Strategem Scholastic + Open August 2018 Tournament Report with photos!

The Strategem August 2018 tournament happened on Sunday, August 5 at our preferred venue in Sugar Land – the New Territory Clubhouse. This was the first time we had the event to include an Open section with the Scholastic Section. Upon receiving repeated inquiries about possibility for adults to participate in regular events in this side of town we decided to include it this time around!

The scholastic section received enthusiastic participation from our budding and aspiring GMs! This event had 4 rounds in the Swiss system format with a time control of 25 minutes for the and a 5 seconds delay per move. Parents could watch games albeit only from behind their child. 

The scholastic section showed some spirited performance from all participants and it ended with a five way tie for the second and third place! Dhruv Kini finished clear first with a score of 4/4 and won his second winner’s trophy in our tournament circuit! Diona Jom finished second on a better tiebreak and Brady Driscoll finished third with a better tiebreak score. 

Much as well deserved Dhruv’s win at the tournament was, it was not without lady luck doing her part! Dhruv faced some tough competition in round 3 playing White against Mohini Goswami and was in a lost position at one point in the game. I remember being at their board, while doing my round on the floor, and seeing this position where Mohini set up a clear trap in a combination that Dhruv fell for by erring in his calculations. The result was a pawn fork that won a rook for Black. I couldn’t believe the combination unfold before my eyes and was thrilled for Mohini’s prospects in the game. But lady luck had other plans- Mohini ended up blundering her Queen a few moves later in a minor miscalculations and effectively awarded the full point to Dhruv. At seven year’s old Mohini is very talented and ten years junior to Dhruv. Dhruv mentioned after the game that he was going to resign in a couple of moves had Mohini held her ground just a little longer. But fortune favors the brave and it sure did this time.

I observed lapse of concentration being a major factor in Mohini’s game v Dhruv and Aarav’s game v Dhruv. It’s important to recognize the importance of keeping the endurance through the multiple rounds in the event to help maintain form. With that in mind from the onset of starting our tournament circuit, all our events included complimentary healthy snacks and juices for the participants to help them maintain their level of play. But concerted efforts from participants and parents to help keep the focus and maintain concentration by avoiding lapses is paramount. To enhance this it helps to come well nourished at the event to keep an active composure and form, and avoid getting too distracted between rounds at the tournament. Keeping physical activity an important part of their daily lifestyles also enhances endurance and keeping the mind active and focused. We have an instructive article for parents and kids on this topic on our website and it can be read here.

Dhruv also faced some solid play in the second round playing Black against Aarav Sinha. Aarav is eight and just as junior to Dhruv as Mohini, and just as talented. Facing the Sicilian defense playing White, Aarav played accurately out of the opening even though he was not familiar with the opening. He put some solid play only to squander away in the middle game due to a lapse in concentration. In all sportsmanship Dhruv gave notable credit to these two of his opponents and sure has them on his radar in future tournament match-ups! Kudos to Dhruv on another solid performance and to Diona and Brady for their wins!

This was the first time we had the Open Section and I was unsure of the response. As of tournament day there were only two registrations. After the scholastic tournament concluded Dhruv found himself with enough stamina to go through another four rounds in the open section. As I offered to cancel the Open event as we didn’t have enough participants and refund the participants, Anil Kini, Dhruv’s father offered to step in to play. While appreciating the gesture I still offered to cancel since we didn’t have many participants. But everyone was up for the match-ups, and since we had the preparations and trophies to be won we got going with the show!

And it was another spirited show! Reduced to a three rounds in the round robin format each of them played the other. The open section finished with Raju winning clear first with a score of 3/3 followed by Dhruv with a score of 2/3 and Anil at 1/3. The second round match between Dhruv and Raju was grueling- going all the way to the King + Rook + Pawn v King + Rook + Pawn endgame. With extended play probably taking its toll on Dhruv he erred in the endgame and lost to Raju.

Three cheers to all participants and hats off to the winners! We will have open sections going forward and hopefully, it’ll catch momentum with the word spreading out!