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Press Chess Palace Wins Club Team Championship
Press Chess Palace Wins Club Team Championship | Chess Palace Wins Club Team Championship |
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| By Alfred Ong | |
| February 6, 2012 | |
 ChessPalace edged La Palma, San Diego, and Hemet Chess Club in this year's edition of the Club Match Championship. ChessPalace's victorious matches against Hemet and La Palma came within just half a point each and the victory against San Diego was won by only one and a half points. Runner-up club, La Palma finish with 1.5/3 match points. La Palma routed San Diego, San Diego routed Hemet, but Hemet drew their match against La Palma and was half a point from drawing their match against ChessPalace. Each club had 12 players on their roster plus alternates. Each club played all the other clubs and there was a drawing for pairing number and colors. Each of the club's different strengths helped out their respective teams: Hemet Chess Club's Arnold brothers did the job on the top boards, and so did San Diego Chess Club's bottom boards, and La Palma's middle boards. But it was ChessPalace's six juniors, whom were out-rated in most games, that had the greatest success scoring more than half of ChessPalace's cumulative points. Nonetheless, it was a very competitive event as only Ken Arnold (Hemet) and Peter Holzer (La Palma) had perfect scores out of the 12 mini-quad sections. Fifty-five players, including alternates, participated in the 2012 edition of Club Match Championship. In the last two years there were only two clubs, this year two additional clubs were invited. The event hopes to promote chess clubs that caters to patrons ranging from beginners to strong masters. In addition, camaraderie was in the air before the first clock was punched up until the last king was tipped, players were chatting and having lunch together. Raffle prizes were drawn out by board numbers instead of individually to ensure every team had winners. The event would not have been possible without the coordination of ChessPalace with Marcos Montes from Hemet Chess Club, Chuch Ensey from San Diego Chess Club, Chris Roberts and Brian Scanlon from La Palma Chess Club. There were back and forth emails and phone calls since mid November of 2011. ChessPalace and Hemet Chess Club organized the event. Marcos Montes and Alfred Ong directed. Visit www.chesspalace.com/clubteamtournamentrecap.htm for a full report, scores, and pictures. |
