Upsets at a Crowded Marshall Saturday

The Marshall Chess Club is crowded with chess players many days of the year, but on Saturday, November 18, over 90 players packed into the two floors, wanting to play chess. There were so many people in the club, in fact, it could not accommodate all the registrants, as the physical space could not fit any more boards for the two ongoing tournaments!

The U2300 tournaments are frequently the most popular tournaments at the Marshall, but the U1800 attracted 28 players, a high rarely achieved.

The U1800 tournament featured many upsets accomplished by the lower half of the tournament, such as Litsi Aquilla, a player rated 999 who defeated Alexander Mash, a 1500 rated player, and Tim Liu, rated 1167, who beat the 7th seed, Edward Morales. Overall, the tournament seemed to be dominated by the Success Academy students, who have recently been showing up to the club in great numbers. This might even increase, as the school <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/philanthropist-gifts-1m-nyc-charter-schools-chess-program-article-1.3630935">received a huge donation this week from a philanthropist to fund chess activities further</a>. The happiest player of the day, though, had to be Krish Patni, who won first place with a perfect 4-0 and only a rating of 1400. Despite not finishing on Saturday, the U2300 yielded some interesting surprises, as well. Nazzareno Bertini drew FM Nico Chasin with almost a 500 point rating difference. The 3 day long tournament is sure to finish in an exciting race for first.

Looking forward, there are many tournaments to look forward to at the Marshall. The club is closed on Thanksgiving, but it hold the Nathan Jackson Memorial on November 25th and the William Lombardy Memorial and Blitz on November 28th, the last few exciting events in November. Make sure to check out our calendar for more information on these tournaments and others.