Brrr!!! A cold month outside, but the chess was hot in February!
As COVID wanes, chess has been heating up in Alabama. On the 13th, The Alabama Chess Federation (ACF) hosted its 2nd Online Grand Prix event. The Madison City Chess League (MCCL) hosted the Alabama All-Girls’ State Championship online the next weekend. Also on the 20th, Caesar Lawrence continued the tradition with the 49th Annual Queen of Hearts in Montgomery. Finally, the Evangel Chess Club (ECC) had a successful Tom Nard Memorial VII in Montgomery on the 27th. Below are the details!
The ACF’s 6 tournament Grand Prix continued on February 13th with 45 competitors over three sections. Scott Varagona and Faruk Ergin swept all rounds other than drawing each other to tie for first in the Premiere event with a score of 4.5/5! Grady Moore and Samuel Joseph Gilliland both tied for first (winning for the second month-in-a-row!) the U1800 section with scores of 4.5/5. Scott J. McKnight (great last name Scott!), playing in his first Grand Prix event swept the U1200 section with a perfect 5.0/5.
The Alabama All-Girls’ State Championship (A state championship event) kicked off the 2021 state championship run with a crowd of 42 of Alabama’s brightest young female minds. The event took place on chesskid.com. Nirvana Rajbhandari took first in the Rated K-12 with a perfect 5.0/5. Shreya Sunil took 2nd place with 4.0/5 and Constance Wang and Emily Jiang tied for 3rd with 3.5/5. These four and 5th place finisher Sarvagna Velidandela will be invited to a playoff to determine the Alabama All-Girls’ state champion and who will represent Alabama at the Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls Champions. Sophia Jerez won the rated K-6 section with a perfect 5.0/5 and is Alabama’s K-6 Girls’ Champion. Advitya Kana finished in 2nd with 4.0/5 and Laya Gowder and Whitney Wadsworth tied for 3rd. Kylie Zou finished the trend of champions in this event finishing with a perfect 5.0/5 and is Alabama’s K-3 Girls’ Champion. Esinam Angela Hanson Tettey took home sole 2nd with 4.0/5 and Alice Zou, Moranuoluwagba Elish Adedoyin, and Avyaktha Subramania Athiray all tied for 3rd place. Congrats to all our Girls’ State Champions!
The biggest non-state championship event each year was held in-person for the 49th consecutive year at a new venue in Montgomery. Though typically held at Auburn University in Montgomery, Caesar Lawernce found a hotel in Montgomery with enough space to allow for social-distancing to host the 49th Annual Queen of Hearts. The premiere event with USCF Grand Prix points available drew 49 players from 11 states to the venue! One of those out-of-state players, Alexander Rutten (2240) took home the trophy in a tie for first in the open section with a score of 4.0/5. Alabaster’s Aaron DeCord (2102) and Huntsville’s Miles Melvin (1973) also tied for first in the premier section. Kendall Franks (1221) of Tuscaloosa finished the weekend with the most points in the reserve (U1600) section with 4.5/5 to take home the trophy and prize money!
The Tom Nard Memorial VII held in Montgomery by Doug Strout and the ECC also brought in many OTB players. Doug Strout and Evangel Chess hosted 22 players from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, and South Carolina! The young players Stephen Graveling (2126) and Isaac Snow (2007) of Birmingham tied for first with 3.5/4 of a strong field in the open section., Taylor Kent (1381) of Alabama swept all four rounds for the second ECC tournament in a row to take first in the U1800 section. Georgia’s Matthew Hopper (1031) won the U1200 section with a 3.5/4 score.
The Alabama All-Girls’ State Championship (A state championship event) kicked off the 2021 state championship run with a crowd of 42 of Alabama’s brightest young female minds. The event took place on chesskid.com. Nirvana Rajbhandari took first in the Rated K-12 with a perfect 5.0/5. Shreya Sunil took 2nd place with 4.0/5 and Constance Wang and Emily Jiang tied for 3rd with 3.5/5. These four and 5th place finisher Sarvagna Velidandela will be invited to a playoff to determine the Alabama All-Girls’ state champion and who will represent Alabama at the Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls Champions. Sophia Jerez won the rated K-6 section with a perfect 5.0/5 and is Alabama’s K-6 Girls’ Champion. Advitya Kana finished in 2nd with 4.0/5 and Laya Gowder and Whitney Wadsworth tied for 3rd. Kylie Zou finished the trend of champions in this event finishing with a perfect 5.0/5 and is Alabama’s K-3 Girls’ Champion. Esinam Angela Hanson Tettey took home sole 2nd with 4.0/5 and Alice Zou, Moranuoluwagba Elish Adedoyin, and Avyaktha Subramania Athiray all tied for 3rd place. Congrats to all our Girls’ State Champions!
If you played in any of these events and have games or photos you’d like to submit to us for possible inclusion in our Antics and a shot at our game and photo of the quarter competitions, please email your games (with annotations preferably) or photos to Scott Varagona at alabamachesseditor@gmail.com.
February was hot, but March will be even hotter! For more information on next month’s news and events, click here for the March 2021 Look Ahead!
Jonathan Rasberry
President of the Alabama Chess Federation
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