Success at the 3rd Annual Club Team Tournament

Pictures || Rating Report || USCF Report || Blitz

Scores || Round 1 || Round 2 || Round 3

 

ChessPalace edged La Palma, San Diego, and Hemet Chess Club in this year's edition of the Club Match Championship. ChessPalace's victorious matches against Hemet and La Palma came within just half a point each and the victory against San Diego was won by only one and a half points. Runner-up club, La Palma finish with 1.5/3 match points. La Palma routed San Diego, San Diego routed Hemet, but Hemet drew their match against La Palma.

 

The average rating of each club ranged within 75 points of each other; La Palma (1821), Hemet (1763), ChessPalace (1750), and San Diego (1746). San Diego was shorthanded with the withdrawal of their top board master, but replacement Martin Nilsson held his ground breaking even by drawing all of his games on board 1. San Diego's last two boards manned by father-son, Jerry and Andrew Liu scored 5/6 to help their team. Hemet had duo brothers, Jeff and Ken Arnold control the top 2 boards scoring 5.5/6. Hemet also had a father-son in their roster Eligio and Miguel Rangel. ChessPalace's father-son, Igor and Tony Kukavica manned boards 4 and 6, respectively, and scoring 4.5/6 while playing against higher rated opponents in five out of six games. Ken Arnold (board 2) of Hemet and Peter Holzer (board 9) of La Palma were the only two perfect scores.

 

The highest rating gain of 95 points was earned by ChessPalace's board 12, junior Gabriel Sam. Gabriel was out-rated by an average of almost 200 rating points. Glenn Rich, from San Diego's board 10, picked up 66 rating points. Each of the club's different strengths helped out their respective teams: Hemet's Arnold brothers did the job on the top boards, and so did San Diego's bottom boards, and La Palma's middle boards. But it was the ChessPalace juniors, whom were out-rated in many games that had the most success. Simone Liao (board 3) and Justin Hsu (board 11) scored 2.5/3, Shyam Gandhi, Tony Kukavica, and Gabriel Sam all scored 2/3 each.

 

Other 2.5/3 scorers are Jeff Arnold (board 1-Hemet), Craig Hilby (board 3-La Palma), Igor Kukavica (board 4-ChessPalace), Bud Stamper (board 6-San Diego), Alan Chu (board 10-ChessPalace), Jerry and Andrew Liu (board 11 and 12-San Diego).

 

Special raffles for gift cards and ChessPalace gift certificates were picked out by board numbers instead of individually. When board 11 was picked, all board 11's from each club won the prize. It not only saved time, but it ensured every teams had winners. The event would not have been possible without the constant coordination of Alfred Ong (ChessPalace), club presidents Chuck Ensey (San Diego), Marcos Montes (Hemet), Brian Scanlon (La Palma). Marcos and Alfred directed.

 

 

2012 Club Team Tournament HCC-CP-SDCC-LPCC January 22, 2012
Chess Club-Drawn Pairings (avg. rating)	1	2	3	4	Total
1. Hemet (1763)		0 (3)	1/2 (6)	0 (5.5)	0.5 (14.5)
2. San Diego (1746)	1 (9)		0 (4)	0 (4.5)	1 (17.5)
3. La Palma (1821)	1/2 (6)	1 (8)		0 (5.5)	1.5 (19.5)
4. ChessPalace (1750)	1 (6.5)	1 (7.5)	1 (6.5)		3 (20.5)
*Subtitutes with a higher rating was counted. Numbers in parenthesis beside score is total points.

 

 

	Round 1 Hemet vs ChessPalace San Diego vs La Palma
Bd	Hemet	5.5	6.5	ChessPalace
1	Jeff Arnold (2459)	1	0	Jeff Phillips (2212)
2	Ken Arnold (2348)	1	0	Pablo Pena (2135)
3	Art Silbar (2049)	0	1	Simone Liao (2102)
4	Chuck Gelinas (2014)	1/2	1/2	Igor Kukavica (1948)
5	Miroslav Stroukal (1902)	1	0	Shyam Gandhi (1858)
6	Jorge Paz (1917)	1/2	1/2	Tony Kukavica (1787)
7	Dake Huang (1758)	1	0	Sam Katagi (1746)
8	Benjamin Deguzman (1692)	0	1	Thomas Medrek (1721)
9	Miguel Rangel (1525)	1/2	1/2	Timothy Chou (1713)
10	Lloyd Albano (1282)	0	1	Alan Chu (1549)
11	Pedro Valdericeda (1264)	0	1	Justin Hsu (1364)
12	Eligio Rangel (954)	0	1	Gabriel Sam (872)
Bolded players played black
Bd	San Diego	4.0	8.0	La Palma
1	Martin Nilsson (2242)	1/2	1/2	Craig Faber (2182)
2	Alejandrino Baluran (2079)	0	1	George Shahin (2105)
3	Benjamin Barquin (2051)	0	1	Craig Hilby (2070)
4	William Wijaya (1874)	0	1	Barry Lazarus (2005)
5	Datris Robinson (1850)	0	1	Leigh Hunt (1956)
6	Bud Stamper (1807)	1	0	Joe Warhula (1868)
7	Anthony Mack (1801)	0	1	Joanne Koong (1901)
8	Chuck Ensey (1737)	0	1	Vic Alfaro (1857)
9	Thomas Kuhn (1707)	0	1	Peter Holzer (1796)
10	Glenn Rich (1407)	1	0	Brian Scanlon (1642)
11	Jerry Liu (1340)	1	0	Michael Redden (1191)
12	Andrew Liu (1064)	1/2	1/2	Daniel Rozsa (1142)

