This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center: 9/16-9/22/2024
Welcome to This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center! This post will summarize all the events the CCC hosted from September 16 to 22, 2024, including our Rated Scholastic tournament and the online Sunday Blitz Arena.
As I mentioned last week, the CCC has announced a few new events, such as our Tournament of Champions for scholastic players, scheduled for December 14! Find the details and eligibility rules here.
Additionally, the CCC North location has recently begun hosting our new Wednesday Adult Casual for adult players! Anyone 21 years of age or older is free to come and play some casual chess at our north location on Wednesday evening.
To find a specific event, navigate using the headings below.
Monday Action Quads (CCC North)
Every Monday evening, the CCC North location hosts our Monday Action Quads tournament! This is a g20+10 USCF-rated quads event for scholastic players. This week's WAQ had 24 total participants across six quads.
The following players finished in first place this week:
Quad A: Arin Samanta and Ishaanvii Ashwin (2 points)
Quad B: Arthur Blakely (2.5 points)
Quad C: Bhargav Raghavendra and Rodrigo Merida (2.5 points)
Quad D: George Willsey and Ayaan Khare (2 points)
Quad E: Ruby Willsey (3 points)
Quad F: Luke Ta and Shaurya Kanchan (2 points)
Arthur Blakely had a fantastic tournament, defeating two higher-rated opponents and gaining well over 100 points! Other big gainers included Bhargav Raghavendra, Ayaan Khare, Ruby Willsey, and both Quad A winners, who each achieved new peak ratings.
For detailed results of this week's MAQ, view the USCF crosstables here. Our next Monday Action Quads will be held tonight at the CCC North location.
Tuesday Night Action (CCC Main/South)
Our weekly Tuesday Night Action tournament is the one-game-a-week event hosted every Tuesday evening at the CCC Main/South. Following a lecture by FM (and CCC founder) Peter Giannatos, participants are paired into one standard time control USCF-rated game, with the top two-sections also FIDE-rated.
The following players won their TNA games this week:
Top section: Harshil Jagga, Arsh Sharda, Kishan Karthigeyan, Patrick McCartney, and Gabriel Rowe
U1600: Sidney Petersen, Nandhan Gummi, Chalpati Gundumalla, Ilgin Birsan, Dhruv Patil, Jason Bailey, and Satvick Kumar
U1300: Michael Bernard, Tirvik Kumar, Douglas Samson, Spencer Boone, Yashwin Meka, and David Rushing
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. Entering the final TNA of the month, there are three players on 3/3, with Harshil Jagga leading the Top section, Sidney Petersen atop the U1600, and Michael Bernard perfect in the U1300.
Current standings for Tuesday Night Action can be found here. The next Tuesday Night Action will be held at CCC's Main/South location on September 24.
Wednesday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Wednesday Action Quads is our weekly quads event at the CCC Main/South, open to players of all ages and strengths. It's one of our strongest and most popular tournaments, with 37 players participating this week across 9 sections.
Congratulations to our WAQ winners this week:
Quad A: Krishna Rallabandi (2 points)
Quad B: Smayan Ammasani (2.5 points)
Quad C: Matthew Khariouk (2.5 points)
Quad D: Raghav Arun (3 points)
Quad E: Neil Harit (3 points)
Quad F: Raghav Keskar (2 points)
Quad G: Aadhav Nr and Reyansh Mayank (2 points)
Quad H: Daniel Freeman (3 points)
Quad I: Vasanth Thirunavukkarasu (3 points)
Matthew Khariouk won clear first place in Quad C despite being the lowest-rated player in the pre-tournament ratings. Meanwhile, Neil Harit gained nearly 100 points with a perfect score in Quad E, and Daniel Freeman gained even more than that with 3/3 in Quad H!
Find the full rating report and the USCF crosstables here. Our next Wednesday Action Quads is scheduled for September 25.
Friday Pizza Quads (CCC Main/South)
On Friday evenings, the CCC hosts two scholastic quad events, one at each location! We're now calling them the Friday Pizza Quads North and South, with both events offering pizza to hungry participants between rounds one and two!
Here were our winners from this Friday's Main/South offering:
Quad A: Temir Alimov and Anirudh Mani (2 points)
Quad B: Arav Kumar (3 points)
Quad C: Druv Balamurugan, Jayan Medvin, and Advik Mani (2 points)
Quad D: Advikk Rastogi (2.5 points)
Quad E: Vishaanth Aravindhan (3 points)
Quad F: Gabriel Howard and Maksim Nikolov (2 points)
Quad G: Arthur Heroy (3 points)
Some of our top performers this week were Anirudh Mani, Arav Kumar, Advik Mani, Vishaanth Aravindhan, Arthur Heroy, and Maksim Nikolov, each of whom gained over 50 points! For full results of this week's FPQ, find the USCF rating report here.
