Masters, Both Now and Future

Good morning chess players. We’re back for another week of recaps, updates and more. Below you can find a list of all our events this month. Join us for a mix of competitive and casual every Tuesday.

Reminder! Tonight is our bimonthly Premiere Rapid at Bushwick Chess. Join us Tonight 7pm for three rounds of 15|10 slower rapid chess. $20 split prize for Top Player(s). Casual Free Play alongside all night.

At last week’s July Club Blitz, we saw one of our strongest competitions to date as we close in toward the NYCR Chess Club Olympiad in September. While the usual club player strength say around 1900, some strong competition hit the scene to test our top players.

Newcomers like Adam Serota and Ronan McDermott joined one of NYCR’s top performers, FM Abimbola Osunfuyi for a serious competition for first. With the likes of FM Juan Pereyra, FM Will Graif and WCM Madeline Weber regulars holding the high ground the event proved to be a remarkable test of strength. In fact, four of the NYU Chess Club team from 2025 NYCR Chess Club Olympiad were in attendance to test their skills.

The first round saw McDermott drawing FM Osunfuyi, with the rest of the leader pack scoring, but in round two saw FM Pereyra draw Marshall player Brandon Vila and FM Graif took to the front through round three until a loss against FM Osunfuyi brought the halfway mark to two front row leaders.

In the U1600, we saw 16 players averaging 1467 NYCR face off for first. After round four, Justin Choi led the pack with newcomer Ann Zhang right behind on 3.5/4. Zhang went on to beat the 1530 rated player in round 5 and take lead in the U1600.

But two draws from FM Pereyra against both FM Osunfuyi and FM Graif created a final scramble for first place. By the time the dust settled in round 7, all three players had a score of 5.5/7. After tiebreaks were considered, a head to head matchup put FM Abimbola Osunfuyi in first place with the only victory amongst the three, taking home Top Player and gaining a single rating point for the troubles at 2262 NYCR. FM Juan Pereyra came in second with draws against both comrades, ending at 2328 NYCR. Third place went to FM William Graif on 5.5/7 as well, with only a loss against FM Osunfuyi costing the head to head tiebreak score. Graif ended up 11 rating to end at 2254 NCYR.

Top Unrated went to newcomer Adam Serota on 4.5/7, the only person to break out of the pack and finished rated 2035 NCYR. U2000 went to 2025 NYU Olympiad player Jess Hoffman on 4/7, gaining 47 rating to end 1878 NYCR. U1800 went to Nirupam Kushalnagar on 4/7, who also claimed the Upset prize to end the night rated 1725 NYCR.

The U1600 section saw Ann Zhang’s lead continue to become Top Player, finishing the night with 6.5/7 and rated 1563 NYCR. U1600 Second Place went to returning player Hector Corea on 5/7, finishing rated 1576 NYCR. U1600 Third Place went to 1419 rated Ben Bar on 4.5/7 after drawing the section leader, finishing rated 1445 NYCR. You can see the full tournament crosstable HERE.

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.