with tacos, burritos, and chips & salsa afterwards!