This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center: 8/19-8/25/2024
Welcome to This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center! This is our weekly recap post covering every tournament we hosted from August 19 to August 25, 2024.
This post will include all our weekly CCC events, in addition to the monthly Rated Scholastic tournament at the Main/South location on Saturday as well as Sunday's online blitz arena. To find a specific event, navigate using the headings below.
Monday Action Quads (CCC North)
Monday Action Quads is a scholastic quads event held every Monday evening at the CCC North. Just like all our other quads tournaments, MAQ runs at a time control of g20+10 and is USCF-rated. This week's edition had 20 players split evenly into five sections.
The following players finished in first place in their respective quads:
Quad A: Chase Bellamy (3 points)
Quad B: Sanchit Haripradeep and Charan Sunkara (2 points)
Quad C: Ishaanvii Ashwin and Arthur Blakely (2 points)
Quad D: Abinav Pradeepkumar and Bhargav Raghavendra (2.5 points)
Quad E: Isaac Rampey (3 points)
Harith Hmimda's rating vaulted to a new peak of 1443 USCF, while Sanchit Haripradeep and Bhargav Raghavendra also gained significant rating. 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)
Tuesday Night Action is the CCC's one-game-a-week long time control offering at the Main/South location. Following a lecture by FM and CCC founder Peter Giannatos, players are paired into one USCF-rated game per week, with the Top and U1600 sections also FIDE-rated.
Our TNA winners this week were:
Top section: Namish Kondabathini, Patrick McCartney, Harshil Jagga, Viraj Phadke, Trishona Kumar, Sahasra Rallabandi, Arjun Malik, Karthikeya Malireddy, Vihaan Purohit, and Rohit Jagga
U1600: Sidney Petersen, Ilgin Birsan, Namish Mayank, Charles Cameron, Ritvik Kumar, Shamukhi Malireddy, Raghav Keskar, Nandhan Gummi, Steven Libonati, and Bryan Muraya
U1300: Brian Lara, Philip Armstrong, Anthony Young, Zachary Grossman, Christopher Lee-Marsh, Douglas Samson, Karthik Anguluri, Henry Yoo, and Ben Bergman
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, Namish Kondabathini is the only player on a perfect 3/3 score. Sidney Petersen, Ilgin Birsan, and Namish Mayank each have 3/3 in the U1600, while only Brian Lara is perfect in the U1300. View the current TNA standings here.
The final Tuesday Night Action of the month will be held at CCC's Main/South location on August 27.
Wednesday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Wednesday Action Quads is a weekly quads tournament at the CCC Main/South, open to players of all ages and strengths. This week's WAQ hosted a total of 55 players, split into thirteen quads!
The following players finished in first place in their respective quads:
Quad A: Christopher Williams (2 points)
Quad B: Anagha Sinkar (2.5 points)
Quad C: Namish Kondabathini and Naitik Rathi (2 points)
Quad D: Shravan Dash (2 points)
Quad E: Raghav Arun and Vihaan Purohit (2.5 points)
Quad F: Srivatsa Gundumalla (2 points)
Quad G: William Jindal (2 points)
Quad H: Diya Balamurugan and Raghav Keskar (2 points)
Quad I: Brent Jenkins, Rishaank Channad, and Aadhav Nr (2 points)
Quad J: Namish Mayank and Samanyu Ammasani (2.5 points)
Quad K: Siddhant Gutgutia (3 points)
Quad L: Akshith Chintalacheruvu (3 points)
Quad M: Viaan Bahl (3 points)
Some of our biggest rating gainers this week included Vihaan Purohit, Siddhant Gutgutia, Akshith Chintalacheruvu, and Viaan Bahl. For the full results of this week's WAQ, view the USCF crosstables here.
Our next Wednesday Action Quads is scheduled for August 28.
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 takes place at the CCC Main/South while our Friday Pizza Quads tournament is held concurrently at the CCC North.
This week's FAQ tournament played host to 21 players across five quads, with the following pla
yers winning their quads this week:
Quad A: Benjamin Raz and Neil Harit (2.5 points)
Quad B: Aadhav Nr and Temir Alimov (2 points)
Quad C: Arnav Watwe (3 points)
Quad D: Jai Arunachalam (3 points)
Quad E: Sreyash Maitra and Mahathi Radeev (3 points)
Jai Arunachalam gained over 200 points for a perfect score in Quad D! Other big gainers included Arnav Watwe and Sreyash Maitra, who each achieved new peak USCF ratings in the process.
