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The Huntsville Chess Club sponsored a team in the Open Section of the 2003 Alabama Junior Team Chess Tournament. The "North Alabama Sac Addicts" (or NASA!) was the second highest seeded team in the section with an average rating of 1352. The team consisted of: Miles Melvin (1531), Joe Chaffee (1495), Michael Palmer (1327), and Scott Seitz (1056). The team played with a great deal of intensity during the whole event.
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Round 1
The strong Page Chess Club from Tennessee sent three teams to the Open Section (only
5 teams in the section!). This round NASA was paired against their second strongest
team. Joe Chaffee got things started off nicely with this quick win:
Inspired by Joe's victory, Miles and Michael pulled through in their games. Scott lost a very close game. The team pulled off a 3-1 victory over Page B.
Round 2
NASA was paired against the highest rated team in the section with a rating
disadvantage on every board. The final result was 3-1 in Page Varsity's favor.
Joe Chaffee managed a nice come from behind upset win against 1659 rated Daniel Rose.
Round 3
The tournament is a round robin with 5 teams, so each team received a bye during one
round. This was NASA's turn to get the bye.
Round 4
NASA was paired against the final team from the Page Chess Club (Page B2). NASA had
a nice rating advantage on the top two boards and faced unrated players on the bottom
two. NASA pulled off the 4-0 win to go to 3-1 as a team. Here is a solid victory by
Miles Melvin from round 4:
Round 5
The final team opponent was the only other team from Alabama: Indian Springs. The
team only fielded three players and was at a rating disadvantage on those three boards.
NASA was able to win all games for another 4-0 result. Although the result was lopsided,
the games were competitive as Michael Palmer's win shows:
Accolades
With a team score of 4-1, NASA finished behind Page Varsity and took home the second place plaques. The organizer provided the coach (me!) with a nice chess set which is apparently a tradition for this event. The team played very well and it took a high rated team like Page Varsity to defeat them. NASA finished with 16 out of 20 possible player points. The Most Valuable Player of the team was Joe Chaffee with a perfect 5-0 score. Good job team!
Last modified: 09 October 2003
Roger McIntyre