Our next Friday Pizza Quads will be held at the CCC Main/South location on September 27.
Friday Pizza Quads (CCC North)
Friday Pizza Quads at the CCC North runs concurrently with the Main/South tournament and is open to scholastic players of any rating! This week's FPQ North hosted 18 players across four sections, with a six player "Small Swiss" Quad D.
Our FPQ North winners this week were:
Quad A: Harith Hmimda and Arjun Raja (2 points)
Quad B: Joel Kindy (3 points)
Quad C: Arya Harsha (3 points)
Quad D (Small Swiss): Shaurya Kanchan (3 points)
Arjun Raja had a tremendous tournament, going 2/3 against three higher-rated opponents and achieving a new peak rating of 1255. All three other quad winners each gained at least 60 points as well! View the full FPQ results at this link.
The next Friday Pizza Quads will be held at the CCC North location on September 20.
Rated Scholastic (CCC North)
This past Saturday, the CCC North location played host to our monthly Rated Scholastic event for K-8 players under 1500. The event was filled to capacity, with 45 total participants across three sections. Players finishing in the top three in each section received a trophy!
CCC Master Class student Shaurya Nannapaneni finished in clear first in the Top/U1500 section, scoring 3.5/4 and gaining well over 100 points, vaulting his rating up to a new peak of 1219. Shaurya defeated the fourth and fifth place finishers Sanchit Haripradeep and Ayaan Geda respectively, while drawing only Shiva Silaparasetty in second place (3/4). Atharv Dubey finished in clear third with 2.5/4, gaining 39 points himself.
Paksh Gupta scored 3.5/4 in the U1000 section to take clear first place. Paksh actually had a perfect score in games played but took a half-point bye in the third round. Paksh's rating soared to a new peak of 955!
A whole group of players scored 3/4 to tie for second in the U1000: Arya Harsha, Saketh Mamidipally, Shivin Ashwin, Connor Crosby, and Sahith Vattikuti.
Finally, our only perfect scorer of the day came from the U500 section, with Abhiram Lavidi sweeping all four rounds! Jack Mager and Rithik Naraparaju finished in second and third place with 3/4 each.
Congratulations to all top finishers! View the USCF rating report here. The next Rated Scholastic will take place at our other location (CCC Main/South) next Saturday.
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! The tournament is rated at the end of each month, with one round happening every week.
The following players won their games at this week's SAC:
Top: Shlok Kaushik, Aaron Wilson, Harith Hmimda, Christopher Williams, Alex Chu, Akshith Chintalacheruvu, and Mario Michaels
U1300: Phaneendra Bulusu, Josh Alex, Arjun Raja, Christopher Eyer, Shaurya Nannapaneni, Kingshuk Mitra, Henry Yoo, Spencer Boone, Yashwin Nallu, and Haripradeep Balasubramaniam
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. The current SAC standings can be viewed on our website here.
Our final SAC of September will be held on September 29 at the CCC North location.
Sunday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Sunday Action Quads is a weekly scholastic tournament held every Sunday evening at the CCC's Main/South location. Just like our other scholastic quads tournaments, SAQ runs at a time control of g20+10 and features three games of USCF-rated chess.
The following players finished in first place in their respective quads this week:
Quad A: Dhruv Patil (2 points)
Quad B: Druv Balamurugan and Shobhankumar Subramanian (2 points)
Quad C: Advik Mani (2.5 points)
Quad D: Saketh Mamidipally (2.5 points)
Quad E: Connor Crosby and Saharsh Santhoshkumar (2 points)
Quad F (Small Swiss): Janaka Karthikeyan and Aadhav Ramkumar (2.5 points)
Some of our top gainers this week were Shobhankumar Subramanian (1228 -> 1263), Akul Gowdru (1036 -> 1103), Saketh Mamidipally (939 -> 1016), and Ganesh Palaniappan (2/3 in Quad F: 285 -> 410).
The full results of the most recent SAQ can be viewed here. The next Sunday Action Quads will be held on September 29 at the Main/South location.
Online Blitz Arena!
Every Sunday evening, the CCC hosts an online blitz arena right here on chess.com, open to all members of this online club. The top five finishers in our Sunday Blitz Arenas win a free one-month Diamond membership to this website!
Steve Alappatt dominated the field this week, scoring 74 points and finishing with a whopping 20 wins out of 21 games played! I was especially fond of this game, where he used a Greek Gift sacrifice to draw out his opponent's king:
This one was a bit more strategic, as Steve slowly put pressure on third-place finisher Stormy until he was able to force a trade into a decisive king and pawn endgame:
Users shankarm79, 1z1q, and Agoldfarb rounded out the top five. View the full arena standings here. Thanks to all who participated!
-------------------------------------------------------------
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 upcoming Charlotte Fall Open.
Not a member of the CCC? Join over 1000 members today!
NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
