02.28.23 On Saturday, February 25th an impressive 15 Maine chess players competed in the 9th Queen City Tornado tournament in Manchester, New Hampshire. The event attracted 185 players in four sections: Open, U1800, U1400, and U1200. Here's the tournament report with US Chess crosstables.

Thanks to Hayden Tittle for contributing to this report.

US Chess Crosstable of this event

In the Open Section, Wyatt Hendrix, William Ravn and Aaron Spencer competed against a field that included Massachusetts GM Alexander Ivanov. Aaron Spencer finished the day on 3.5/4 and split 2nd place with two other strong players from Massachusetts. Maine State Champions William Ravn and Wyatt Hendrix battled it out in a dramatic Round 4 matchup. Ravn emerged victorious and finished the tournament with a score of 3.0/4, earning a share of 5th place.

In the U1800 Section, Maine players Ziran Gu, Zachary Brislin, Hayden Tittle, Amrit Shakya, and Matt Jablonski competed in the tournament's largest section of 54 players. Colby College student Ziran Gu finished 3.5/4 in his first ever US Chess tournament, split 2nd place with three other players, and earned a provisional rating of 1821!

In the U1500 Section, Hanley Lee, Morry El-Badry, Thadeus Gomski III, An Phu Nguyen, and Gerry D'Urso all represented Maine well. Congratulations to Hanley Lee, who clinched 2nd place with a score of 3.5/4 in Hanley's first ever US Chess tournament.

In the U1200 Section, Aum Desai and Changru Lyu both competed in their first US Chess tournament. Aum Desai finished with a score of 3.0/4 and earned a split of 4th place with several other players from New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon & Vermont.

Across all four Sections of the tournament, Maine chess was represented well both on the board and off. Maine players claimed a share of 2nd place in the tournament's top 3 sections and a share of 4th place in the U1200 section. Congratulations to all who participated.

Many of these players are looking forward to competing at the Webber Cup at at Bonny Eagle Middle School in Buxton, Maine on Saturday, March 4th. Hope to see you all there!