Tournament Results 2005-2006 Space Coast Scholastic Chess

Record Turnout of 175 Players at Central Florida Regional Championship

The 2007 East Florida Regional Championship (click here to see final standings) played at Dr. W. J. Creel Elementary was attended by 175 players from across Central Florida. The largest turnout ever! Round 1 started a little late due to our Simul, but thanks to more than 150 pre-registrations on line and strict enforcement of the 9:00 AM cutoff we only began about 20 minutes late. Our thanks to all who cooperated and assisted with registration.

Round 1 was preceeded by a Simul demonstration with local International Master Javad Maharramzade (USCF 2588, FIDE 2477) who is currently the third highest rated player in Florida, and 24th in the nation. Although an hour was allocated for the simul, Javad's careful positional play took longer than expected. He either checkmated or was clearly ahead by a piece on 15 of 17 boards at the end of the simul and these were declared as losses. The final two boards were even in material,but he had mating attacks. These were finished after round one and Javad quickly won both games, giving him a 17-0 score for the event. Some phots of the event are provided below.

IM Javad Maharramzade (2588) battles 17 other players in a simul exhibition

Sumir Desai's position gives IM Maharramzade a moment's pause, while Corey Smith's Lasker Defense got him to a rook-and-pawn ending.

The 2007 annual East Regional Scholastic Tournament (click here to see final standings) was played at the Dr. W. J Creel Elementary School and saw our largest turnout ever. The 175 in attendance was more than a 20-player increase over last year's regioinal tournament. The K-3 and K-5 sections were over fifty players each. The regional tournament had five sections (K-1, K-3, K-5, K-8 and K-12) rather than the usual three. Once again, tournamout was small in the K-12 section with only 11 players, but there were a promising 15 player in the K-1 section.

SEBASTIAN MOORMAN IS CHAMPION OF THE K-1 SECTION (15players)

There was a four-way tie in the K-1 section, all scoring four points. Sebastian Moorman (283) and Saurav Ghosal (447) each began the first three rounds undefeated. Unfortunately, Saurav had prior commitments and could not play rounds four and five, finishing in fourth place and out of the trophies. Being a high rated K-1 player, who knows how he might have done? This pitted Sebastion against Diego Vargas (100) in round four with Diego scoring a stunning upset win. In the final round, with three points each, Sebastian was paired against Kyle Caudill (297) from Gemini and Diego was paired against Samantha Schroeder (unr.). Both won handily. Also finishing with four points was Marina Fleming (460), also from Gemini, who recovered from a second round loss to Sebastian to win her final four games. The trophy awards came down to the dreaded tie-breakers, with Sebastian coming out on top, Diego second and Marina in third. Saurave got fourth place having only played three games and going undefeated. Sebastian is coached by our Simul Master IM Javad Maharramzade, so those lessons have really paid off with a gain of 170 ratings points!

Marina's excellent play helped lead her Gemini team to a first place finish in K-1. Thanks to Saurav's strong performance, along with a 3-point perframcen from Andy Saraka (100), Suntree Elementary took second place.

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K-1 Regional Champion Sebastian Mooreman and Runner-up Diego Vargas. Marina Fleming took third.

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K-1 Team Champion Gemini Elementary and Runner-up Suntree Elementary

GEMINI AND INDIALANTIC ELEMENTARY DOMINATE THE K-3 SECTION (51 players)

Gemini Elementary and Indialantic Elementary continue to field strong teams in the K-3 section. Five of the top six finishers were from these two schools. Nickolas Moore (780) and Samuel Leighton (576), both of Gemini jumped out to 3 points in the first three rounds along with Austin Smithe (478) of Holy Trinity and Nicholas Blythe of Indialantic (689). The pairings were clear in round four and Nickolas defeated Austin while Samuel had no problem with Nicholas. Unfortunately, due to an error by the tournament director (who was completely frazzled by round five), Team Restrictions were not removed in round five and Nikolas and Samuel were not paired as they should have been. The result was each won their final games aginst players with 3.5 points each and finished tied with perfect scores. Nikolas took first place by only half a point on tie-breakers.

Three players finished with four points. Kyle Worley (290) of Indialantic lost only to Nickolas (and gained 185 ratings points!) and finished third. Amy Tsai (339) of Sweetwater Academy lost only to Samuel and finished in fourth. William Stewart III (489) lost an early round to Austin Smithe and finished fifth.

