December Calvin Challenge and Scholastic
Tournament Report by Eugene Brumley
A Championship Photo. The Scholastic medal round found Reuben Niewenhuis (left front) playing Lukas Zimmerman (right front). Connor Goulet (left middle) plays Anthony Salazar (right middle). Leah Ziegler (left rear facing camera) plays Grace Vanrenterghem and Hadley Vanrenterghem (right rear facing camera) plays Haiden Kerrington . Connor and Reuben tied for 1st-2nd place. Lukas, Leah, and Haiden tied for 3rd-5th.
Photo credit: Eugene Brumley
The final Calvin Challenge of 2009 saw the year off with 20 excited juniors wrestling one another through six rounds of demanding chess, and twenty-plus boxes of pizza sometime after round three. Scholastic chess, although quiet and usually quick, takes each young man and woman on its own variety of roller coaster. No one screams, but games are rarely without emotion. Each player often vacillates from winning to losing and back again. A move is missed and hopes swell, another is seen too late and one can almost smell neurons smoldering. Ambitions are abandoned as new plans are realized. Finally, at the contest’s finish, the now former competitors rise to shake hands; sometimes, as they walk away together, they don’t stop shaking. And that is how an eleven year old can eat an entire pizza!
Connor Goulet and Reuben Niewenhuis, a provisionally rated player, led the field with 5 points out of six rounds. Reuben earned the distinction of being the only undefeated player Saturday, with two draws and four wins. Connor raced to four points out of four rounds before suffering a loss to Reuben in round five. Although the loss set him back, Connor was not dismayed and in fighting spirit, he scored a full point in the last round to tie for first place with Reuben. Lukas Zimmerman, Leah Ziegler, and Haiden Kerrington shared 3rd – 5th places with 4 points apiece.
In the Open section, the fiery young Isaac Zylstra was paired with the top-seeded Matt Hassen, Lansing’s newest Expert. After a misstep by Matt, Isaac maintained an advantage for more than 50 moves. Matt, being a seasoned player, didn’t resign early; Isaac had to prove his technique until Matt had no pieces left and Isaac was two moves from queening a pawn. After the game, Matt joked that he might earn his first point by getting a bye for the second round.
The Open section ended in a four way tie for first place between Matt Hassen, Lansing Mini-swiss TD Tony Nichols, Bill Eckert, and Kerry Price. Matt overcame Tony in the last round, bringing both players to 3 points out of four. Bill, who lost only to Tony Nichols, faced Isaac Zylstra for his third point. Kerry Price, a provisionally rated player playing in his second tournament, beat three players in his class and gained nearly 150 rating points on his way to tie for first place.
By the end of the day Saturday, December’s Calvin Challenge participants walked away with a handful of fighting game scores, thoughts churning, digesting losses and crowing wins, and the fading flavor of pizza sauce still lingering.
Round 2 featured the four eventual winners going head to head. In the foreground, Tony “Le Tigre” Nichols (L) writes down his move against William Eckert (R). In the background, Tony’s Lansing All Stars team mate Matt Hassen (L) digs in against Kerry Price (R). Giuseppe Brumley is the kibitzer in the red hat.
Photo Credit: Eugene Brumley
L to R - front row: Lukas Zimmermann, Leah Ziegler, Tre'Shown Fields, Haiden Kerrington, Connor Goulet
Back row - Noah Spungen, Reuben Niewenhuis, Harris Spungen, Anthony Salazar, Tomer Andegeko
Photo Credit: Katie Brumley
You can find a selection of twelve games from the December Calvin--including Isaac Zylstra's upset of Matt Hassen with Eugene's notes--here:
http://www.westmichiganchess.com/Shared%20Documents/2009_2/200912calvin.htm
Please also take a look at Eugene's Fight Club blog, where he analyzes the game between Chris Stapleton and David Noe:
http://www.westmichiganchess.com/authors/fightclub/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=11
The tournament was directed by Katy Ford. Her USCF rating report can be found here:
http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200912057091.0-12793255
The next Calvin tournament is planned for Saturday January 9th, 2010.