BTB#1: Me and others at the 2016 WSECC
This is one of my big tournament blogs, the one focusing on state 2016. Special thanks goes to Joseph Truelson, who kindly stopped by from Mercer Island to Tacoma(1 hour just to visit) to help contestants with game analysis. 5 years have passed since WSECC was last held at Tacoma and TD'd respectively by Chess4life.
Although the only USCF rated section was the grueling MS Open section part of the Middle School side event, in this blog, USCF will be mentioned for those who have membership. NW will be mentioned for all players below.
The traditionally small Kindergarten section was topped clear by Oliver Rines(935-1086/5.0). Hansol O'brien(1043-1064) was clear 2nd with 4.5/5. 7 players tied for 3rd with 4/5.
The slightly bigger 1st grade section had 2 players tie for 1st place 5.0. Alden Rigby(1469-1498 NW/941 USCF) and Roman Chivers(1525-1558/ 1094 USCF) respectively. Luke Rascoff(937-1055/4.5) was clear 3rd.
The way bigger 2nd grade division had a 3 way tie for 1st place. Alex Gross (1389-1480), Owen Xuan, (1856-1870 NW/ 1571 USCF), who Your's Truly drew a few months ago and Brennan Hladney(841-1231).
The humongous 3rd grade section had 4 player tie for 1st 5.0. Brandon Jiang(NOT related to me)(1600-1629 NW/1641 USCF), Robert Michailov(1563-1593), Matthew Hwang, who recently beat Steve Buck(1394-1485 NW/ 1524 USCF), and Advaith Vijayakumar(1493-1529 NW/ 1141 USCf).
3 people tied for 1st in the 4th grade section 5.0. Allison Xiao(1493-1556 NW/1180 USCF), Ethan Pogrebinsky(1305-1445 NW/1211 USCF), and Ghorpade Parth(1432-1517).
In 5th grade, Daniel Shubin(1815-1842 NW/ 1564 USCF) was clear 1st with 5/5. 5 other players tied for 2nd thru 6th.
The traditionally small 6th grade section was clearly topped by Garrett Casey(1733-1791 NW/1660 USCF). Teddy Roberts(1688-1706 NW/ 1478 USCF) was clear 2nd with 4.5/5. 12 players tied for 3rd thru 15th.
ILC2 I won't get to for the sake of this blog. Middle School Booster(by rating not grade) was topped by Timothy Elizavetsky(696-1103), the whopper of the section, Joshua Jung(0-1548), and Sean Mccandless(1096-1149) 5.0.
The 4 round Middle School Reserve(by rating not grade again) was topped clear by Sam Bunn(1376-1476) 4.0/4. Ethan Hu(1419-1473 NW/918 USCF) and Harrison Toppen-Ryan(1331-1442) split 2nd-3rd 3.5/4.
Now, we come to the prestigous, dual rated Middle School Open! In that section, Your's Truly(1627-1598 NW/1202-1209 USCF) did NOT do so well with 2.0/5 as he dropped below 1600 in NW :(. But hey, at least he went up in USCF! Anyways, enough of my results. Andreas Farny(1763-1834 NW/ 1590-1671 USCF) and Addison Lee(1825-1861 NW/ 1757-1773 USCF) split 1st/2nd 4.5/5. 3 players split 3rd-5th 4.0. Special shoutout to Brian Lee(1483-1660 NW/ 1061-1352 USCF) who got 4.0 and upset Eamon Thakur(1264-1262 USCF), Joseph Levine(1389-1367 USCF), Daniel Pogrebinsky(1656-1609 USCF), and Kyle Zhang(1381-1401 USCF).
Anyways, special thanks to the wonderful TDs who made this tournament possible! And then again, special thanks to Joseph Truelson who stopped by to visit his so-called buddies. Last but not least, special thanks to myself, for playing in this tournament.
