Field Report - RBO #9 and Autumn Blitz

Zhaozhi (George) Li ran away with the $100 top prize in the Autumn Blitz, scoring 16/18, 2½ points (!!) ahead of Sam Schmakel & Gopal Menon. IM Eric Rosen, Matthew Stevens, and Nikhil Kalghatgi were even further back at 12 points. I've known that George was a strong blitz player for years, but I did not think he was capable of such a result against this field.

Tom Bareket won $75 for top U2000 and Ricky Roman $75 for top U1600.

The team blitz was almost as lopsided. Whitney Young Forever (headed by Li, Matthew Stevens, and Nikhil Kalghatgi), took top team honors of $200, ahead of Low Expected Outcome (Menon, Rosen, and Aakaash Meduri), who pocketed $150, and and Jimijon's (Schmakel, Jonathan Kogen, and Jimi Akintonde), who earned $100.

Team Bareket (Tom Bareket, Richard Zhang, Adam Bareket) won three clocks for best Scholastic Team.

Here's the crosstable: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201709307642

Christopher Kirilov Sakaliysky swept the Under 1200 section of Rated Beginners' Open #9 with a 5-0 score. Jason Barrette and Adam Lee Gardner tied for second with 4-1 each.

Aaron Cho may never play in an Under 800 section again: his provisional rating after going 5-0 is now 975. Paul Dubiel took clear second with 3½, and Aya Bareket took third with 3 points.

Here's the crosstable: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201709307562.0

TD Maret Thorpe also got to be a house player in one late round of the Blitz. She lost her first game, but took rapid revenge:
http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2017/10/1/Game1491076312.html

We had 78 players and lots of supportive parents: fun day!

Preregistration for Sunday's Interval Training #3

Compared to Saturday's wonderful mob playing chess at breakneck speed (game/30 was the "leisurely" room), Sunday's just-for-fun-glory-and-Elo event is game/60 with a thirty-second increment.

And the crowd will be small: I don't expect more than 25. Still plenty of time to enter: onsite entry is $25. If playing the full day doesn't fit into your schedule, you can take a bye in any round(s).

We will have plenty of room, so if folks want to drop by for skittles & conversation, they're welcome to do so!

Preregistrations for Blitz & Rated Beginners' Open tomorrow

Still time to enter both events! They will be held in separate rooms, and we have plenty of room for players.

Enter tomorrow's Rated Beginners' Open #9 here:

http://www.chichess.org/products/ccc-rbo-9niner9-register

Enter tomorrow's Autumn Blitz here:

http://www.chichess.org/events/2017/9/30/2017autumnblitz

Here are the preregistrants ast of 6 p.m.: I'll update later tonight:

The blitz has a powerful field, with 27 players so far: "Jimijonsamwich" and "Whitney Young Forever" look like strong teams on paper. And there are some very attractive free agents! (Maybe not Kyrie Irving attractive, but strong enough to help you win a title.)

You don't need to have a team to play in the blitz (but of course, that makes it more fun). We'll help you join a team (top three scores count, maximum four players) if you don't have one.

Autumn Blitz preregistrants as of 6 p.m.

And we have 26 players in the Rated Beginners' Open: