This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center: 9/23-9/29/2024
Welcome to This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center!
Due to the USCF being down all throughout last weekend, this recap is somewhat delayed, but fear not! This post will still feature all the CCC rated chess events from September 23 to 29, 2024, including our Rated Scholastic tournament at the CCC Main/South, our Super Quads tournament, and our online blitz arena!
Before getting to the recap, here's our weekly reminder about our new Tournament of Champions for scholastic players, scheduled for December 14. Find the details and eligibility rules here.
Finally, 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 tournament runs at a time control of g20+10 and is open to scholastic players of all ages! The following players finished in first place this week:
Quad A: Harith Hmimda (3 points)
Quad B: Atharv Dubey (3 points)
Quad C: Dhruv Subramanian (3 points)
Quad D: Riyansh Karkarla (3 points)
All four quad winners jumped up by at least 50 USCF rating points! I also wanted to highlight the performance of Caleb Kidd, who scored 2/3 in Quad A against three higher-rated opponents, gaining 58 points for himself.
For detailed results of this week's MAQ, view the USCF crosstables here.
Tuesday Night Action (CCC Main/South)
Tuesday Night Action is our one-game-a-week standard-rated offering at the CCC Main/South location! It takes place on Tuesday evenings at 7 PM, following a lecture by FM (and CCC founder) Peter Giannatos. The tournament is rated at the end of the month, with this past iteration being the last of September.
The following players won their TNA games this week:
Top section: Shawn Bale, Arsh Sharda, Kishan Karthigeyan, Eshwar Kothapalli, Vihaan Purohit, Anvay Phadke, Neil Harit, Anagha Sinkar, and WGM Dina Belenkaya
U1600: Sidney Petersen, Nandhan Gummi, Aadhav Nr, Jason Bailey, Satvick Kumar, Anthony Gentile, Spencer Singleton, and Steven Libonati
U1300: Michael Bernard, Spencer Boone, Druv Balamurugan, Jayan Medvin, and Sathishkumar Shanmugam
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. This past week was the last TNA of September, meaning that prizes were on the line!
Congratulations to the following TNA champions for the month of September 2024!
Top: Shawn Bale and Harshil Jagga
U1600: Sidney Petersen and Nandhan Gummi
U1300: Michael Bernard and Ritvik Kumar
Full standings for September's Tuesday Night Action with rating changes can be found here.
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. WAQ always ranks among our most popular events: this week's iteration welcomed 44 players across eleven quads!
Congratulations to our WAQ winners this week:
Quad A: Four-way tie! (see below)
Quad B: Namish Kondabathini and Luke Zimmer (2 points)
Quad C: Raghav Arun and Naitik Rathi (2.5 points)
Quad D: Vihaan Purohit (2 points)
Quad E: Lokruth Patil (2.5 points)
Quad F: Sahasra Rallabandi (2.5 points)
Quad G: Reyansh Mayank (3 points)
Quad H: Aadhav Nr, Hugh Conwell, and Mike Day (2 points)
Quad I: Murari Raghavan (2.5 points)
Quad J: Druv Balamurugan, Noor Alsafadi, and Michael Bernard (2 points)
Quad K: Utku Aysev (3 points)
A few times a year, I get to report on a four-way tie in a CCC quad event! This happened in Quad A, with Krishna Rallbandi, Antonio Padron, Karthikeya Malireddy, and Christopher Williams each scoring 1.5/3, with no one's rating moving more than three points in any direction. Rallabandi drew all three rounds, with the other three players splitting amongst each other in rock/paper/scissors fashion to create the logjam.
Some of our biggest gainers at WAQ this week were Naitik Rathi, Sahasra Rallabandi, Namish Mayank, Murari Raghavan, and Michael Bernard.
Find the full rating report and the USCF crosstables here. Our next Wednesday Action Quads is scheduled for October 2.
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: Benjamin Raz (2.5 points)
Quad B: Reyansh Mayank (2.5 points)
Quad C: Vivan Ghule (3 points)
Quad D: Alexander Arkhipov and Vishaanth Aravindhan
Quad E: Connor Crosby and Nicolas Giard (2 points)
Quad F: Arjun Ayyagari (3 points)
Some of the top performers this time around included Reyansh Mayank, Vivan Ghule, and Nicolas Giard, each gaining 50+ rating 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 October 4.
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!
