The Race To The Top Continues

Good morning chess players. We’re back for another week of chess. The summer speed chess season kicked off last week for the June Club Blitz. This event marked the first tournaments for the second half of 2026 in both rapid and blitz formats, with the Pride Month Rapid honoring the first tournament of summer on June 23rd. While the Pride Rapid saw 31 players rated an average of 1560 NYCR, the June Club Blitz set a new standard with an average rating of 1593 NYCR across the 27 players.

Reminder! Tonight is the monthly Premiere Blitz Tournament at Nook! Join us 7pm for nine rounds of 3|2 blitz Swiss, $20 with prizes for all skill levels.

With two events in the books, we’re looking forward to TONIGHT where some of our best will convene for the tournament for speed demons of all ratings. The Premiere Blitz will feature our returning 9 round 3|2 format, which has not been seen since last September when Aidan Ahram bested the field after a win against FM Juan Pereyra tied the players for first, with Ahram losing only to Atharva Washimkar.

But let’s catch up with last weeks event before we delve further into the history books of Bushwick Chess.

June Club Blitz Fireworks Pregame

As mentioned, the June Club blitz saw 27 players across two sections put up a fight for first. Averaging at 1896 NYCR in the Open and 1368 NYCR in the U1600, the competition across both sections seemed like a solid challenge. In round 3 and with black pieces, 2270 NYCR NM Alex Fikiet scored a crucial victory against 2310 rated FM Juan Pereyra after a tense battle in a Queens Gambit Accepted: Alekhine Variation. FM Pereyra recaptured the c pawn on move 6 (1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 a6 4. a4 Nc6 5. e3 Bg4 6. Bxc4), and both parties castled by move ten.

Just after, Pereyra pushes the e pawn but fell for a brilliant sequence played out by NM Fikiet after 11. e4 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Nxd4. The fight continued with Fikeit’s pawn advantage holding firm until move 29 when black picked up a second pawn on a5.

Consolidation into a winning endgame followed suit and by move 55 NM Alex Fikiet played checkmate with 55. Qg4#. You can see the full game HERE.

NM Fikiet went on to win all seven games to end the night on a perfect 7/7 and was awarded Top Player along with crossing the 2300 NYCR Blitz threshold, ending the night rated 2303. FM Juan Pereyra won Second Place, scoring 6/7 and ending the night rated 2306. Third Place went to 1860 rated Jack Nugent on 4/7, gaining 22 rating. U2000 went to 1718 rated Kirill Agishev on 3.5/7, earning 3 points. U1800 went to 1743 rated Ben Beardsley on 3/7, earning 14 points.

The U1600 section saw 1576 rated Adam Rosenfeld score 6/7 to take home u1600 top player, graduating the section with a post tournament rating of 1607 NYCR. U1600 Second Place went to 1581 rated Christian Dittmeier on 5/7, earning 7 points. U1600 Third Place went to 1514 rated Justin Choi on 5/7, earning 65 points. Top Unrated went to newcomer Elisha Amadasu on 4/7, finishing the event rated 1470 NYCR. You can see the full cross table 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.