The Queen’s Gambit is a new, monthly tournament designed for female players only. The August 2023 edition was held at the Ballantyne CHESS KLUB on August 19, 2023 at 14045 Ballantyne Corporate Place, Suite 101, Charlotte, NC 28277

Archana Kolangara won all five of her matches to seize the first place trophy. The next two finishers, Nishika Dasi and Ashritha Mallapraganda had excellent scores of 3.5 out of 5 points. A five minute, tiebreak blitz match was organized between these up and coming female players. Nishika was victorious and received the second place trophy. Ashritha took home the third place trophy.

All games in the Queen’s Gambit were played at a thirty minute per game time control. This ensures that the games will be dual rated, ie. they will affect both a player’s regular and their ‘quick” USCF rating.

An event crossable can be found HERE.

A pawn, however, is just enough to constitute possible checkmating material and he was awarded the win. Tanuj tied with Aman Sreshta and Karthik Srinivasan for the third place. Aman triumphed over Tanuj and Karthik to secure the third place trophy.

Conclusion

The CHESS KLUB Ballantyne’s Rapid tournaments feature an exciting, quick-paced format that allows players to get in and practice their chess without risking their regular USCF rating.

Top seed Jethin Bastin cruised to a 5-0 record at the Fort Mill August Rapid event. Second place was seized by ten year old Nishika Dasi. Murali Kongot, Johann Jayabarath and Shreyansh Mallapragada tied for third place with three points each. A round robin, five minute tiebreak was convened to settle who would take the trophy home. However, the matter was still not settled after the first round as each player managed to score one point. An additional round robin decided the tiebreak in favor of Murali.

Rapid is an exciting form of chess played at a relatively quick time control of fifteen minutes per game per player. These games affect your USCF Quick Rating but not your regular USCF rating.

An event cross-table can be found HERE. A full USCF rating report can be found HERE.

Conclusion

The CHESS KLUB Fort Mill’s Rapid tournaments feature an exciting, quick-paced format that allows players to get in and practice their chess without risking their regular USCF rating.