01.18.11 Forty-seven players competed in the 12th Annual MLK Day Chess Tournament held at the Stillwater Montessori School in Old Town on Monday, January 17th. Steve Abrahams took first in the open section with 4.0 points, Josh Audibert won the K-12 section (which was merged with the open), Bethany Humphrey went unbeaten and untied in the K-8 section and Dhari Al-Shamari and Catherine Rudnicki shared equal first in the K-6 section with perfect scores. We hope you enjoy this lavishly illustrated tournament report.

With this his most recent tournament victory Steve Abrahams seems to be moving inexorably towards the USCF expert class. Now just a mere 33 rating points shy of the USCF 2000 mark Abrahams may well soon be Maine's newest expert. Abrahams cruised to four wins in four games and chalked up a performance rating of 2044.

Tom Sandford (1726), Yuri Riabkov (1590) and Arnold Clark (1499) tied for second place one point behind Abrahams. Riabkov and Clark split the U1600 prize.

Max Berube (1440) and Gabriel Noblesmith (1107) finished with 2.5 points ahead of a logjam of players with 2.0 points including: Barry Magda (1767), Ryan Tripp (1546), Bruce Sherwood (1436) and Josh Audibert (716). Curt Brock (1586) and Jan Postmann (unr) put up 1.5 points with Andrew Seavey (1305) and Collin Calhoun (989) scoring 1.0 point. Haley DeLuca Lowell (1045) and Yuval Boss (826) rounded out the crosstable with 0.5 points.

Because only four players registered for the K-12 section it was merged with the open section. The top three high school players were Audibert (2.0), Porstmann (1.5) and DeLuca Lowell (0.5) who also received a medal for the top 8th grade and under player in the K-12/open section.

Bethany Humphrey (880) was perfect in four rounds to take clear first in the K-8 section. Humphrey was followed by Helen Zhang (784) and Stuart MacKay (634) each scoring 3.0 points. Six players scored 2.0 points: Langdon Holly (776), Michael Hayden (483), Oliver Sheehan (414), Hope Gross (331), Tom Boss (252) and Eamon Laskey (176). Zach Grindal (538) and Cameron Wendell (416) finished the day with a point apiece.

In the wild and wooly twenty player non-rated K-6 section Catherine Rudnicki (283) and Dhari Al-Shamari (unr) shared equal first each with an unbeaten and untied 4.0 points. The leaders were followed by Nicholas Kawamura (340), Colby Koelsch (unr) and Jon Kish (unr) each scoring 3.0 points. Liam Farrell (unr) and Tommasso Wheeler (unr) scored 2.5 points ahead of the seven-player 2.0 point group including: Natalie Sheehan (102), Ben Allen-Rahill (unr), Kevin Luo (unr), Itai Boss (unr), Steven Soctomah-Holmes (unr), Evelyn Domsala (unr) and Peter Hubbard (unr). Ian Pomeroy (unr), Lily Millard (unr) and Roman Wlodkowski (unr) scored 1.0 point while William Xu (unr) and Brian Green (unr) put up 0.5 point. Leonid Wlodkowski (unr) finished the day scoreless.

USCF Crosstable of this event
Please note that two sections (open and K-8) appear in the USCF Crosstable because the K-12 section was merged with the open section and the K-6 section was non-rated.

This event was organized by Joe Alex and directed by Dan DeLuca and Andy Bryan.

Tournament winner Steve Abrahams

Always dangerous and always in contention Tom Sandford scored 3.0 points to tie for second place with...

...Arnold Clark who plays out of the Augusta Chess Club and...

...former conductor of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Orchestra Yuri Riabkov.

University of Maine student Max Berube put up 2.5 points...

...as did Gabriel Noblesmith.

Barry Magda

Ryan Tripp

Bruce Sherwood

Josh Audibert played considerably above his USCF 716 rating with wins over Andrew Seavey (1305) and Haley DeLuca Lowell (1045) to take the trophy for the top K-12 player.

There's that t-shirt again. Curt Brock shows his support for ChessMaine.net.

Jan Porstmann, an exchange student from Germany now attending high school in Brunswick, earned a provisional rating of USCF 1315 and finished with the second place trophy for K-12 players in the open section.

Collin Calhoun

Andrew Seavey

Haley DeLuca Lowell, the only female player in the open section, received two awards: third K-12 player and top 8th grade and under in the open section.

Yuval Boss

Clear first in the K-8 section: Bethany Humphrey

Stuart MacKay was undefeated in his first three games and played a strong round four game with Humphrey but, in the end, was unable to hold her off.

The last round in the K-8 section featured MacKay-Humphrey on board 1.

Helen Zhang tied for second with MacKay.

Hope Gross

Oliver Sheehan looks like he's having a good time at the beginning of round two.

Michael Hayden

Multiple MLK tournament veteran: Eamon Laskey

Langdon Holly

Tom Boss

Zach Grindal

Cameron Wendell

Winners in the K-8 section (left to right) Tournament Director Andy Bryan, Stuart MacKay (tied for second), Helen Zhang (tied for second) and Bethany Humphrey (first) with Tournament Organizer Joe Alex.

Equal first in the K-6 section: Catherine Rudnicki and...

...Dhari Al-Shamari.

Colby Koelsch finished in the 3.0-point score group with...

...Nicholas Kawamura and...

...John Kish.

Liam Farrell scored 2.5 points and tied for top K-3 player with...

...Tommasso Wheeler.

Ben Allen-Rahill

Kevin Luo

Itai Boss

Steven Soctomah-Holmes

Natalie Sheehan

Evelyn Domsalla

Porter Hubbard

Ian Pomroy

Lily Millard

Roman Wlodkowski

William Xu

Brian Green

Leonid Wlodkowski

Winners in the K-6 section (left to right) Tournament Director Andy Bryan, Catherine Rudnicki (equal first), Dhari Al-Shamari (equal first) and Tournament Organizer Joe Alex

Tied for third in the K-6 section (left to right): Nicholas Kawamura, Tournament Director Andy Bryan, Colby Koelsch, Jon Kish and Tournament Organizer Joe Alex

Top K-3 players (left to right) Tournament Director Andy Bryan, Laim Farrell (equal first), Tommasso Wheeler (equal first) and Tournament Organizer Joe Alex

Andy Bryan takes an opportunity to give a quick lesson to some K-6 players.

Thanks to all players, parents and volunteers as well as the Stillwater Montessori School for making this tournament a great success.