The Demarcation Line

Twenty players braved the torrential downpour to make it to the TNF. The Stud, back from drawing four games at the LPO, was the highest rated player, followed by Joe Moon at 2096. There was a precipitous drop to the third ranked player, Soloman Zelman, at 1744, a full class behind. Since there were no class "A" players in the field, the disparity in rating between #2 & #3 was 352 points. That made the 260 point drop between #12 & #13 seem small in comparison. It is obvious that changes must be made to get more higher rated players to the House!
The big news in the first round was the huge 552 point upset of Christopher Edler (1700) by Bob Peatman (1148)! Eric Lu (1450) took out Zelman (1744), an upset of 294 points. Mr Lu continued in the second round by winning from Zimmy (1703), a difference of 253, giving him a total of 547 upset points after only two rounds! Justin Swaby (1645) popped Bob's bubble to go 2-0, while Gautam Narula beat another tail-ender, joining the 2-0 group, along with The Stud, who, after beating Pinky Peatman in the first round, took out the Barbarian, Andrew Bryant in round two. Unfortunately, Mr Narula did not feel well and had to withdraw, really messing up the pairings...That turn of events elevated Joe Moon, who had beaten Christopher Roberts in the first round, and drawn with James Stack in rd two, to second board vs Eric Lu. The Stud beat Swaby to win the tournament 3-0 and win $24, while Joe ended the night of upsets by Eric Lu, thereby finishing clear second, winning $16. Swaby, the Barbarian, who beat Bob Peatman, and James Stack(House), who drew with Zimmy, tied for third, winning $3 each. Pinky upset Edler in the last round, and tied for the under prize with Eric Lu, and Chris Roberts, who won his last two games. Each took $7 from the House.
Five players were eligible for the U1100 prize, though I know not why. The lower rated players are the ones who get the assigned bye if there is an odd number of players. They receive the bye for a reason. They come for the experience and because the games are rated just like it is a regular standard time limit game. They come to take the points the higher rated players put on the line. They should be eligible for the under prize. Period. At least tonight the two players rated under 1100 who each won a $7 prize won a game. Put that $14 into the top section and first place would have been $30, with second $20, and maybe more higher rated players will come to the House!
Eric Lu gained 56 points and Bob Peatman garnered 38! Go Bob! His son, Pinky, gained another 22 points. After attending both chess camps at the House this summer, I look for Pinky to gain at least a rating class by the end of this year! Zachary Justice gained 40 points, but it was not enough to elevate him to quadruple digits. No one should receive a rating until they reach 1000. For pairing purposes they should stay unrated until they at least reach the chess equivalent of the baseball "Mendoza" line.