Buklis Repeats as Advanced Champion; 256 Compete at Marshall

Five different teams claimed championships at the 3rd YCFC event of the 2014-2015 season, hosted by Marshall Metropolitan High School January 10.

Nonetheless, the Advanced Section saw Joey Buklis repeat as the section champion with a perfect 5.0 score. Joey's Decatur squad finished with 9.5 points, three points behind Aurora Chess Club which won its first-ever team trophy. Four (of five) ACC competitors earned trophies, lead by Aidan Carey's undefeated 4.5 score and 4.0 tallies from Kevin Ho, Christian Turk and David Hafner. Komarek's Ignace Bielobradek was the the other trophy winner in the Advanced, finishing third on tiebreaks, also with 4.0/5.

43 competed in the Advanced with 11 multi-player teams in the mix.

In the Novice 7th and 8th Grade section, 26 individuals and six multi-player teams competed, with Beasley claiming the championship at 13.0, one and a half points ahead of Cook. Faraday's Antoine Christopher was perfect at 5.0, a full point ahead of three 4.0 scores: Cook's Archie Grant and Beasley's D'Varsyla Rush and Terasence Mitten. Deanna James (3.5) and Elijah Jarrett (1.5) rounded out the Beasley team score.

Burbank edged Bell in the Novice 5-6 with 15.0 points to 14.5. Edgebrook was a half-point back from Bell at 14.0 to place third. 15 multiplayer teams entered, with 76 players at the boards. Bateman's Layla Rodriguez finished with a perfect 5.0 score for the second tournament in a row to claim the section championship. She was a half-point ahead of Decatur's Richard Kim who posted a 4.5 score. Remarkably 11 players finished at 4.0, including Burbank's Arale Medina and Aline Del Llano.

Novice 3-4 Champion Skinner North (14.5) edged Bateman (14.0) which in turn finished just ahead of Edgebrook (13.5). 69 players and 16 multi-player teams competed with Edgebook's Mark Seward posting the lone perfect 5.0 score. Aurora's Reese Clark took second with a 4.5 result. There was a seven-way tie for third with 4.0 points including Skinner North's Jaiden Lulla and Harry Dobrow. Skinner's Henry Reiland added a 3.5 score to the team total, while teammates Finn Buda and Jack Heller posted 3.0's. 67 competed.

In the biggest runaway of the day, Decatur's 18.5 was well ahead of Skinner North's 10.5 tally in the K-2 Novice. 44 players competed in the youngest section with Decatur's Avi Kaplan defeating teammate Ethan Ding in a blitz playoff, both finished perfect at 5.0 while teammate William DeAllaume was undefeated at 4.5 to take third place. There was a three-way tie for fourth place with 4.0 scorers, including Decatur's Jenna Cinco, Journey Jackson, and John Seward.

In a special presentation, YCFC veteran and Taft 8th grader Matthew Wong received the Dan Griffin Memorial Award.  Larry and Therese Griffin were on hand to present the trophy and share thoughts on their son. Matthew lost all four of matches in his first YCFC event in 2007, but stuck with chess and has gone on to win 13 Advanced Section trophies (out of 18 tournaments). He has won the Advanced Section twice (in 2012 at Westinghouse and in 2013 at Rickover) and won the Grades 3-4 section in 2010 (Whitney Young) before moving up.

Marshall High School and Faraday Coach John Ocol pulled out all stops to make the day a memorable event for the participants including for the first time ever, karaoke in the skittles room. This also marked the first time for Marshall hosting the YCFC.