February G/60 Action!

58 players from North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia entered the Charlotte Chess Center's February G/60 Action tournament.  The large turnout meant that the prize fund was increased to over $1000.

As always, the tournament was divided into 3 sections - Top, Under 1700, and Under 1200.  Each section was playing for a first place prize of $220, second place prize of $70, and a class prize of $50, for a total prize fund of $1020.


Top Section
The Top section was the strongest and largest of the day, with 25 players.  National Masters Daniel "9:59am" Cremisi (2382), Klaus "the veteran" Pohl (2206), and Mark "re-entry" Biernacki (2187) were the top seeds, closely followed by several Experts and Class A players.

Daniel Cremisi struck gold again, receiving $220 for his 4-0 score.  In second place were Mark Biernacki, Alex Chen (2115), Neil Deshpande (1974), and Pradhyumna Kothapalli (1957), who received $18 each.  Ali Shirzad (1779) won $50 for the U1900 prize.



Under 1700 Section
The U1700 section featured 18 players, including top seeds Danny "the crop man" Cropper (1695), Jaiden Chuang (1644), and David "dawuud" Richards (1613).

Tony Sanders (1574) scored 4-0 and won $220.  Jaiden Chuang, David Richards, and Donald "check!" Johnson (1551) tied for second place with 3-1, earning $24.  Aarush Chugh (1328) also scored 3/4, but earned $50 for the top U1500 prize.



Under 1200 Section
Fifteen players competed in the U1200 section, including some of the region's next top junior players.  The top seeds were Akshay "!!!" Rajagopal (1171), William "Bill" Merritt (1091), and Smayan "lil Smay" Ammasani (1090).

Eight-year-old Smayan Ammasani scored a perfect 4-0 score to earn $220.  Tying for second place and earning $30 each were: William Merritt, Murari Raghavan (611), Nathan Butler (598), and Joshua Soutiere (unrated).




UPSETS - 150 points or more
Under 1200, Round 4 - Murari Raghavan (611) def. Akshay Rajagopal (1171) - 560 points
Under 1200, Round 1 - Nathan Butler (598) def. Shreeshiva Raja (1038) - 440 points
Under 1700, Round 4 - Aarush Chugh (1328) def. Danny Cropper (1695) - 367 points
Under 1200, Round 3 - Murari Raghavan (611) def. Charles Apy (874) - 263 points
Top Section, Round 2 - Adharsh Rajagopal (1957) def. Klaus Pohl (2206) - 249 points
Top Section, Round 1 - Ali Shirzad (1779) def. Sulia Mason (2004) - 225 points
Under 1700, Round 1 - Paige Cook (1326) def. Donald Johnson (1551) - 225 points
Under 1700, Round 2 - Colin Roop (1492) def. Danny Cropper (1695) - 203 points
Under 1700, Round 1 - Henry Chen (1236) def. Antara Durbha (1402) - 166 points
Under 1700, Round 4 - Brian Miller (1173) def. Nikhil Kamisetty (1339) - 166 points
Top Section, Round 3 - Lendel Robinson (1734) def. Ernest Nix (1896) - 162 points
Under 1700, Round 1 - Chase Siuta (1208) def. Nishanth Gaddam (1361) - 153 points

Joshua Soutiere (unrated) def. Charles Apy (874), Shreeshiva Raja (1083), and Ethan Liu (1064).

USCF Rating Report



Until next time,
G Money