Welcome to This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center, our weekly recap of all the tournaments hosted by the CCC!
This week's post will focus on the events taking place from April 7 to 13, 2024, apart from
the recently concluded Unrated Team Challenge tournament for scholastic players. That event will be recapped in a separate standalone piece which will be posted soon.
To find a specific event, navigate using the headings below.
Sunday Afternoon Classical (CCC North)
Sunday Afternoon Classical event is a weekly tournament held at the CCC North location. Members of the Charlotte Chess Center play one round of g60 +10 USCF-rated chess each Sunday, with the event being rated at the end of the month. The following players won their games this past week:
Top: Naitik Rathi, Matthew Sedlock, Aaron Wilson, Jared Crawford, and Mario Michaels
U1300: Mekhai Collins, Graham Sledge, Siddhant Gutgutia, Moses Collins, Keith Becker, Akhil Dhinakar, and Major Collins
The top adult and junior player in each section of SAC, across all rounds of the month, will receive a $25 gift certificate from USCF sales. Since we're only one week into this month's session of SAC, many players are in the running for these prizes!
For full results, see the current SAC standings.
Our next Sunday Afternoon Classical will be held this weekend at the CCC North location on April 14.
Sunday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Our weekly Sunday Action Quads tournament is held at the CCC Main/South location every Sunday evening, open to all players in grades K-12. Participants are grouped into four-player quads and compete in three rounds of g20+10 USCF-rated chess. We had a big turnout this week, with a total of 41 players participating across 10 quads.
Our quad winners this week were:
Quad A: Benjamin Raz and Nandhan Gummi (2 points)
Quad B: Shanmukhi Malireddy (2.5 points)
Quad C: Claire Xu (2.5 points)
Quad D: Bryan Muraya and Anirudh Prasanna (2 points)
Quad E: Advik Mani (2.5 points)
Quad F: Carter Hahn (3 points)
Quad G: Ayaan Geda (3 points)
Quad H: Annapoorni Palaniappan (3 points)
Quad I: Charles McCready and Jordan Augustine (2 points)
Quad J: Gauri Sinkar (3 points)
Congratulations to all quad winners! All perfect scorers in our scholastic quad events in grades K-8 are qualified for the NEW Tournament of Champions event, which is scheduled for May 4, 2024. Detailed results from April 7 can be viewed here.
The next Sunday Action Quads will take place at the CCC Main/South location this weekend on April 14.
Monday Action Quads (CCC North)
Monday Action Quads event is a weekly quads tournament held at the North location on Monday evenings. All K-12 scholastic players are welcome to participate for three rounds of g20+10 USCF-rated chess. We had 14 players this week across three quads, including a six-player Quad C.
Congratulations to the following players who finished in first place:
Quad A: Shaurya Nannapaneni (2.5 points)
Quad B: Three-way tie between Arya Harsha, Bhargav Raghavendra, and Shrinika Musuluri (2 points)
Quad C (six players): Soren Nelson (3 points)
All 3-0 scorers in grades K-8 are qualified for our Tournament of Champions event. For detailed results of the April 8 MAQ, click here for the USCF crosstables.
The next Monday Action Quads event is scheduled for April 15.
Tuesday Night Action (CCC Main/South)
On Tuesday evenings, the CCC Main/South location hosts our weekly Tuesday Night Action. Following a lecture by Fide Master (and Charlotte Chess Center founder) Peter Giannatos, players are paired into one USCF standard-rated game a week.
The following players won their games this past Tuesday:
Top: Nirav Natha, Alex Kaelin, and Vihaan Purohit
U1750: Sattwik Dutta, Ivan Manchev, Brent Jenkins, Jeremy Huffman, Kevin Nguyen, Satvick Kumar, and Shreyas Karki
U1300: Anthony Gentile, Philip Benke, Eldar Gabidoff, Ritvik Kumar, Vivan Ghule, Bryan Muraya, and Shrehit Dhiman
Surprisingly, there are no players with a perfect 2/2 score in either of the top two sections! In the U1300, Anthony Gentile and Philip Benke have each won both of their games so far this month.
TNA is rated at the end of the month, with a $25 USCF sales gift card awarded to the top scoring adult and junior player in each section. Current TNA standings can be viewed here.
Our next Tuesday Night Action will be held at the Main/South location April 16.
Wednesday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
The Charlotte Chess Center hosted our weekly Wednesday Action Quads event at the CCC Main/South location on April 10, 2024. WAQ is a three-round g20+10 quads tournament open to players of all ages. This week's edition attracted 30 players across seven quads, including a six-player Quad G.
Here are the top finishers from each quad:
Quad A: Arya Sharma (2 points)
Quad B: Sri Pallapothu and Matthew Khariouk (2 points)
Quad C: Andrew Khrariouk (2.5 points)
Quad D: Tamaghna Roy and Micah MacClean (2 points)
Quad E: Diya Balamurugan (3 points)
Quad F: Satvick Kumar and Murari Raghavan (2 points)
Quad G (six players): Benjamin Gamayunov (3 points)
Diya Balamurugan is now just one point shy of 1600 USCF, making her one of the highest-rated girls of her age in the country. Other notable top performers included Andrew Khariouk and Satvick Kumar, gaining 51 and 43 points respectively!
The full results of the April 10 Wednesday Action Quads can be viewed here.
Our next Wednesday Action Quads tournament is scheduled for April 17.
Friday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Friday Action Quads is a weekly g20+10 quads tournament hosted at the CCC Main/South location, open to scholastic players. Just like this week's WAQ, we had 30 players participate in Friday Action Quads, forming seven sections.
The following players finished in first place:
Quad A: Srivatsa Gundumalla (2.5 points)
Quad B: Ranveer Sachdeva and Mekhai Collins (2 points)
Quad C: Alexander Little and Moses Collins (2 points)
Quad D: Jack Cassidy and Reyansh Mayank (2 points)
Quad E: Druv Balamurugan (2.5 points)
Quad F: Evan Chen (2.5 points)
Quad G (six players): Ishaan Patel (3 points)
Ishaan Patel was our only perfect scorer this week. Remember that all players in grades k-8 who score 3/3 at FAQ are qualified for the Tournament of Champions scheduled for May 4, 2024. Detailed results of the April 12 FAQ tournament can be viewed here.
The next Friday Action Quads will be held on April 19.
Submitted Games
Our submitted game this week comes from Aaron Wilson, who took the time to send in his victory from this week's Sunday Afternoon Classical tournament.
Aaron had the black pieces against CCC Coach Sasmita Mohnanty in a QGD, quickly trading into a queenless middlegame. Although white defended admirably and had lots of chances, ultimately black created a lethal passed pawn in a king-and-pawn endgame. The game is included here with Aaron's annotations:
Thanks so much to Aaron for sending in his game!
For upcoming tournaments, bookmark our Events Schedule. The CCC hosts nearly 8 events a week at our facilities in North and South Charlotte, along with bi-monthly major events such as the upcoming ALTO tournament.
Not a member of the CCC? Join over 1000 members today!
NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
Charlotte Chess Center