End Of Spring Season

By Micah Jameson

Good morning chess players. We’re back at Bushwick Chess to celebrate the winners of the brand new double section tournament at the club. Three top players from both the Open and U1600 sections we’re awarded laurels and rating, along with the usual class prizes to go along with it. 34 total players joined across the two sections to fight for the top.

Reminder! Bushwick Chess Casual Club meeting runs TONIGHT from 7-11pm at Nook, 45 Irving. Please Join us for a night of tales, ales and more.

The Open section saw an average rating of 1762, as opposed to the u1600 section average rating of 1419 NYCR. This resulted in a higher testing of fortitude among the top field than our usual Club Rapid with seven NYCC Olympiad players in the mix facing off against one another and a field of worthy competition.

The Open sections strong field saw a hearty fight for first. After five rounds, 1914 rated Simon Schmidt took top player with a score of 4.5/5, gaining a whopping 191 rating to hit 2105 NYCR. Second place went to 1736 rated Ben Beardsley on 4/5, gaining 58 rating. Third place went to 1777 rated Kirill Agishev on 3.5/5, gaining 44 rating. U2000 went to 1860 rated Adi Kumar on 3/5, gaining 15 rating. U1800 went to 1655 rated Nirupam Kushalnagar, gaining 69 rating, nice!

The new U1600 Beginners/Intermediate section saw some highlight players stood out across the field. After five rounds, 1569 rated Adam Rosenfeld scored top player in the u1600 with a score of 4/5, gaining 28 rating to land at 1597 NYCR. Second place went to unrated Nikhil Sapa on 4/5, now rated 1700 NYCR and has graduated the u1600 section. Third place went to 1387 rated Shreyo Banerjee on 3.5/5, gaining 26 rating. Anshul Doshi also graduated the section, now rated 1663 NYCR.

You can see the full cross table, rating changes and more HERE.

At the annual Washington Square Park chess simul, FIDE photographer David Llada caught a few of our favorite players including internet superstar Sydney Strauss and FM Will Graif, along with park regulars Johnny, seen on Anna Cramling’s youtube, and Doc, who I had the pleasure of writing about at the start of my chess writing career.

Llada posted on Twitter: “I will be back in NYC this spring for a “Chess & Arts” fair at the @MarshallChessNY, together with Sofia Polgar. Come celebrate the intersection of chess and art with a Q&A, book signings, and a silent auction of some of our works. Save the date: May 19, 2026, 7:00 pm.”

And that’s it for this week chess players! Join us tonight for more chess and be sure to check our socials HERE. Much love chess players, see you over the board soon. You can find your updated NYC Rating HERE.