Welcome to This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center, our recap of all CCC tournaments and other fun events from the past seven days! This week's post will focus on the events from April 21 to April 27.
This summary will include all the weekly tournaments at both the North and South locations, as well as our Rated Scholastic at the CCC North location and our monthly Reverse Angle event at the CCC Main/South.
This post will not include the ALTO tournament at the Hilton Garden Inn which took place last weekend. That event was featured in a standalone piece which can be viewed at this link.
To find a specific event, navigate using the headings below:
Sunday Afternoon Classical (CCC North)
Sunday Afternoon Classical is a weekly tournament at the CCC North location every Sunday. Charlotte Chess Center members are paired into one round of standard USCF-rated chess per week, with a time control of g60+10.
The following players won their games this week at SAC:
Top: Farid Aslanov, Naitik Rathi, Diya Balamurugan, Matthew Sedlock, and Moses Collins
U1300: Akhil Dhinakar, Druv Balamurugan, Ishaanvii Ashwin, Mekhai Collins, Mario Michaels, Gavin Burton, Shivin Ashwin, Pranav Pradeepkumar, Axiao Yao, and Shrinika Musuluri
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. Akhil Dhinakar is the only player on a perfect 3/3 score in either section this month, taking a commanding lead in the prize standings with one round to go. Meanwhile, four players are tied with two points in the Top section.
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 28.
Sunday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Our Sunday Action Quads event takes place at the CCC's Main/South location every Sunday, open to all players in grades K-12. Players are grouped into quads of four and compete in three rounds of g20+10 USCF-rated chess.
Our quad winners this week were:
Quad A: Joshua Wakefield (3 points)
Quad B: Ritvik Kumar (3 points)
Quad C: Murali Kongot (2.5 points)
Quad D: Ashwanth Premkumar (2 points)
Quad E: Sudeeksha Shashidhar (3 points)
Quad F: Jayanth Premkumar (2.5 points)
Quad G: Kevin Nolan (2.5 points)
Congratulations to all quad winners! Remember that all perfect scorers in our scholastic quad events in grades K-8 are qualified for the NEW Tournament of Champions event, scheduled for May 4, 2024. Detailed results from April 21 can be viewed here.
The next Sunday Action Quads will take place at the CCC Main/South location this weekend on April 28.
Monday Action Quads (CCC North)
Our Monday Action Quads event takes place every Monday evening at the North location. All K-12 scholastic players are welcome to participate in the three round USCF-rated tournament.
Congratulations to the following players who finished in first place:
Quad A: Moses Collins and Grant Jones (2.5 points)
Quad B: Akhil Dhinakar (3 points)
Quad C: Atharv Dubey (2.5 points)
Quad D: Jack Crowell (2.5 points)
Quad E: Shaurya Nannapaneni (2.5 points)
Quad F: Soren Nelson (3 points)
Quad G: Rahul Theepan (3 points)
Some of the top performers in MAQ this week included Moses Collins (USCF 1308 -> 1371), Akhil Dhinakar (1024 -> 1169), and Jenny Guo (832 -> 914). All four winners in quads D through G also gained at least 90 points of USCF rating!
All 3-0 scorers in grades K-8 are qualified for our Tournament of Champions event. For full results and rating changes from the April 22 MAQ tournament, click here for the USCF crosstables.
The next Monday Action Quads event is scheduled for April 29.
Tuesday Night Action (CCC Main/South)
Tuesday Night Action is a rated tournament that takes place every Tuesday evening at the CCC's Main/South location. Following a lecture by FM (and Charlotte Chess Center founder) Peter Giannatos, participants get paired into one USCF standard-rated game a week. TNA is open to players of all ages and strengths!
The following players won their games this past Tuesday:
Top: Harshil Jagga, Naitik Rathi, and Smayan Ammasani
U1600: Arsh Sharda, Sattwik Dutta, Cahlpati Gundumalla, Trishona Kumar, Joshua Wakefield, Shlok Kaushik, Jason Bailey, Moses Collins, Steven Libonati, and Anirudh Mani
U1300: Philip Benke, Akshith Chintalacheruvu, Namish Mayank, Ritvik Kumar, Brian Lara, Vivan Ghule, Shrehit Dhiman, Neal Woodruff, Shiva Silaparasetty, Isaac Rubanenko, Tushar Kinger, and Imhotep Collins
A total of five players have two points in the Top section this month, while Arsh Sharda has a clear lead in the U1600 with 3.5 points. Three players are on 3/3 in the U1300: Philip Benke, Anthony Gentile, and Akshith Chintalacheruvu.
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 30.
