11/15/14

 

Eleven teams, drawing players from Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts, participated in our first even fall team tournament.  Sixteen of the forty four players were masters and experts.   The competition was fierce with seven of the teams coming within fifty points of the 2000 average rating cut-off.  Many of the teams chose a balanced lineup with masters on board one, however, the defending champion team ‘The Price is Right’ returned with a stacked lineup, including two masters and an expert on board three. 

It was clear after just the first round that there would be no easy games as the tournament was thrown into chaos when all three seeded teams drew their matches!  The lead changed almost every round, and after round three there were three teams tied for first.  ‘No Draws Accepted’ led by Senior Master Arslan Otchiyev and captained by CCFC Owner Melvin Patrick, ‘Squarely Legal’ led by National Master Ian Harris, and ‘NotInTheFace’ led by National Master James Nitz were all tied with 2.5/3 each. 


The final round top boards being broadcast live!

‘Squarely Legal’ had the highest game points (first tie-breaker) and their final round win over ‘No Draws Accepted’ looked like it would be sufficient to win the tournament, however, team ‘NotInTheFace’ won their match by an improbable 3-1 score to catch up and tie for first!  With match and game points tied, both teams nominated one player to participate in a 5 minute blitz playoff game to settle the standings once and for all.  ‘Squarely Legal’ nominated NM Ian Harris while ‘NotInTheFace’ nominated their top board NM James Nitz.  Knowing what was at stake, the blitz game was very tense as both players took their time moving cautiously.  In a worse position and down on time Harris eventually was forced to capitulate and the players of team ‘NotInTheFace’ were crowned champions! 


The spectators eagerly watched the blitz tie-breaker.

With more than 10 teams registering the original prizes of $300 for 1st place and $200 for 2nd place were increased to $400 and $300 and a U1600 prize of $120 was added.


UCONN won the top U1600 prize!

 


Co-Champions 'Squarely Legal' (L) and 'NotInTheFace' (R)

# Name Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Tot TBrk[G]
1 SQUARELY LEGAL 2000 D8 [2.0] W9 [4.0] W7 [2.5] W4 [2.5] 3.5 11
2 NOTINTHEFACE 1959 D4 [2.0] W8 [3.5] W5 [2.5] W7 [3.0] 3.5 11
3 YALE 1881 D6 [2.0] W10 [3.0] L4 [1.0] W9 [4.0] 2.5 10
4 NO DRAWS ACCEPTED 2000 D2 [2.0] W6 [3.0] W3 [3.0] L1 [1.5] 2.5 9.5
5 THE PRICE IS RIGHT 1982 W11 [4.0] L7 [1.5] L2 [1.5] W10 [3.0] 2.0 10
6 OLD-TIMERS 1991 D3 [2.0] L4 [1.0] D8 [2.0] W11 [4.0] 2.0 9
7 BEST BY TEST 1988 W10 [3.5] W5 [2.5] L1 [1.5] L2 [1.0] 2.0 8.5
8 NB TRAINED DOGS 1959 D1 [2.0] L2 [0.5] D6 [2.0] B--- [4.0] 2.0 8.5
9 UCONN 1339 B--- [4.0] L1 [0.0] W11 [2.5] L3 [0.0] 2.0 6.5
10 YOU ROOK MAHVELOUS 1502 L7 [0.5] L3 [1.0] B--- [4.0] L5 [1.0] 1.0 6.5
11 FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY 1356 L5 [0.0] B--- [4.0] L9 [1.5] L6 [0.0] 1.0 5.5

 

Individual Rated Results