It was an intense two weeks at PCC. The club broke out the notation sheets and set the tables for some long games of chess for the first time since fall 2024. We’ve been spoiled here playing blitz and rapid events but the players didn’t disappoint.
We had 18 registered players which allowed 4 prizes: 1st place, Best U1200, 1st U900, and best U600. Congrats to Josh, Elijah (tie), Andrew, Joe (tie), Kareem, and Nick!
The battle for first place was quite dramatic. Josh won his game with an upset against Artem in the 3rd round catapulting him to the top. The other top 2, Elijah and Allan drew their game. Josh was now half a point ahead, giving him very good chances to win outright or tie for first.
He had his work cut out for him as he was paired with Allan, the highest rated player. Despite the mismatch, he did in fact manage a draw. Elijah won his respective game, and so they tied for 1st place with 3.5 pts each!
For the U1200 class prize, Andrew and Joe tied with 2pts each.
In the U900 section, Kareem edged out Anna in round 3 to secure first place, and Nick took home the U600 with a solid 2.5 pts.
Honorable Mentions: Anna had a great tournament with an outstanding performance coming in second with 3 pts in the U900 section.
Thanks to everyone for coming out!
Standings
Here are the finals standings for the OPEN section:
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Here are the final standings for the U900 section:
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Select Games
Here are some games transcribed from the score sheets that were complete and legible!
We held our first of many USCF rated blitz tournaments this past week.
Congrats to Danilo who came in first place, Billy who won best U1200, and Markus who won best U800! (Ratings are provisional for many players since many havn’t played rated blitz before so we went with that USCF gave us)
Here are the final standings and pics from the event. Thanks Anna for the pics!
Thanks to everyone who came out! See you next time!
The 1st annual Piermont Chess Blitz Championship was, by all accounts, a massive success! This was the first big event of the year on the very first Saturday of 2025, and it was unprecedented!
31 registered players, ages 7-73, including FIDE and National Masters. It smashed the previous record of 21 set in November. We needed more tables!
A full house!
This was our first elimination tournament ever. And it was a big hit. We gave out the very first Piermont Cup trophy, and the biggest cash prizes to date!
Before we realized we needed more boards!
We’re ecstatic that the club is growing so quickly. Our goal has always been to be one of the best clubs in the area for casual and tournament chess. We love chess and the joy it brings to the community and you can only expect more to come!
Congratulations to the Winners!
First place, Piermont Cup and $200: Ian Dudley!
Second place, $150: Sunil Weeramantry!
Sunil Weeramantry and Ian Dudley in the Grand Finals
Third place, $100: Ari Drucker!
Ari Drucker (left) and Artem Aleksenko (right) in the quarter finals elimination bracket
Special Thanks
Stephane Derveaux for all his help at the club from setting everything up for the event & bringing extra tables, to loaning us and operating his DGT board so we could capture games digitally, & assisting with tournament director duties among so many other things. He’s one of the original PCC members/founders and we couldn’t do it without him!
Stephane (in blue) watching Danilo Cuellar vs. Artem Aleksenko in the top 16 round 1.
Seth Courtwright for recently donating a laptop to be our designated club computer. This has allowed us to use the television in the room to great effect. It’s a game changer in the organization and presentation of the tournaments, and helps immensely with advertising and announcements.
FM Sunil Weeramantry for gracing us with his presence and offering his advice in some interesting administrative moments.
NM Ian Dudley for also contributing to the prestige of the event. We don’t often host players of the master level and hope this is the start of a growing trend!
Stage 1: Qualifier
The day started a little late, as we soon became overwhelmed by the crowd in our little blue classroom at Piermont Community Center. We had to make quick adjustments for the pleasant surprise, but everyone was excited and very cooperative. Things kicked off at 10:30am after some parking lot, and misplaced prize fund debacles….
Round 3 of the Swiss qualifier
The first stage was a 5 round G/5+3 Swiss qualifier. Things moved smoothly from round to round with only a few incidents of faulty clocks, and illegal positions requiring TD intervention.
Tim Blomquist (left) vs. Josh Pinchuk (right)
It was a fun 2 hours of chess with a sold out room. In the end, the top 16 would move on to the double elimination tournament bracket.
Alex Freuman in 7th place had to withdraw at this point, allowing Jacob Kim to qualify for the championship bracket.
Here were the final standings:
This event was not rated by USCF. Many players were “U” unrated because they had either never played a rated blitz event, or didn’t use their USCF member ID to register. This led to some interesting pairings to say the least!
Stage 2: Double Elimination
With almost half the competition eliminated after the qualifier event, we took a short break to set up the brackets for the championship and promptly began the first round. Little did we know this event would go an hour over time due to draws!
In this stage players had to lose twice to be eliminated.
Winners BracketLosers Bracket
The top players after the quarterfinals were Ian Dudley, Sunil Weeramantry, Danilo Cuellar, & Takki Tanaka, with no losses yet, & Josh Pinchuk, Bobby Burstein, Garry Mardahayev, & Ari Drucker each with one L but managing just fine.
