This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center: 8/12-8/18/2024
Welcome to This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center! Here you will find a recap of every chess tournament the CCC hosted from August 12 to August 18, 2024.
In addition to covering the normal slate of weekly events, this post will include coverage of the Rated Scholastic tournament at the CCC North location, the Reverse Angle at the Main/South, our Master Tour camp, and last night's Sunday Blitz Arena!
To find a specific event, navigate using the headings below.
Monday Action Quads (CCC North)
Monday Action Quads is a scholastic quads tournament that takes place every Monday evening at the CCC North location. Like all our quad events, it runs at a time control of g20+10 and is USCF-rated. This week's MAQ tournament had 23 players split into five sections, including a seven player "Small Swiss" Quad E.
The following players finished in first place in their respective quads:
Quad A: Moses Collins (3 points)
Quad B: Caleb Kidd (2.5 points)
Quad C: Imhotep Collins (2.5 points)
Quad D: Major Collins (3 points)
Quad E: Samarth Goudar and Soren Nelson (3 points)
It was a great evening for the Collins brothers, as all four of them gained rating, and three finished in first place! Also notable was the performance of Quad B's second place finisher Sanchit Haripradeep, who scored 2/3 and gained 71 points to achieve a new peak rating of 1097.
For detailed results of this week's MAQ, view the USCF crosstables at this link. Our next Monday Action Quads will take place tonight at the CCC North location.
Tuesday Night Action (CCC Main/South)
TNA is our weekly long time control tournament held every Tuesday evening at the Main/South location. Following a lecture by FM Peter Giannatos, players are paired into one USCF long time control game per week, with the Top and U1600 sections also FIDE-rated.
Our TNA winners this week were:
Top section: Chase Bellamy, Namish Kondabathini, Kishan Karthigeyan, Eshwar Kothapalli, Naitik Rathi, Krishna Rallabandi, Harshil Jagga, Raghav Arun, Trishona Kumar, Sahasra Rallabandi, and Mukund Neema
U1600: Sidney Petersen, Ilgin Birsan, Namish Mayank, Satvick Kumar, Shlok Kaushik, Charles Cameron, Brent Jenkins, Saanchi Sampath, and Akshith Chintalacheruvu
U1300: Brian Lara, Vihaan Dhulipala, Vivan Ghule, Anthony Gentile, Mario Michaels, Imhotep Collins, Pranika Bahl, Philip Armstrong, and Anthony Young
At the end of every month, the CCC awards a $25 USCF Sales gift card to the top-scoring adult and junior player in each section. In the Top section, the only two players on a perfect 2/2 this month so far are Chase Bellamy and Namish Kondabathini. Our perfect scorers in the U1600 are Sidney Petersen, Satvick Kumar, Namish Mayank, and Ilgin Birsan, while Brian Lara and Vihaan Dhulipala lead the U1300. View the current TNA standings here.
The next Tuesday Night Action will be held at CCC's Main/South location on August 20.
Wednesday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Wednesday Action Quads is a weekly quads tournament at the Main/South location, open to players of all ages and strengths. WAQ is typically the CCC's biggest weekly event, with a whopping 65 players participating this week across 16 total sections!
The following players finished in first place:
Quad A: Chase Bellamy and Steve Alappatt (2 points)
Quad B: Antonio Padron (2.5 points)
Quad C: Kingsley Koon and Malachi Davis (2 points)
Quad D: Namish Kondabathini (2 points)
Quad E: Matthew Khariouk (2 points)
Quad F: Aharshi Bhattacharjee (2 points)
Quad G: Sattwik Dutta (2.5 points)
Quad H: Srivatsa Gundumalla (3 points)
Quad I: Neil Harit (2.5 points)
Quad J: Shanmukhi Malireddy (3 points)
Quad K: Reyansh Mayank (3 points)
Quad L: Shrehit Dhuman and Bryan Muraya (2 points)
Quad M: Arnav Watwe and Druv Balamurugan (2.5 points)
Quad N: Ryan Brock (3 points)
Quad O: Imhotep Collins (3 points)
Quad P: Priya Keskar (3 points)
Chase Bellamy and Steve Alappatt split first place in Quad A for the second week in a row, although with a different score than last time! Meanwhile, ChessShark Antonio Padron achieved a new peak rating with his 2.5/3 performance in Quad B.
