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This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center: 4/28-5/4

Welcome to This Week at the Charlotte Chess Center, where we recap all the events hosted by the CCC from the past seven days. This week's edition will focus on events from April 28 to May 4, 2024.

This summary will feature all the weekly events at both the North and South locations, including our Friday Pizza Quads event that we've just introduced at the North Center! This summary will not include the Tournament of Champions, which will be recapped in a separate piece linked here.

To find a specific event, navigate using the headings below:

Sunday Afternoon Classical (CCC North)

Sunday Afternoon Classical is a tournament held every week at our North location. Members of the CCC are paired into one round of standard USCF-rated chess per week, with a time control of g60+10.

This week's SAC was the last of the month of April, making it the last chance for competitors to qualify for our monthly prizes! The following players won their games this week:

Top: Alex Kaelin, Moses Collins, Sujan Maddipati

U1300: Akhil Dhinakar, Mekhai Collins, Oliver Aronson, Sean Smith, Sai Saravanan, Harsith Haris, and Nicholas Sabin

In each section of SAC, the top scoring adult and junior player across a given month receives a $25 gift card to USCF sales. Our gift card winners in the Top section for April 2024 were Matthew Sedlock and Moses Collins, while our winners in the U1300 were Akhil Dhinakar and Graham Sledge.

Our first Sunday Afternoon Classical of the new month will be held this weekend at the CCC North location on May 5.

Sunday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)

Our Sunday Action Quads tournament is a USCF-rated quads event held every Sunday evening at the Main/South location, open to all players in grades K-12. We had a total of nine quads this week, including a five player "Small Swiss" Quad I.

The following players took first place in their respective quads this week:

Quad A: Nandhan Gummi (2 points)

Quad B: William Jindal (2 points)

Quad C: Nilai Gummi and Joel Kindy (2.5 points)

Quad D: Shrehit Dhiman (3 points)

Quad E: Ashwanth Premkumar and Anvay Mishra (2 points)

Quad F: Jayanth Premkumar (3 points)

Quad G: Benjamin Maniotis (2 points)

Quad H: Kevin Nolan (3 points)

Quad I ("small swiss"): Ethan Cai (3 points)

Congratulations to Nandhan Gummi for breaking 1400 USCF! Other top performers included Nilai Gummi (1128 -> 1217), Joel Kindy (1114 -> 1211), and Shrehit Dhiman (996 ->1131). Jayanth Premkumar's rating also soared to a new peak of 833 for scoring a perfect 3/3 in Quad F.

Results from April 28 can be viewed here. Our next Sunday Action Quads tournament will be held on May 5 at the Main/South Center.

Monday Action Quads (CCC North)

Monday Action Quads takes place every week at the CCC North location, with each participant playing three rounds of G20+10 USCF-rated chess. We had 22 players split into five quads this time around, including a six player Quad E.

Congratulations to the following players for winning their quads:

Quad A: Grant Jones (3 points)

Quad B: Isaac Kidd (3 points)

Quad C: Ankush Dey (3 points)

Quad D: Mithran Balachander (3 points)

Quad E: Rahul Theepan (3 points)

It's not every day that every single quad has a perfect scorer! Better yet, four of the five winners achieved a new peak rating in the process. The only exception was Isaac Kidd, who briefly held a higher provisional rating, but he may get there soon after gaining an impressive 175 points for his 3/3 MAQ performance!

For detailed results from the April 29 MAQ, click here for the USCF crosstables.

The next Monday Action Quads event is scheduled for May 6.

Tuesday Night Action (CCC Main/South)

Every Tuesday evening, the Charlotte Chess Center hosts our Tuesday Night Action tournament at the Main/South location. The evening starts with a lecture by FM and CCC founder Peter Giannatos, followed by one round of USCF standard-rated chess. Players of any age and strength can participate in TNA.

The following players won this past Tuesday:

Top: Patrick McCartney, Celine Atassi, and Sujan Maddipati

U1600: Arsh Sharda, Sattwik Dutta, Jared Crawford, Srivatsa Gundumalla, Charles Cameron, Shlok Kaushik, Steven Libonati, Saanchi Sampath, and William Wolfe

U1300: Anthony Gentile, Vivan Ghule, Shrehit Dhiman, Henry Yoo, Douglas Samson, Advik Mani, Jeevith Reddy, Reyansh Mayank, Bryan Muraya, Zachary Grossman, and Michael Bernard

Just like our Sunday Afternoon Classical at the North Center, Tuesday Night Action gives out prizes to the top adult and junior player in each section, based on cumulative results across all rounds of the month. Congratulations to the following participants, who each won a $25 gift card to USCF sales:

Top: Patrick McCartney and Naitik Rathi

U1600: Arsh Sharda and Jared Crawford

U1300: Anthony Gentile and Shrehit Dhiman

The USCF crosstables for April's TNA can be viewed at this link.

Our next Tuesday Night Action will be held at the Main/South location on May 7.

Wednesday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)

CCC's first tournament of May was our Wednesday Action Quads at the Main/South location. WAQ is a USCF-rated g20+10 quads event held every Wednesday evening, open to players of all ages and strengths.

Our quad winners this week were:

Quad A: Patrick Sciacca (2.5 points)

Quad B: Jay Garrison (2.5 points)

Quad C: Vihaan Purohit (2 points)

Quad D: three-way tie between Ayaansh Kaistha, Pranav Arun, and Sidney Petersen (2 points)

Quad E: Mukund Neema (2.5 points)

Quad F: Murari Raghavan and Rishaank Channad (2.5 points)

Quad G: William Lobig (3 points)

Quad H: Murali Kongot

Some of our top gainers this Wednesday were Mukund Neema (1417 -> 1475), William Lobig (1227 -> 1305), and CCC Coach Jay Garrison (1813 -> 1841). Congratulations to all quad winners!

For detailed results, view the USCF rating report.

Our next Wednesday Action Quads tournament will be held at the CCC Main/South location on May 8.

Friday Action Quads (CCC Main/South)

Our Friday Action Quads event takes place at the CCC Main/South location every Friday evening. FAQ is a three-round scholastic tournament with a time control of g20+10. This edition had a total of 36 players across nine sections.

Congratulations to our quad winners:

Quad A: Mukund Neema (2.5 points)

Quad B: Shlok Kaushik and Samanyu Ammasani (2.5 points)

Quad C: Alexander Little and Steven Hook (2 points)

Quad D: Nilai Gummi (2 points)

Quad E: Noor Alsafadi, Siddhant Gutgutia, and Druv Balamurugan (2 points)

Quad F: Avy Bathineni (3 points)

Quad G: Nandith Nishanth (3 points)

Quad H: Major Collins and Harish Chandramohan (2 points)

Quad I: Nicolas Giard (3 points)

Avy Bathineni had the biggest rating gain, tacking on a whopping 176 points to break 1000 USCF for the first time! Perfect scorers Nandith Nishanth and Nicolas Giard also zoomed up to new peak ratings.

Detailed results of the May 3 FAQ tournament can be viewed here. The next Friday Action Quads will be held on May 10.

NEW Friday Pizza Quads! (CCC North)

The Charlotte Chess Center inaugurated a new tournament this week, the Friday Pizza Quads! This tournament is to be held at the CCC North location every Sunday evening, open to scholastic chess players. After the first round, participants may help themselves to a slice of pizza!

Our first-ever CCC North Friday Pizza Quads winners are:

Quad A: Samarth Kedari (2 points)

Quad B: Josh Alex and Aaryan Nagolu (2 points)

Quad C: Jeyashri Jayamurugan (3 points)

Congratulations to the first place finishers!

View detailed results of the first FPQ here. Our second Friday Pizza Quads will be held on May 10.

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For upcoming tournaments, bookmark our Events Schedule. The CCC hosts nearly 8 events a week at our facilities in North and South Charlotte, along with bi-monthly major events such as the CCC Club Championship and the Carolinas Classic.