With strong performances by the Gemini and Indialantic players, Gemini finshed in first place with 16 points and Indialantic in second with 15 points.

K-3 Regioinal Champion Nickolas Moore and runners up Sanueal Leighton and Kyle Worley

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K-3 Team Champion Gemini Elementary and runner up Indialantic Elementary

TYLER RHODES LEADS SWEETWATER AND CRUSHES THE K-5 SECTION (58 Players)

With a 1237 rating, Tyler Rhodes was the clear favorite to win the K-5 section. Tyler handled each of his opponents with ease and won a clear first with the only perfect 5.0 score. So, the real battle was for second place. Denis Koksal-Rivet (825) shot out to his best start ever winning his first four games. But, with the only other perfect 4.0 score going into the final round, his streak ended when he played Tyle in the final round. Brendan Rothman (980) suffered an upset draw against Stephen Kane (644) in round two that worked in his favor. The loss of a half point prevented him from being paired against Tyler, but he still had to defeat the always strong Chad Chavira (1027) to finish with 4.5 points and sole posession of second place. Eigth player finished with 4.0 points, so the tie-breakers came into play to determine the final three trophies. Denis' excellent performance and only loss to Tyler gave him the clear advantage and third place honors. Geoffrey Clark (771) of Gemini also lost only to Tyler in round three, so he was awarded fourth place. Taking fifth was Sweetwater's Charle Hafner (802), who's only loss was to Denis.

With four players in the top seven, Sweetwater Episcopal Academy handily won the top team honor with 17.5 points. Denis' excellent performance led his team, Palm Bay Academy, to a second place finish with 14 points. Holy Trinity Academy finsihed third with 13 points.

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K-5 Section Champion Tyler Rhodes and runners up Brendan Rothman and Denis Koksal-Rivet

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K-5 Team Champion Sweetwater Episcopal Academy and runner up Palm Bay Academy

STUNNING UPSET IN THE FINAL ROUND GIVES BRANDON TRUEBA TOP HONOR IN K-8 SECTION (41 Players)

With a 1289 rating (and a 1392 unofficial rating), Corey Smith seemed to be an shoo-in to win the K-8 section as his next closest opponent was rated 200 points lower. Things were going to plan as Corey won the first four rounds. The final round, however paired him against Brandon Trueba and although the opening went well, a rash decision led to a pawn push in front of his king. Brandon easily found the right tactic and left Corey with the choice of checkmate or losing an exchange. Once Brandon had the advantage, he did not let go and eventually drained Corey's defenses and won the final game, making him the K-8 Regional Champion. Corey's performance, however, still earned him second place on top of a 6-way tie with 4.0 points. Quincy Sklar (1136) played strong, losing only to Brandon, and received thrid place honors. Taking fourth place was Varun Bansal (1118) whose only loss was to Corey in round four. Fifth place was awarded to the always strong player Bennet Biondo (1192) who blundered his queen in round one (it happens!), but then came back to win the final four games.

Although their best player finished 10th, consistent play by the entire Indialantic team earned them first place in the K-8 Division. Their award was accepted by their coach, Eric Cooper, since all their players apparantly had better things to do after round five finsihed!!. Holy Trinity Academy finished only a half-point behind, making Corey's loss that much more painful, and took second place. Brandon's Rock Lake Middle School took third with 9 points.

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K-8 Regional Champion Brandon Trueba and runners up Corey Smith and Quincy Sklar

K-8 Team Champion Indialantic and runner up Holy Trinity Academy

NEWCOMER MAKAIO KRIENKE OUTCLASSES THE K-12 DIVISION (11 Players)

First timer at a SCSC event, Makaio Krienke (1713) far outclassed the rest of the field. The next closest rating was 1389. Makaio was paired against the second through sixth place finishers and defeated them all with little trouble. His efforts earned him only five ratings points, but he got a nice trophy! So, the real fight was for second place. Kevin Sun (1043) defeated third place finisher Justin Buchanan (845) in the final round to take second. Second grader Kevin Hu decided to play up in the K-12 section to give himself a challenge. He did well, finishing fourth with a 3.0 score.

Only one team awrd was given in K-12 and this was taken by the Satellite Beach High School team of Justin and Colin McCleary.

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K-12 Regional Champion Makaio Krienki and runners up Kevin Sun and Justin Buchanan

K-12 Team Champion Satellte Beach High School