We're So Close To Spring I Can Taste It

Good morning chess players. Every aspiring grandmaster knows the journey to greatness begins with the first steps. As a chess player devoted to building a mountain in Minecraft right now, the first blocks placed ensure the foundation for something much greater down the road.

That’s why we at Bushwick Chess started the monthly Beginner/Intermediate tournament to pair alongside our monthly Club Rapid/Blitz events. It’s imperative to the growth of a player to get games in against both weaker, stronger and evenly matched opponents in a mix to ensure lessons of all varieties show up in the games. Alongside these three events in March, the upcoming Women’s Championship, set for March 31st we aim to invite competing women of all skill levels into the event and showcase the growth from the Top Woman to newcomer rewards and more.

Reminder chess players! Tonight is our monthly Beginners/Intermediate Rapid Tournament for players under 1600 NYCR! Join us at Nook, 7pm for five rounds of 10|2 Rapid. $20 at door, prizes for all skill levels.

Club Blitz, Accelerated Pairings Make For Better Games

At last week’s Club Blitz, 31 players rated an average 1635 NYCR signed up to face off with four experts and eight players over 1800 in the mix. With Chess Forum’s Ian Goldman-Sanderson, 2025 Top Woman Najee Walthrust and SIX newcomers the rivalry was indeed heated.

By round 4, pack leader Simon Schmidt lost to Aidan Ahram, opening the possibility for Top Player to six players on 3 or 3.5. But after a great final game against fellow expert Sasha Kagle, 2040 NYCR Simon Schmidt ended up taking the gold with 6/7, gaining 30 rating. Second Place went to 2054 rated Gautam Narula with 5.5/7, gaining 17 rating. Third Place went to 2023 rated Sasha Kagle with 5/7, gaining 9 rating.

U2000 went to 1829 rated Jack Nugent on 5/7 (+25), U1800 went to 1692 rated Ben Beardsley on 5/7 (+19), U1600 went to 1544 rated Micah Jameson (hi) on 4/7 (+18), Top Unrated went to newcomer Hitansh Shah on 4/7 (1591), and U1400 plus the upset prize went to 1254 Brooks Harris on 3/7 (+37).

You can check your updated rating 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.