Some Strong Finishes by Bapst Top Two

Aaron Spencer and Maggie Bryan won their last two games of the seven round marathon to spark Bapst players to a successful showing. Spencer finished with 4.0 points in the K12 Championship section, while Bryan finished with 5.0 in the Under 1600 section. These were their best finishes at Nationals over the last three years. The last round victories were particularly "sweet" as they were against higher rated opponents. Maggie's opponent, Antelmo Merlin, was a member of the Chess-In-The-Schools team from New York City that is administered by Julie Solinger, daughter of former Bapst coach Bob Solinger.

Daniel Honeycutt won his last two games to finish 3.0 in the Under 1200 section. He was particularly pleased with his last round victory that featured sacrifices that led to a winning position and eventual victory. Also in the U1200 section Deanna Power of Bapst finished with 2.0 and Anna Bryan of the Airline School finished with 2.5. Kurt Eyerer of Bapst finished with 2.0 in the Under 1600 section to complete the Maine finishers.

When the final places are posted, I'll relay the information.

Day 2 - K-12 Nationals

The results for day two show Maggie Bryan at 3.0, Aaron Spencer, Kurt Eyerer, and Deanna Power with 2.0, and Daniel Honeycutt with 1.0 for John Bapst. Anna Bryan is 1.5 heading into round six, as she took another bye last evening to recuperate for Sunday.

Midway through the last day, Maggie, Aaron, and Daniel had gained another point, while Anna had a draw in Round 6. I've yet to find out how Deanna and Kurt fared.

I'll check in again a little later.

Day 1 - K-12 Nationals

John Bapst students completed their first two rounds with mixed results. Deanna Power scored 2.0 points to lead the way while Aaron Spencer, Maggie Bryan, Kurt Eyerer, and Daniel Honeycutt all finished the day with one win and one loss. Anna Bryan from the Airline School lost her opening round and took a half point bye in the second round to try and recover from a bout with bronchitis.

More results and commentary to follow tomorrow.

Final Round Complete

The two Matthews from Cape Elizabeth won their last round games to finish 20th in the K-8 Team Championship section. Fishbein and Reale-Hatem finished with 4.5 points apiece and tied for 29th overall 2.5 points behind undefeated Nathan Lee (2011) of Washington state. Fishbein was 42nd and Reale-Hatem 51st on tiebreaks.

Jesse Amar (4.5) and fellow Orono student Jacob Chubbuck (3.5) also brought home a 20th place finish in the K-9 Unrated section. Amar was 23rd while Chubbuck finished 72nd out of 131 players.

The other Orono group of Jacob Johnson, Nash Allen-Rahill, and Calem Hamilton came in 27th in the K-8 U750 section.

Congratulations to all of these dedicated chess players and for representing Maine so well!

The next Maine contingent from John Bapst and Airline will descend on Columbus, Ohio for the K-12 Championships next weekend. Good luck to all!

Round 6 - Jr. High Nationals

Jesse Amar dropped his 6th round game to fall into 10th place heading into the final round. In other Maine notable matches Matthew Fishbein lost while Matthew Reale-Hatem won to draw them even with 3.5 points headed into the last round tied for 53rd.

Jr. High Nationals - Round 5

A quick glance at the results shows that Jesse Amar has drawn his 5th round game to move into a tie for 3rd in the K9 Unrated while Matthew Fishbein has moved up into a tie for 23rd in the K8 Championship section with a win in Round 5.

Jr. High Nationals with Mainers

Well, it's nice to check out the Jr. High (K-9) Championship results from Minneapolis and see a Mainer tied for the lead after four rounds. The surprise is that the person is Jesse Amar from Orono in the K-9 Unrated section. In only his third rated tournament he is perfect through four rounds. He is joined in Minnesota by six others from the Pine Tree State. Four of his Orono Middle School compatriots are there as well as K-12 champion, Matthew Fishbein, and highly rated Matthew Reale-Hatem from Cape Elizabeth. Fishbein has 2.5 points in the K-8 Championship section while Reale-Hatem has 1.5.

I'll keep checking the results and keep you posted on our fellow Mainers.