 

 

	Round 2 ChessPalace vs San Diego La Palma vs Hemet
Bd	ChessPalace	7.5	4.5	San Diego
1	Jeff Phillips (2212)	1/2	1/2	Martin Nilsson (2242)
2	Pablo Pena (2135)	1	0	Alejandrino Baluran (2079)
3	Simone Liao (2102)	1	0	Benjamin Barquin (2051)
4	Igor Kukavica (1948)	1	0	William Wijaya (1874)
5	Shyam Gandhi (1858)	1	0	Datris Robinson (1850)
6	Tony Kukavica (1787)	1/2	1/2	Bud Stamper (1807)
7	Sam Katagi (1746)	1	0	Anthony Mack (1801)
8	Thomas Medrek (1721)	0	1	Chuck Ensey (1737)
9	Timothy Chou (1713)	0	1	Thomas Kuhn (1707)
10	Alan Chu (1549)	1	0	Glenn Rich (1407)
11	Justin Hsu (1364)	1/2	1/2	Jerry Liu (1340)
12	Gabriel Sam (872)	0	1	Andrew Liu (1064)
Bolded players played black
Bd	La Palma	6.0	6.0	Hemet
1	Craig Faber (2182)	0	1	Jeff Arnold (2459)
2	George Shahin (2105)	0	1	Ken Arnold (2348)
3	Craig Hilby (2070)	1	0	Art Silbar (2049)
4	Barry Lazarus (2005)	1	0	Chuck Gelinas (2014)
5	Leigh Hunt (1956)	1	0	Miroslav Stroukal (1902)
6	Joanne Koong (1901)	1/2	1/2	Jorge Paz (1917)
7	Joe Warhula (1868)	1/2	1/2	Dake Huang (1758)
8	Howard Lefevre (1847)	0	1	Benjamin Deguzman (1692)
9	Peter Holzer (1796)	1	0	Miguel Rangel (1525)
10	Brian Scanlon (1642)	0	1	Lloyd Albano (1282)
11	Francis Gray (1280)	0	1	Pedro Valdericeda (1264)
12	Michael Redden (1191)	1	0	Eligio Rangel (954)

 

 

	Round 3 La Palma vs ChessPalace Hemet vs San Diego
Bd	La Palma	5.5	6.5	ChessPalace
1	Craig Faber (2182)	1	0	Jeff Phillips (2212)
2	George Shahin (2105)	1	0	Pablo Pena (2135)
3	Craig Hilby (2070)	1/2	1/2	Simone Liao (2102)
4	Barry Lazarus (2005)	0	1	Igor Kukavica (1948)
5	Leigh Hunt (1956)	0	1	Shyam Gandhi (1858)
6	Joanne Koong (1901)	0	1	Tony Kukavica (1787)
7	Joe Warhula (1868)	1/2	1/2	Sam Katagi (1746)
8	Howard Lefevre (1847)	1	0	Thomas Medrek (1721)
9	Peter Holzer (1796)	1	0	Timothy Chou (1713)
10	Brian Scanlon (1642)	1/2	1/2	Alan Chu (1549)
11	Francis Gray (1280)	0	1	Justin Hsu (1364)
12	Daniel Rozsa (1142)	0	1	Gabriel Sam (872)
Bolded players played black-*substitute
Bd	Hemet	3.0	9.0	San Diego
1	Jeff Arnold (2459)	1/2	1/2	Martin Nilsson (2242)
2	Ken Arnold (2348)	1	0	Alejandrino Baluran (2079)
3	Art Silbar (2049)	0	1	Benjamin Barquin (2051)
4	Chuck Gelinas (2014)	1/2	1/2	Aldrich Ong (1794)*
5	Miroslav Stroukal (1902)	0	1	Datris Robinson (1850)
6	Jorge Paz (1917)	0	1	Bud Stamper (1807)
7	Dake Huang (1758)	0	1	Anthony Mack (1801)
8	Benjamin Deguzman (1692)	0	1	Chuck Ensey (1737)
9	Miguel Rangel (1525)	1	0	Thomas Kuhn (1707)
10	Lloyd Albano (1282)	0	1	Glenn Rich (1407)
11	Pedro Valdericeda (1264)	0	1	Jerry Liu (1340)
12	Eligio Rangel (954)	0	1	Andrew Liu (1064)

 

 

 

The blitz side event was attended by 18 players, many of whom still had enough energy left from the Club Team Tournament. Jeff Arnold and Alex King topped the field with 8/10 followed by Ken Arnold, Jeff Phillips, and Pablo Pena with seven apiece. Igor Kukavica bested the U2000 with 6.5/10 and Marcos Montes took the Best U1600. The strong field comprised of four USCF masters, three experts, and three Class A.