Congratulations to our FPQ North winners this week:
Quad A: Arjun Raja (3 points)
Quad B: Nischay Peela and Harsith Haris (2 points)
Quad C: Arya Harsha (3 points)
Quad D: Nethan George (3 points)
Quad E: Velann Emandi (3 points)
Velann Emandi had a perfect score in his first-ever tournament! Nethan George gained over 100 points, while Arjun Raja, Nischay Peela, and Quad C's second-place finisher Avyaan Prasad each made big gains as well. View the full FPQ results at this link.
The next Friday Pizza Quads will be held at the CCC North location on October 4.
Rated Scholastic (CCC Main/South)
This past Saturday, the CCC Main/South location played host to our monthly Rated Scholastic event for K-8 players under 1500. A total of 38 players participated across three sections, featuring four rounds of g20+10 USCF-rated chess.
Arav Kumar dominated the U1500 section! He finished with a perfect 4/4, gaining nearly 100 points and defeating two other players in the top five as well. Ankush Dey's 3/4 was good for clear second place, with Santhosh Manikandan, Justin Peng, and Vivan Ghule rounding out the top five.
Maxwell Mitzner and Arjun Kargool tied for first in the U1000 with 3.5/4, drawing each other in the final round after winning all their other games. The former took the first on tiebreaks, while Imhotep Collins, Arnav Nekkalapudi, and Anvay Mishra finished close behind with 3/4 each.
A total of four(!) players split first in the U500, Major Collins, Arjun Ayyagari, Daniel Mora, and Sradda Vishwaant (3/4), with Major receiving the first place medal. Sophia Peng was the only other player to finish with a plus score, earning 2.5/4 points.
Congratulations to all top finishers! View the USCF rating report here.
Super Quads! (CCC Main/South)
With the recent storm knocking out power and interfering with the open tournament planned for this weekend, our staff ran a g45+10 "Super Quads" tournament for those able to play rated games on Saturday! This tournament was one of the stronger single day standard-rated events we've hosted in a long time, with a total of 52 players across 13 sections. Congratulations to the Super Quad winners:
Quad A: FM Naveen Prabhu and IM Dean Ippolito (2 points)
Quad B: NM Zubin Baliga (3 points)
Quad C: Antonio Padron (2.5 points)
Quad D: Brian Remhoff (3 points)
Quad E: Beiyang Ni (2.5 points)
Quad F: Harshil Jagga (3 points)
Quad G: Jason Marshal (3 points)
Quad H: Nikolas Lewis (3 points)
Quad I: Daniel Toedt (3 points)
Quad J: Tyler Murrah and Rachel Whitehouse (2.5 points)
Quad K: Sathvik Chatta and Eldar Gabidoff (2 points)
Quad L: Arav Kumar and James Everly (2 points)
Quad M: Aiden Liu (3 points)
Congratulations to Antonio Padron of ChessSharkz for hitting 2000 USCF for the first time! Our Quad F-through-I winners also each gained 50+ points, and Aiden Liu's perfect score in Quad M skyrocketed his rating to a new peak of 1450!
View our Super Quad results at this link.
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, and just like TNA, prizes go to the top scoring adult and junior players in each section!
Firstly, the following players won their games at this week's SAC:
Top: Harith Hmimda and Aadhav Nr
U1300: Phaneendra Bulusu, Adhvik Boddupally, Josh Alex, Dominic Billi, Ishaanvii Ashwin, Arin Samanta, Paul Ward, Arin Timble, and Velann Emandi
Now for the prizes, which reflect total standings across the entire month of September. Congratulations to Jared Crawford and Harith Hmimda for finishing as the top adult and youth players respectively in the Top section, and to Dominic Billi and Phaneendra Bulusu for winning the top adult and youth prizes in the U1300!
Full standings of last month's SAC, with rating results, can be found here. Our first SAC of October will be held on October 6 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: Anirudh Mani and Steven Hook (2 points)
Quad B: Advik Mani (2.5 points)
Quad C: Akul Gowdru (3 points)
Quad D: Hank Aymer (3 points)
Quad E: Gauri Sinkar (3 points)
Congratulations to Steven Hook for breaking 1500 USCF for the first time! The full results of the most recent SAQ can be viewed here. The next Sunday Action Quads will be held on October 6 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!
User matthf21, a frequent participant in our blitz arenas, scored a perfect 20/20 in his games! Every win counted, as Agoldfarb also won 20 games, but with two losses that cut into his streaks giving him 72 points to matthf21's 77. Additionally, two other players (AntonioPadron and 1HumanPersonVA) scored over 65 points, making it a very close race this week!
Here are a couple of matthf21's games in this week's arena, starting with his win against Brayden Van De Graaff:
View the full arena standings here. Thanks to all who participated!
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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 upcoming Charlotte Fall Open.
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NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