Many players achieved massive rating gains at WAQ, including perfect scorers Srivatsa Gundumalla, Shanmukhi Malireddy, Reyansh Mayank, Ryan Brock, and Imhotep Collins. To see all the rating changes from this week's WAQ, view the USCF crosstables at this link. Our next Wednesday Action Quads is scheduled for August 21.
Friday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
The Charlotte Chess Center hosts two scholastic quads tournaments on Friday evenings, one at each location. Friday Action Quads is our Main/South offering, with twelve players across three quads this week.
Our FAQ winners this week were:
Quad A: Bryan Muraya (3 points)
Quad B: Revant Pandey (3 points)
Quad C: Mrigank Ghadge (2.5 points)
Find the complete results of this week's FAQ by viewing the USCF crosstables. The next Friday Action Quads will be held at the CCC Main/South location on August 23.
Friday Pizza Quads (CCC North)
Friday Pizza Quads is the CCC North's weekly quads tournament, with the same format as the Action Quads at the South. This week's FPQ hosted 25 players across six quads, with a five player "Small Swiss" Quad E.
Quad A: Moses Collins (3 points)
Quad B: Shivin Ashwin (3 points)
Quad C: Arya Harsha (2.5 points)
Quad D: George Willsey (3 points)
Quad E: Ruby Willsey (3 points)
Quad F: Dhruv Thokur (3 points)
Arya Harsha's rating soared to a new peak of 757, while George and Ruby Willsey each finished FPQ with a perfect score! Find the rating results from this week's Friday Pizza Quads here.
The next Friday Pizza Quads will be held at the CCC North location on August 23.
Rated Scholastic!
On Saturday, the CCC North location hosted our monthly Rated Scholastic for K-8 players. These tournaments are four rounds with a time control of g20+10, much like our quads events. Our Rated Scholastic events are also qualifiers for the next Tournament of Champions, scheduled for December 14! Any player finishing with a plus score (2.5/4 or above) in a Rated Scholastic is qualified to participate in the TOC.
In the U1000 section, Ayaan Geda finished in clear first with a perfect 4/4, also raising his rating a whopping 185 points to a new peak of 1026! Other plus scorers were Shaurya Nannapaneni, Shrinika Musuluri, and Aaryan Nagolu, each finishing with 3/4.
George Willsey, who went 3/3 in Friday's quads event, also finished with a perfect score in the U500 section in this Rated Scholastic. In a period of less than 24 hours, his rating jumped from 452 to 746, with seven wins in a row. Our remaining positive scorers (and TOC qualifiers) were Jeyashri Jayamurugan, Ruby Willsey, Avyukt Vinoth, and Henry Anderson.
Congratulations to all top scorers! View the USCF rating report here. Our next Rated Scholastic at the Main/South location will take place this upcoming weekend (details here), while the next CCC North Rated Scholastic will be held on September 21.
Reverse Angle! (CCC Main/South)
While the Rated Scholastic was underway at the CCC North, the CCC Main/South location played host to our monthly Reverse Angle tournament. This event is a three-round USCF-rated tournament with a $1000 guaranteed prize fund split across three sections.
Our Top section champion was Arjun Malik, finishing with a perfect 3/3. Arjun's rating jumped 49 points for his performance, culminating with a last round victory with the black pieces over Shawn Bale. Christopher Williams also had an excellent performance, scoring 2.5/3 with wins against two experts! Malik and Williams took home the lion's share of the prizes in the Top section, winning $200 and $100 respectively.
In the U1900 section, Diksha Jaikumar finished with a perfect 3/3, taking home $160 for clear first place! Second place was split between Viraj Phadke and Samuel Paukovitz, who each scored 2.5/3 and won $50 apiece. The third and fourth perfect scores of the day came from the U1500 section, with Harith Hmimda and Charles Cameron each winning $130 and gaining over 80 rating points!
View the full prize standings on our website or see the rating changes from the Reverse Angle tournament at the USCF crosstables page.
Sunday Afternoon Classical (CCC North)
Sunday Afternoon Classical is a weekly tournament held at the CCC North location, open to players of all ratings and strengths. Participants are paired into one USCF standard-rated game per week, with the tournament being rated at the end of the month.
This week's event was filled to capacity: 42 players took part in SAC yesterday! The following players won their games this round:
Top: Alex Chu, Kishan Karthigeyan, Aaron Wilson, Tamaghna Roy, Ibraheem Naushad, and Jared Crawford
U1300: Adhvik Boddupally, Ishaanvii Ashwin, Phaneendra Bulusu, Santhosh Manikandan, Christopher Lee-Marsh, Sean Smith, Isaac Rampey, Josh Alex, Anthony Romero, Renato Aristondo, Jodie Bishop, Shankar Munaga, and Kingshuk Mitra
Just like with TNA in the South, the top adult and junior player in each section of SAC, at the end of the month, receives a $25 gift card to USCF sales. In the Top section, Naitik Rathi and Alex Chu are tied for the lead with two points, while Adhvik Boddupally is the lone 3/3 scorer in the U1300 entering the final Sunday of August.
Current SAC standings can be found on our website. The last Sunday Afternoon Classical of August will be held on August 25 at the CCC North location.
Sunday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Sunday Action Quads is a weekly tournament at the Main/South location with a similar format to our other scholastic quad events. This week's edition hosted 17 players, with the following players finishing in first place:
Quad A: Rishaank Channad, Arav Kumar, and Druv Balamurugan (2 points)
Quad B: Arnav Watwe (2.5 points)
Quad C: Adrian Augusto Paez (2.5 points)
Quad D: Hank Aymer and Kevin Yang (2.5 points)
Adrian Augusto Paez has won Quad C at SAQ two weeks in a row! View the full rating results from this week's SAQ here. The next Sunday Action Quads will take place at the Main/South location on August 25.
Master Tour Camp (CCC Main/South)
Our final Master Tour camp of the summer took place at the Main/South location this past week. This writer helped teach all five of our Master Tour Camps throughout the summer, and each one was a very fun experience. The format of the Master Tour Camp includes our students playing one USCF-rated game per day, and the top finishers (and biggest rating gainers) from this week's camp were Jack Cassidy and Derek Crabtree. For full rating results of our final Master Tour Camp tournament of summer 2024, click here. We hope it was a fun summer for all of our chess students!
Online Blitz Arena!
The CCC hosts a weekly Sunday Blitz Arena right here on chess.com! It takes place on Sunday evenings and is open to any and all members of our online club. The top five finishers win a month of diamond membership to this website!
This week's tournament hosted 59 players, thanks in part to the event being streamed by the aforementioned Antonio Padron of ChessSharkz. The race for the top was very close, but Brayden Van De Graaff (user NMBrayden) took first place with 71 points, just ahead of Nashix with 69.
In this game against QueenofChess101, Brayden used a double/discovered attack to win a piece and compel resignation:
The following game decided the result of the tournament, as Brayden first navigated a complicated position in the French Advance, then managed to convert a winning endgame against Nashix with very little time on his clock.
Nashix still turned in an excellent performance, winning 20 games against only five losses. Rounding out the top five were evan, annoyingtriangle, and Antonio Padron.
View the full tournament standings here. Congratulations to our top finishers!
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For upcoming tournaments, bookmark our Events Schedule. The CCC hosts nearly 8 events a week at our facilities in North and South Charlotte, along with bi-monthly major events such as the Charlotte Doubles Championship and Charlotte Fall Open.
Not a member of the CCC? Join over 1000 members today!
NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