Wednesday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
On Wednesday, the CCC hosted our weekly Wednesday Action Quads event at the Main/South location. WAQ is a g20+10 quads event open to players of all ages and strengths.
The following players finished in first place this week:
Quad A: Alex Kaelin (2.5 points)
Quad B: Sri Pallapothu (3 points)
Quad C: Samuel Paukovitz (2.5 points)
Quad D: Micah MacLean (3 points)
Quad E: Three-way tie between Mukund Neema, Samanyu Ammasani, Steven Libonati (2 points)
Quad F: Kody Crouch (3 points)
Quad G: Bryan Muraya and Jayan Medvin (2.5 points)
Players achieving new peak ratings included Sri Pallapothu, Samuel Paukovitz, and Micah MacLean. Congratulations to all quad winners! Detailed results from the April 24 Wednesday Action Quads can be viewed here.
Our next Wednesday Action Quads tournament will be held at the CCC Main/South location on May 1.
Friday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)
Every Friday, the CCC hosts the weekly Friday Action Quads tournament at the Main/South location. FAQ is a three-round scholastic tournament with a time control of g20+10. This week's FAQ hosted 30 players across seven quads, including a six player "small swiss" section for Quad G.
The following players finished in first place:
Quad A: Benjamin Raz and Srivatsa Gundumalla (2 points)
Quad B: Shreyas Karki (3 points)
Quad C: Shiva Silaparasetty and Bryan Muraya (2 points)
Quad D: Jayan Medvin (3 points)
Quad E: Three-way tie between Vihaan Dhulipala, Evan Chen, and Arnav Dronamraju (2 points)
Quad F: Varad Daripdar (2 points)
Quad G (small swiss): Sreyash Maitra, Shawn Lee, and Vibhav Dhulipala (2 points)
Don't forget 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 26 FAQ tournament can be viewed here. The next Friday Action Quads will be held on May 3!
Rated Scholastic (CCC North)
On April 27, the Charlotte Chess Center hosted our monthly Rated Scholastic tournament at the CCC North location. The tournament was open to all players in grades K-8 rated under 1000 and featured four rounds of USCF-rated chess.
Our Rated Scholastic tournaments are qualifier events for the NEW Tournament of Champions scheduled for May 4. The following players each scored 2.5/4 or higher and have earned a spot in the Tournament of Champions:
U1000: Sai Saravanan, Shaurya Nannapaneni, Carter Hahn, and Harshal Dadi
U500: Nishika Naraparaju, Vishnupriya Jayamurugan, Harshith Dadi, Sriyan Pamidimukkala, and Avyaan Prasad
Full results from our Rated Scholastic event on April 27 can be viewed at this link.
Reverse Angle (CCC Main/South)
Every month, CCC hosts the Reverse Angle tournament at the Main/South location. This event has a history going back over a decade and is one of our flagship events!
Reverse Angle is a three-round classical tournament with a time control of g80+10. The tournament is split into three USCF-rated sections, with the top two sections also FIDE-rated.
The big winner in the Top section was NM James Chirilov, scoring a perfect 3/3 and taking the first place prize of $200. Hugo Nam won the $100 second place prize, scoring 2.5/3, while Patrick McCartney and Vihaan Pendse won $30 each (top U2100).
In the U1900 section, Anvay Phadke went 3/3 as well, winning $160 for clear first place. With the perfect score, Anvay also gained 61 points of USCF rating, reaching 1700 for the first time! Our other prizewinners in U1900 were Jayant Thathireddy and Vihaan Purohit ($50 each for shared second place), as well as Jared Crawford ($60 for finishing as the top player U1650).
Our U1400 champion was William Jindal with a 2.5/3 score. He took home $160 for his efforts, ceding a single draw to Charles Cameron in the second round. Cameron was one of four players tied for second place with 2/3, alongside Alexander Arkhipov, Zachary Grossman, and Bhargava Meda (each winning $25). Henry Yoo won $60 as the top U1100.
The rating report from the Reverse Angle tournament can be viewed at this link, or you can find the full prize results in the standings page on our website.
Festival of India and Other Fun!
Several Charlotte Chess Center coaches and staff were present at the recent Festival of India at Stumptown Park in Matthews. Here are a couple photos of the event, with some of our coaches taking on all comers in casual chess games:
Photos above were taken by Nichol Garrison and Daniel Schipper.
This week also saw the end of the ALTO tournament, featuring GMs Kayden Troff and Alonso Zapata. A full recap of that event can be found here!
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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 CCC Club Championship and the Carolinas Classic.
Not a member of the CCC? Join over 1000 members today!
NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist