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| Message from Rob Kozlowski Let the record state that these 20 members made our club extremely proud with their outstanding performances in the tournament. They all placed in our club on a national spotlight. This is without doubt the best news the history of the NBCC. I plan to submit, with Rick's permission of course, his message to the Executive Editor of the New Britain Herald, a local newspaper, so people throughout the community and across this great state can hear about the club's recent successes at the national chess team tournament. Of course, this will be the major highlight in the 2008 NBCC newsletter. On behalf of officers of the club, great job guys for a fantastic tournament and overall turnout. ( - Photos from the event - ) Message from FIDE Master Rick Bauer Hi Gang, Perhaps Robert could just forward this thread to the entire membership. Please include past members, since Dave Aldi and Sofia played a big part in our success. This event has alway been a way for me to reconnect with past chess associates. This year, it helped the club to reconnect with some past members, and hopefully add some new members for the future. (71 is the current membership!!! RK). The most notable achievement was the turnout. I think this was a tribute to last years participants, who all immediately signed up and started spreading their enthusiasm around the club. We seemed to be the only club there to field 5 teams! Three of the five teams were competitive at the highest level of the tournament, which was made obvious by their playing inside the elite, roped off area. It was fitting that the team that most closely resembled one of last year's team, the Bad Bishops, was the top finisher, despite having the third highest team rating of our participants. Had they won their last game, they would have finished in a tie for second place outright! I would also like to note that our most productive board, by far, was fourth board: James Nitz 5.5, John Nitz 5, Mike Pascetta 5, Mac Gnomes 6-0!. Emily Pond secured the largest upset (999 points!) of the whole tournament in round 1. Every round it seemed that Mike Pascetta was locked in a close endgame that would determine the fate of his team. He prevailed every time (til the last round). By contrast, first boards all struggled. Still, some notable results were recorded on board one: Dennis Prawira defeated veteran Master and noted chess trainer Sunil Weremantry. I managed a draw with top GM LeonidYudasin (2662) (who can be seen on the first page of the NJ website: http://www.njscf.org/home.php ). The best individual result of the tournament belongs to Yogesh: 6-0 on board 2, including wins against two masters and two experts. The team of James Nitz and Steve Sanabria finished third overall in the Sunday Night Bughouse tournament, facing the likes of Hikira Nakamura! Finally, I would also like to thank the four other team captains: Doug Fiske, John Nitz, Steve Sanabria and Brian Kosnoff for managing their individual teams; Gloria Nussbaum for providing the t-shirts that made our impact on the tournament hall so striking; and Derek Meredith and Nelson Casteneda for hosting pre-tournament preperation parties. Is it too early to start planning for Valentine's Day in NJ next year?? Rick Bauer ( - Photos from the event - ) Official Results (http://www.njscf.org/home.php ) WINNERS AT WORLD AMATEUR TEAM 2008-EVERYONE WHO PLAYED!! SPECIFIC PRIZES First place-GGG(g) Second Place-- 1.d4 Third Place-No Money for my Chess Honey Fourth Place-We Own the Knight Fifth- No Longer Searching for Bobby Fischer U2100-Searching For Bobby Fischer U2000-New Britain Bad Bishops U1900-Hopkins Chess Club U1800-CIS Royals U1700-We Suggest you Resign U1600 -4NCS U1500-CIS Falcons U1400-Vick Endorses Horse Fighting U1300--CIS Hedge Hogs U1200-Chessaholics 2 U1000-CIS Eagles Top NY - DA Dynasty Top PA - Push and We'll Topalov Top VA - Seapower 2008 Top Canada - Sinclair Laird Prometheans Top CT - New Britain Bad Bishops Top MD- Four Playing Knights Top Mass- There Will Be Bloodgood Top NC The I Pawns Top NJ Michael Khodarkovsky Tycoons Top Delaware-Dads & Sons Best Name-No Longer Searching for Bobby Fischer Best Chess Costume/Gimmick Dark Horses Individual Upsets Round 1 Emily Pond 999 points Round 2 Gordon Burroughs 586 Points Round 3 Jeremy Chen 765 points Round4 Elie Kapengut 444 points Round 5 Tim Low 887 points Round 6 Ben Lieber 412 points Top College Team-University Dallas Texas Top High School -King Krunchers Top Middle School---IS 318 Queens Top Elementary Dark Horses Top Scholastic--- Michael Khodarkovsky Dragons 2nd Scholastic---Real Gentlemen Would resign Mixed Doubles-- No Sleep Till Brooklyn Top Senior Team-Alter Clockers Top Company Team-Boeing Top Family-Kapengut Family Team Top Military-Sea Power 2008 Old Timers-Old Chestnuts Ethel Collins Perseverence==Collins Kids Bank St B 6-0 Scores: Board 1 Mike Zlotnikov Hikaru Nakamura Leonid Sokolin Dave Gertler Board 2 Eugene Perelshteyn Joe Fang Yogesh Raghunathan Matt Masino Jason Luchan Board 3 Roman Dzindhashvilli Greg Fernandez Joe Felber Board 4 Jared Defibbaugh Jose Esponsoa Steve Ferrero Mac Gomes ( - Photos from the event - ) |