For detailed results of this week's FAQ, view the USCF crosstables. The next Friday Action Quads will be held at the CCC Main/South location on August 30.
Friday Pizza Quads (CCC North)
Friday Pizza Quads is the CCC North's scholastic quads tournament on Friday evenings, with the same time control and format as our other quads events. Between rounds one and two, hungry chess players may help themselves to a slice of pizza!
This week's FPQ hosted 15 players split into three sections, with a seven player "Small Swiss" Quad C. Our FPQ winners this week were:
Quad A: Mekhai Collins (3 points)
Quad B: Nischay Peela (3 points)
Quad C (Small Swiss): Deniz Galitsky (3 points)
Nischay Peela and Deniz Galitsky both achieved new peak ratings for their tournament performances! 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 30.
Rated Scholastic!
On Saturday, the CCC Main/South location hosted our Rated Scholastic tournament for K-8 players. These tournaments are four rounds with a time control of g20+10. We typically host two Rated Scholastics per month, one at each location!
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.
The big winner in the U1500 section was Pranay Boyapati, who drew the first game against Santhosh Manikandan before winning in rounds two, three, and four to take clear first place. Pranay scored 3.5/4, just ahead of a group of players tying for secong with three points: Arav Kumar, Mekhai Collins, Ankush Dey, and Advikk Rastogi.
Murali Kongot in the U1000 section was our only perfect scorer of the day, gaining 141 USCF rating points in the process! Also finishing with plus scores were Arnav Nekkalapudi, Benjamin Xu, Sowbhagya Velagala, Abhinav Telugu, Sriman Sriram, Shivin Ashwin, Saketh Mamidipally, Sahith Vattikuti, and Leo Wang.
Abhiraj Saha and Haasini Chimmiri tied for first in the U500 with 3.5/4. Just behind them with three points were Arthur Heroy, Josie Nickerson, and Rishi Chivate. Laura Gu and Saanvi Chimmiri each scored 2.5/4.
All players listed above who finished with "plus scores" (2.5/4 or higher) have now qualified for December's Tournament of Champions! For the detailed results of this weekend's Rated Scholastic, view the USCF rating report here.
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 SAC was the final round of August, meaning that prizes were on the line! First, the winners this week:
Top: Celine Atassi, Trishona Kumar, Akshith Chintalacheruvu, and Charlie Manolakis
U1300: Christopher Lee-Marsh, Phaneendra Bulusu, Shrinika Musuluri, Nischay Peela, Josh Alex, Soheil Sajjadi, Shankar Munaga, Carlene Pyne, Alexander Aceituno, Arya Harsha, Devansh Behera, and Pranav Pradeepkumar
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. Since this past Sunday was the last of the month, it's time to announce our prize winners for the month of August:
Top: Charlie Manolakis and Celine Atassi
U1300: Christopher Lee-Marsh and Adhvik Boddupally
View the rating report from this month's Sunday Afternoon Classical here. Our next SAC, the first of September, will be held on September 1 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 quads events. It is held every Sunday evening and is open to scholastic players of all strengths. This week's event hosted 16 players across four quads.
Congratulations to the following quad winners:
Quad A: Druv Balamurugan (3 points)
Quad B: Akul Gowdru (2.5 points)
Quad C: Vishnu Kannan (3 points)
Quad D: Kip Taylor (3 points)
Both Vishnu Kannan and Kip Taylor achieved new peak USCF ratings after this week's SAQ! View the full rating results here.
The next Sunday Action Quads will take place at the Main/South location on September 1.
Online Blitz Arena!
The CCC hosts a weekly Sunday Blitz Arena right here on chess.com. It takes place on Sunday evenings and any member of this online club may participate. Players finishing in the top five win a free month of Diamond membership to this website!
It's hard to imagine how we could ever have a closer finish than we had this week, with Steve Alappatt taking first place on 64 points, just ahead of HugoOnTilt and BoratChessOnTwitch with 63 each. All three players win a prize, as well as fourth and fifth place finishers Coconutgambit12 and HumanPersonRevival respectively.
The full standings can be found here. In the meantime, here's a selection of puzzles from yesterday's arena:
To finish, here's what happened when two of the top scorers played each other during the arena. White played a beautiful game, including the fun 20. Be7!
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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.
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NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