Clockwise from top left, Ian Dudley, Danilo Cuellar, Sunil Weeramantry, & Takki Tanaka
Going into the Quarter-Finals, Bobby Burstein, Danilo Cuellar and Garry Mardahayev were all on fire. But Garry pulled ahead, eliminating Seth Courtwright, his brother Izgil, and Bobby all in a row to make it to the semi-finals.
The dwindling field.
We also saw the rise of Ari Drucker and Takki Tanaka. Two of the youngest players gave a very strong showing. Ari alone eliminated Artem Aleksenko, Josh Pinchuk, and Danilo Cuellar. And Takki put an end to Garry’s brilliant run.
Ari and Takki first met in the quarter-finals where Takki sent Ari to the losers bracket, but was then stymied by Sunil and sent down himself. Ari and Takki met once again for the semi-finals in the losers bracket. They drew in the first game, and the second! Ultimately it was Ari who came out on top in the third. He would face Sunil in the Losers Finals, and get a chance at the Grand Finals.
Ari and Sunil in the Losers Finals
Ian Dudley was going strong off the qualifier with a perfect score, and maintained his dominance throughout the winners bracket until the grand finals where Sunil gave him his first loss. But it wasn’t over yet.
Sunil and Ian in the Grand Finals
The finale couldn’t have been better. After 12-15+ rounds of chess, there were two players left and both had 1 loss. This was it. With the main board moved to a new table out of the afternoon sun, everyone gathered to watch.
Ten minutes later Ian Dudley was the first ever Piermont Chess Blitz Champion!
Thank you to everyone who made this possible. We hope everyone had as much fun as we did and we can’t wait to bring more chess events to Piermont!
Lead Organizer and Tournament Director Billy Zifchak with his prized possession.
Games from Board #1
The following are 10 of the 15 games that were played on Board #1. Some games could not be included because of illegal moves that weren’t claimed and the computer couldn’t analyze them! You can cycle through the moves and click any images to enlarge them. We didn’t have time to provide any analysis this time but the report cards speak for themselves. Enjoy!
We had a fantastic tournament last Saturday! The place was packed! We had 21 registered players! A new PCC record! And casual players took up the remaining seats throughout the day! We’re going to need a bigger room!
We had players from all over New York and New Jersey, including Westchester and Brooklyn, a diverse range of ratings from U-1800, and a few first timers taking the plunge into the world of USCF!
We’d really like to thank everyone for coming out and sharing in the fun. The atmosphere was light and energetic. And the chess was really entertaining. It means so much that our community is growing and enthusiasm for chess is spreading.
Speaking of which, special thanks to Alan Kuras and the Westchester Chess Clubfor sharing our tournament with their members and sending some players our way!
They are a well established club and host USCF tournaments on Thursdays from 7:30pm -10:30pm. Click the link if you’re interested in playing chess with them too!
Now,
Without further ado,
Here are the Final Results:
1st placeGARRY MARDAHAYEV with a perfect score of 4 pts, and toll money to get back to Brooklyn!
Best Under 1200 PETER GRAHAM matching the powerhouses of Artem and Gennaro with 3pts!
Best Under 800 MARGAUX MALEKIAN winning her class prize in her first tournament!
Thanks again everybody! It was a great time as usual!
See you next Saturday for casual chess from 10-2.
Here are some more pictures from the event.
Margaux and Anna looking for the U800 win in round 4.
The main event: Garry vs Gennaro both undefeated going into round 4.
Major drama in round 1 between Josh and Seth.
Peter and Ben, (with Jacob and Anna in back) Round 3.
Day two saw an increase in drama going into round 4. There were multiple possible outcomes. Melchol S., Mike D., and Julian W had 2 pts each. Damian B. Mike D., and Artem A. had 2.5 each!
Mike withdrew from round 4 leaving Damian, and Artem at the top with 2.5 pts. If either drew their round 4 match they would tie for first place. If either won, they would win the tournament outright edging out the others with that extra half point.
Melchol, Julian and Joe all need wins for a chance to win or tie for first.
As fate would have it Melchol defeated Artem, and Damian and Julian drew, and Joe won his match. And so there was a 3 way tie!
Here are the final standings:
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And Anna and Tom split the Best under 800. Tom played very well, lasting into end games with Billy Z. and Alex L. and drawing with Anna K.! And Anna and Billy also played a very impressive closed Sicilian that neither were very familiar with.
Congrats to all the players and thanks for coming out! It was a blast! Many players reported how much fun they had.
Select Games from The Piermont October Classic 2024
Anna K vs. Billy Z
A complete draw until a critical miscalculation on move 21. where White played 21. c5?? losing a rook and ultimately the game. Despite the out come for White, very high marks for both players.
Joseph B vs. Ben W
This was a wild back and forth while maintaining mostly drawish positions. Both players struggled to find their footings with the Caro-Kann Defense. Black was first to break through and gain some tactical advantages, but a subtle blunder at 31…Qxf3?? almost cost the game. However, White didn’t find a way to capitalize. Even after getting both rooks on the 7th rank the attack wasn’t panning out even after a clever queen sac for a mating position really only led to another even position. Black had one way to save the draw with 39…Qg4+, but neither the rook mate or repeating queen checks seemed to be on the radar.
