Albert Chow, Kiril Kuderinov and Emory Tate shared honors in the G/30 National Championship. All photos Betsy Dynako.
The Holiday Inn Chicago North Shore hosted the National Game 30 and Game 60 Championships on the weekend of June 28-29. Organized by the North American Chess Association, the event drew almost double the participants of recent years. The playing hall and skittles rooms featured high ceilings and warm colors, while Checkmate Supply set up a bookstore which included autographed books by GM Karpov and 2008 US Champion GM Shulman. If you're looking to visit the windy city, keep in mind that chessplayers can stay year-round at the Holiday Inn Chicago North Shore for a special rate of $99, $30.00 less then the usual room rate, just by asking for the North American Chess Association rate.
140 players entered the Game 60 including youth players from the Warren Chess Scholars. The Warren program provides chess scholarships to the top-ranked youth players in Illinois. The scholarships help families pay for private lessons and small group instruction with GMs Yury Shulman and Dmitry Gurevich. Two Warren Chess Scholars, Eric Rosen and Gavin McClanahan faced off in the G60. Rosen is somewhat embarrassed by the game saying it was not a good example of what the program is teaching. Rosen explained that he blundered and McClanahan failed to take advantage of it.
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The Masters/Expert field was full of strong players. Six of the players were fresh from the 12th North American FIDE Invitational and were looking to finish off the week with some more fighting over the board.
IM Emory Tate was the only perfect score going into the final round and he played on board one against IM Jan Van De Mortel. The game finished in a draw, giving FIDE Master Mehmed Pasalic a chance to tie if he won against IM Kiril Kuderinov of Kazakhstan.
Spectators came running when the Kuderinov and Pasalic game came down to a blitz end game. When the scramble was over, Kuderinov stood up as victor. With Pasalic out of the way, Tate finished in clear first with 3.5/4 points.
Organizer Sevan Muradian with G/60 Champ IM Emory Tate
After this win, Tate smiled from ear to ear non-stop, a site not often seen. He couldn’t help but flash a number one for himself when it was photo time. This win is extra sweet as Muradian told me, “This is probably the strongest Master/Expert section in the G/60 national championships.” A special thumb up also goes to the only two perfect scores of the day. Roj Warsteler finished with 4/4 in the E/F/U (Class E, F and Unrated) section and Robby Hecht went 4/4 in the Class C group.
Here is a video from the Game 60:
Game 30
80 players came the next day for the G/30 Champs. More kids came out, probably because of the shorter time control and the greater number of scholastic trophies.
Sonya Vohra, Illinois representative for the Polgar tournament of High School champions
While most of the younger players fought it out in the lower sections, the Master/Expert section was again backed with heavy hitters. Multi-media journalist Macauley Peterson was also in town for the event.
Macauley Peterson
Going into the fifth and final round local favorite Albert Chow was the only player in the top section with a perfect score. His victories included a win over the champ from the day before:
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In the end this loss didn't take Tate out of contention. In the final round, Chow played Kuderinov on board one, while Tate was paired with Adam
Weissbarth. Tate had a comfortable win. In fact, Tate often watched the Kuderinov/Chow game with more interest than he did his own. Kuderinov and Chow both wanted the win and fought with every second they had for it. In the end, Kuderinov won the game, creating a three-way tie for first.
G/30 co-champs Kuderinov, Tate, and Chow smiled like buddies at the check-writing ceremony. (See the lead photo to this article!) Two happy young faces also smiled at Muradian while they waited for their checks.
Andrew Tang was clear about the fact that he wanted the check written out to him, but Penny Xu, convinced she wouldn’t be able to cash a check with no bank account, asked that her winnings be written out to her father. Her father later joked that he wasn’t sure if he should cash the check or frame it.
The players were all on their way home by dinnertime. The storm that had whipped through Chicago during the day was dying down which meant they had the pleasure of driving off peacefully, in the light of the setting sun.
Game 60
Master/Expert - IM Emory Tate - 3.5/4 - $350
Class A - Nathan Wong - 3.5/5 - $245
Nathan Wong, winner of the Class "A" section.
Class B - Jeff Britt and Ian Edgerle - $210 each
Class C - Robby Hecht - 4/4 - $210
Class D - Matthew Hollaway - 3.5/4 -$210
Class E/F/U - Roj Warstler - 4/4 - $140
Game 30
Master/Expert - three way tie for 1st - IM Kiril Kuderinov (KAZ), IM Emory Tate (USA), and FM Albert Chow (USA). No trophy prizes.
Class A - 1st place - Nathan Wong. No trophy prizes.
Class B - 1st place - Jordan Cohen. No trophy prizes.
Class C - 1st place - Robert Gorodetsky. 1st place trophy prize = James Wei.
Class D - 1st place - Matthew Hollaway. 1st place trophy = Allen Guo
Class E/F/U - 1st place - Roj Warstler. 1st place trophy = Rahul Dhiman
Trophies EFU Section
1st place - Rahul Dhiman
2nd place - Rohit Shankar
3rd place - Kevin Kang