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2004 Madison County Scholastic Team ChampionshipNovember 20, 2004 |
Introduction
The third annual Madison County Scholastic Team Championship was held Saturday, November 20, 2004.
Just as last year (read last year's report here), Randolph School was the
host, Gerald Larson was the chief tournament director, and members of the Huntsville Chess Club
helped run it. 98 students representing 24 teams participated. The cafeteria, which was used as
the playing room, was filled to capacity. In fact, additional tables and chairs had to be brought
in to accommodate all the chess players. For the first time, this year's event was rated.
Rules
The Madison County Scholastic Team Championship is the only scholastic chess tournament in
Huntsville that is strictly a team competition. Most tournaments are individual competitions that
sometimes also have a secondary team competition. The difference is that in the individual
tournaments, a team is made up of the four players from the same school that has the best
final scores. All other scores are thrown out. Larger teams have an advantage over smaller ones
since statistically their best four scores should be higher. In a team competition such as this,
no scores are thrown out. Although teams can be comprised of more than four players, at most only
four players can play in any round. Each round pits one team against another where the four
members of each team match up and play against each other. The team that wins the most points
after all four games are completed wins a point for the round. The loser gets zero. If they
happen to tie 2-2, then each team receives half a point. If one team brings only three players to
the table then the opposing team gets an automatic point towards winning the round.
The format was a five round Swiss System, game in 30 minutes with three sections: High/Middle School (K-12), Elementary School (K-6), and Primary School (K-3). There were only three teams in the High/Middle Section so it was combined with the Elementary Section. The Primary Section had six teams, just enough to play a round robin, so it was kept a separate section. This was an improvement over last year when all sections were combined and Primary teams may have had to play against High/Middle teams. Although sections were combined, they would still be competing for separate awards. The pairings were school blind, meaning teams from different schools might have to play each other. Since the Primary Section was a round robin and both Hampton Cove and Horizon had two teams entered, they were guaranteed to have to play each other.
Setting The Stage
Only one registered team was a no-show, team Discovery. They had a pretty strong team this year
and if they would have showed up they could have been a contender in the High/Middle School
section. But it would not have been easy for them. The host school, Randolph, has been gaining
a reputation for having strong players, thanks in part to their coach, Wally Malmborg. They
brought some very strong teams and they would not have conceded first place easily. Last year
Horizon's Primary team disbanded after playing a couple rounds, leaving poor Dennis Dergunov as
its sole member. Three-member teams were the smallest allowed so his tournament was done at that
point also. But this year Horizon brought two Primary teams, and they had no intention of
quitting.
Play
Just as last year, I thought the conduct of the kids was very good. There was the occasional
skirmish between rounds but once they started the playing room was reasonably
quiet. There was one incident, however, where a player was totally outplaying his opponent, but
in the end he ended up stalemated him. He lost control of his emotions because he didn't get the
win that he deserved, but who could blame him? Jerry Wheeler consoled him and showed him what he
should have done and he quickly composed himself and ended up winning his next game. In the
Primary Section another game came down to a King/Pawn vs King endgame. The Pawn was eventually
promoted but unfortunately a Knight was chosen as the promotion piece and the game was declared
a draw due to insufficient mating material.
Results
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Team Randolph Junior High A dominated the Open Section by winning every round for a perfect 5-0 score. Out of the 20 games their team played they scored an outstanding 17.5 points. Both Dave Praharaj and Vikash Naran had perfect 5-0 scores. But Randolph wasn't done. Their B team took the second place trophy over the three-member-strong all-girl team of Huntsville High.
The Elementary Section was the largest by far with 15 teams. The competition was close but once again Randolph's A team outpaced the rest of the field with four points. This was a mild upset because Hampton Cove's A team went in with the highest rating. Four other teams were tied with three points each. Tie-breaks had to be used to determine that Hampton Cove A got second and Central Checkmates received third.
Public opinion had it that either team Jones Valley or team Horizon A would win the Primary Section. Jones Valley was loaded with strong well-known players. Horizon A had the most feared Primary player in the area, Dennis Dergunov. His teammates were not as well known. But I knew them, and I knew that they were very good. True to popular opinion, both teams were undefeated when they met in the pivotal fourth round. Horizon A rose to the occasion and defeated them 3.5-0.5 and went on to win first place with a perfect 5-0 score. Dennis Dergunov and Mark Reuter each had perfect 5-0 scores. Jones Valley took second and Hampton Cove A took third.
| Place | Team | Players | Score |
| 1 | Dave Praharaj Wills Brocato Ben Jacobson Vikash Naran |
5.0 | |
| 2 | Randolph JHi B | Jason Hon Patrick Wingo Harry Cash Adam Bulgatz |
3.5 |
| 3 | Sabiha Runa Nasiha Muna Alexandr Bullard |
3.0 |
| Place | Team | Players | Score |
| 1 | Randolph A | Trey Manning Nitish Chauhan Evan Moore Ali Yousuf |
4.0 |
| 2 | Blake Zoller Andrew Brown Dean Ramsey |
3.0 | |
| 3 | Central Checkmates | Gustavo Cortina Daniel Moran Will Crichton Garrett Fallon Peter Adamo |
3.0 |
| Place | Team | Players | Score |
| 1 | Horizon Pri A | Dennis Dergunov John Weber Mark Reuter Austin Troup |
5.0 |
| 2 | Jones Valley Pri | Kayvon Deldar Maliha Lubna Einaam Alim Forest Dewberry |
4.0 |
| 3 | John Harper Sam Howard Reid Sisk |
3.0 |
Elementary/Open | Primary |
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Thanks
Thanks to Leigh Manning for organizing this event again this year, and to Gerald Larson for
directing it again, and to Jerry Wheeler, Wally Malmborg, Bert Gower, Roger McIntyre, and all
the parents and faculty of Randolph that helped out.
Last modified: 21 December 2004
Roger McIntyre