2005 Rookie Rally

Report

For a first (annual?) event the turnout for the Rookie Rally was very good. 114 people registered with only five no shows despite the freezing weather. Blossomwood was very well prepared, thanks to the hard work put in by Betsy Roberts and Barbara Bozeman. It appears that they took a page out of the renowned Bishop Bash's Scholastic Chess Tournament Guidebook. They had T-shirts, chess problems posted on the hallway walls, and a raffle was held between rounds. The kids love those raffles.

Gerald Larson was scheduled to direct this tournament but had to bow out due to a conflict with his son's hockey schedule. David Hayes volunteered to fill the position but this late substitution may have caused some problems. Somehow the additional transferring of registration information between parties that this caused introduced some data entry errors. Malcolm Carson, Matthew Carson, Malcolm Caisson, and Matthew Caisson were entered in the Elementary Section. The problem was that these players did not exist. There was a Malcolm Cason and a Matthew Cason. Somehow these players were entered into the computer twice, each time with a different incorrect spelling. These errors probably would have been caught during the first round of play if Malcolm and Matthew had played, but they both had byes that round. The errors weren't caught until after the third round. The two rounds that those phantom players played did cause some headaches and wreaked havoc on the elementary crosstable.

Aside from the fore mentioned problems and a few other glitches that are common in these events, the tournament was a success. The kids seemed to enjoy it (the trophy winners anyway), and the larger-than-expected turnout should have made it profitable as well.

I believe a seed was planted on January 29, 2005 during the Rookie Rally. I was loitering in the cafeteria when a young lady, I don't recall her name, accompanied by Meg Richert approached me wanting to know how she could have a scholastic chess tournament at Discovery Middle School. I told her she should talk to the man with the plan, Jerry Wheeler. Will Discovery be the next new host?

Individual Results

Alex Weiner

Open Section Trophy Winners Place Name Rating Score 1 Weiner, Alex 1205 4.0 2 Muna, Nashia 961 3.5 3 Hunt, Ryan nnnn 3.0

The 18-member-strong Jr. High Section had quite a few strong players. Lee Richert rose above expectations and won the section by beating many higher rated players including Alex Weiner, the Open Section winner, when they met in round two.

Jr. High Section Trophy Winners Place Name Rating Score 1 Richert, Lee 907 4.5 2 Runa, Sabiha 1032 4.0 3 Sola, Kalyaan 893 3.5 4 Richert, Trip 886 3.0

Lee Richert

The Elementary Section had 44 players. After four rounds of play three players had perfect 4-0 scores: Patrick Bryant, Eric Ly, and Joshua Clement. They all had draws in the final round for a three-way tie for first. Patrick Bryant was awarded first due to tie-break points.

Patrick Bryant

Elementary Section Trophy Winners Place Name Rating Score 1 Bryant, Patrick 971 4.5 2 Ly, Eric 1013 4.5 3 Clement, Joshua 545 4.5 4 Cochran, Bowen 726 4.0 5 Alapati, Teja 805 4.0 6 Brown, Andrew 880 4.0 7 Ramsey, Dean 750 4.0 8 McCormick, Austin 873 4.0 9 Best, William 186 3.5 10 Anderson, Ryan 482 3.5

The Primary Section also had 44 players. The top two rated players, Kayvon Deldar and Dennis Dergunov, met in the fourth round. These two behemoths of the Primary Section have battled each other many times before, each winning their fair share of them. This time Kayvon came out on top and went on to win the section with a perfect 5-0 score.

Primary Section Trophy Winners Place Name Rating Score 1 Deldar, Kayvon 966 5.0 2 Dergunov, Dennis 932 4.0 3 Lubna, Maliha 844 4.0 4 Ramsey, Thomas 366 4.0 5 Ly, Austin 574 4.0 6 Alim, Mohammad 787 4.0 7 Seitz, Thomas 741 4.0 8 Weber, John 719 3.5 9 Cunningham, Ryan 770 3.5 10 Johnson, Chip nnnn 3.5

Kayvon Deldar

Team Results

All three entries in the Open Section were from different schools so they represented three different teams. Since each team was only one member strong, the team standings are the same as the individual standings. The Academy for Science & Foreign Language, represented by Alex Weiner, won first and Huntsville High, represented by Nashia Muna, won second.

The Jr. High Section had four teams. After missing the Madison County Scholastic Team Championship a couple months earlier, team Discovery arrived here in force, having more players than all the other teams combined. They totally dominated the section, finishing 7 points ahead of Randolph. But Randolph didn't bring all its big guns this day. If these two teams ever clash at full strength there will be thunder and lightning... then again it may just be a thunderstorm. Check your local weather reports if these conditions occur.

The Elementary Section had 13 teams. Hampton Cove usually does well in these team events and they performed well here, winning this section with an impressive 15.5 points. Visiting Vestavia Hills from Tennessee came with only four players but they scored well enough to take second place. Host team Blossomwood placed a solid third.

Three Primary teams have established quite a reputation in the last year or two: Jones Valley, Hampton Cove, and Horizon. They have consistently jostled for the top three positions in these scholastic team competitions. Once again these three teams outdistanced the other six for the top three places with Jones Valley leading the pack. Watch out for fourth place finisher Blossomwood. They look poised to make some noise in the near future.

Credits