The following is a summary of the Girl’s State Championship written by Richard Martin. Congratulations to all those who participated and we look forward to the event again next year.
The Bear Scholastic Chess Club, along with the DCA (Delaware Chess Association), hosted the state’s first girl’s championship on Saturday, April 9th. The tournament was a 4 round Swiss with a time control of Game/30. Although the turn out for this event was light, it still provided some surprises - and ultimately a state champion.
Four of the five girls who played were middle school students with the fifth being in kindergarten. Young Nonna V. Batrakova was the only entrant in the K-3 section. The other participants were Alisa R. Spitelle, Caroline Gordon, Ann Marie Fitch, and Maria Toscano.
Even though Ms. Fitch was the only player with previous tournament experience, it soon became apparent that the player with the best tactical eye was Alisa Spitelle. Alisa’s ability to see and use fork attacks not only won her material but it also garnered her first place with 4 wins and no losses.
Fitch stood head and shoulders over her competitors in her ability to use the clock and, even though some of her games were plagued with tactical blunders, she was still able to finish in a tie for 2nd place.
Caroline Gordon proved to be another surprise of the tournament. Not only is she new to tournament chess and the USCF but she is also new to chess. She has only been playing for the past several months so her tie for 2nd place was a great accomplishment.
Third place was taken by Maria Toscano who demonstrated the best opening skills of the tournament. But unfortunately the advantages she acquired in the opening were often lost by tactical oversights.
Even though Nonna finished tied for third place she still took home the first place trophy for the K-3rd section. Despite being 6 to 8 years younger than the rest of the field she showed that she will be a force to be reckoned with one day.
The final standings were:
Alisa R. Spitelle 4
Caroline Gordon 3
Ann Marie Fitch 3
Maria Toscano 1
Nonna Batrakova 1
The Bear Club and the DCA plan on making this tournament a yearly event — so young ladies, dust those chess boards off and put your thinking caps on!