2006 Junior Invitational Tournament

 

The Bear Scholastic Chess Club hosted a round robin event for those young people who are 19 and younger in January 2006.  What made this event unique was that it was by invitation only.  During the past 9 months the Bear club had been tracking the ratings and tournament activity of the top junior players in the state.  The top 16 USCF rated players who had played in 13 or more tournament games would be invited to determine the junior champion of Delaware.  Unfortunately not all of the top 16 could make it so the original qualifications were modified slightly in order to hold the two day championship.

 

The tournament was held on January 14th and 21st at the Howard Johnson hotel on 896.  The Bear Club charged no admission fee.  The 16 players were divided into two groups.  The top 8 played in the “A section” and the next 8 competed in the “B section.”  The top player in each section received the “Ron Curry Trophy of Chess Excellence.”  The event and trophy were intended to honor Mr. Curry for the years of hard work and service he has given to the local chess scene.  Lots of excellent chess was played and the results and games of the tournament proved to be a surprise.

 

The “A Section”

 

The top section was comprised of the following players:

 

Jonathan Martin                            Kevin Pytel

Andrew Shermeyer                      Michael Escobar

James Sloven                                Christian Martin

Aaron Gertler                                Michael Pergeorelis

 

The 8 rounds of the “A section” were filled with upsets.  The first upset of the tournament occurred in the second round when Andrew Shermeyer beat Jonathan Martin.  Despite being a 400 point underdog, Shermeyer dominated his stronger opponent and walked away with the win.  Jonathan played well below his rating and was handed another defeat at the hands of James Sloven in the 7th round.  Sloven’s unorthodox opening style was a surprise in the tournament, and his win came despite playing f6 on the first move of the game.  After his win over Martin, Shermeyer continued to have a good tournament and dropped only one game to Escobar in the 4th round.  Aaron Gertler played in the tradition of former world champion Petrosian.  He won one of the 7 games but drew in three others.  For such a young player he exhibited a good grasp of the endgame.  The best performance in the top section was that of Kevin Pytel. He went undefeated in the 8 rounds, winning 5 games and drawing 2 to walk away with the trophy.

 

The “B Section”

 

The “B section” was made up of the following players:

 

Joseph Reynolds                              Francis Fish

Josiah Martin                                   Brian Frame

Aric Lu                                            Alisa Spitelle

Jacob Martin                                    John Hughes

 

Joseph Reynolds steam-rolled through the competition to take first place with a perfect score of 7 points.  Not only did he win the “Curry Trophy”, but by winning the “B section” he gets an automatic invitation to the “A section’ in next year’s tournament.  Aric Lu who started the tournament as the 5th seed played well and took 2nd place with a score of 4 ½.  Third place was shared by the Delaware Girls State Champion- Alisa Spitelle and John Hughes.  Hughes beat Spitelle in the last round to pull even with her in a very tactical struggle.  They both finished with 4 points.

 

Thanks to the magic of Chess Assistant 8, the games are viewable on the Bear Club’s web site at http://bear.delawarechess.org. 

 

© 2006, Richard Martin

 

Note: Special thanks to Richard Martin for conceiving of this idea and bringing it to completion.  It was an excellent event! – Bob Wilder