Tim Just Winter Scholastic

Fifty-eight junior players kicked off 2013 playing the Tim Just Winter Scholastic, held January 5. A contentious field required numerous tiebreak formulas to determine trophies for top 10 finishers in two sections. Nonetheless, both divisions saw clear-first winners with Robert Barr taking the Under 1200 and Trevor Tompkins winning the Under 700.

 

Competitors battled through five rounds of Game/25 matches utilizing Regular USCF-ratings for seeding, but impacting Quick-ratings due to the sub-30 minute time control.

The event was hosted at the Oak Brook Doubletree Hotel during the first day of the Tim Jim Winter Open and Reserve, with all-age players competing down the hall.

 

In the Under 1200 group, Robert needed a fifth-round victory over Colin Porter to earn 4.5 points (out of 5) and claim first. In doing so, he raised his provisional USCF Quick-rating 334 points, from 606 to 940. Colin finished with 4.0, earning the second place trophy and raising his USCF Quick-rating 248 points.

Others with 4.0 scores included Kevin Ho who took third place via tiebreaks, Jake Joseph who took fourth, Patrick TIppens in fifth and Rohit Pisipati in sixth.

Ten juniors finished with 3.0 scores, with tiebreaks determining trophies wound up in the hands of Patrick Roa, Jonas Vriend, Jonah Karafiol and Matthew Warshell.

Complete tiebreaks are posted at http://chessforlife.com/chess/wint11/prizesscholastic.html.

In the Under 700 division, Trevor had clinched the championship by the fourth round, taking a half-point bye in the fifth round to conclude with 4.5. Trevor's quick-rating jumped 152 points to 790 based on the event.

Trevor defeated Aidan Carey in the fourth round, with Aidan earning second place honors on tiebreaks with a 4.0 score. Aidan had defeated newcomer David Cimbalista in the third round. David, playing in his first USCF-rated tournament, claimed the fourth place trophy, also finishing with 4.0 out of 5.

Casey Schrader rounding out the 4.0 score group with a final-round victory over Benjamin Broach, claimed the third place trophy. Benjamin, in turn, earned fifth place as the top tiebreak in the 3.5 score group, edging out Jack Gallwas who took sixth.

Six players in the Under 700 section accumulated 3.0 scores, with Matthew Cimbalista, Zalan Gyorgy, Yashwanth Gangavarapu and Christine Leung claiming the remaining trophies. Just missing out on the hardware but also achieving 3.0 out of five were George Ford and Tyler Johnson.