Scholastic Tournament

There was a small turn-out for the K-8 and K-3 tournament today, with 10 in the former and 7 in the latter. The highest rated player, Nathan Wu ran the table in the K-8, winning all 4 games, to finish a point ahead of Bill Hindman, alone in 2nd place. Zachary Justice finished clear 3rd with 2 1/2. Alexander Hollins and Jacob Senter were 2-2; Ivan Wethererington and Kevin Shrake had 1 1/2; while Nick Priestly and Preet Shah finished 1-3.
Ivan is from Russia and has been adopted by a wonderful couple, who live in Woodstock. He took his 3rd round loss hard. He is extremely competitive and has a great desire to win! Being from Russia, he has, as Boris Kogan once said about players from that part of the world, "chess in his blood!" Remember his name...In the K-3 Oscar Wallace won with 3-1, a half point ahead of Thomas Vella. Erik Tischer, Jared Carbone, and Jayson Wu each had 2-2. Zachary Justice won his first round game in this section, then moved to the K-8 taking a half point bye in the first round. Alexander Tischer finished with 1/2-3 1/2.
Bill Hindman picked up the most points, 141. Thomas Vella gained 55, while Nathan Wu picked up 52.
Rich Mielke, a member of the GCA board, back from down under, came by to "rip" the new disc by the Cowbly Junkies, TRINITY REVISITED, for me. Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise! Thanks to Rich, I have just about everything the Junkies have ever recorded. Most are on cassettes...This is the first disc I've "ripped."
Paul Benoit dropped by, looking for a game. Since Rich was the only player here, he took it upon himself to sit down for a coupla games. After Rich left, I talked with Paul for an hour, reminiscing. One of the best things about being back at the HOP is renewing acquaintances with old warriors. He was surprised that I was unaware he had finished in second place in a Golden Knights correspondence back in 1994, a time before computers adulterated correspondence chess. It was a time I was out west, working for the Reno rodeo. I will, hopefully, be able to write an article for the award winning GEORGIA CHESS about his Golden Knights experience...After that, I sat like the Maytag repairman, all alone, watching a baseball game, until Thad called. Although his leg is still bothering him, he sounded upbeat and is looking forward to the LPO, which begins this Friday, the 18th. I hope most of you reading this have plans to be in Winston-Salem!