Sunday, February 27, 2011

Newcomers Nab Top Spots

Three newcomers to the northern Illinois cornfields scored highest in the second "Last Saturday in DeKalb", held Feb. 26 in DeKalb.

Brian Villarreal went undefeated in three games to take top honors, breaking back over the USCF-1800 barrier in the process. Congratulations to Brian!

Chicago-area invaders Ted Mercer and Andrew Bell often play each other in casual games; the duo split second and third place honors with 2.5 out of three. Ted's only blemish was a draw against DeKalb member Phil Jarrette, while Andrew drew first-time tournament entrant Kyle Mathews from Aurora.

In his debut, Mathews also drew DeKalb phenom Nathan Kosinski in what may become an interesting rivalry between strong young players. Both excellent chess tacticians matriculated to college before driving age!

The upset prize of the day went to John Werkheiser for his astounding second-round triumph. Nabbing an opponents' queen early on tends to unrattle the competition. We all admire John's tenacious attitude at the board, and he's to be commended for his perseverance at chess.

Hope to see all the newcomers back again for more competition in the cornfields.

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