US Amateur Team West Results

Over the long Presidents Day Weekend, Feb 16th-18th, 2013, the United States Amateur Team West (USATW) tournament was held in Pleasanton, CA.  This is a national event that is held simultaneously with three other team events in the North (New Jersey), East (Florida) and South (Texas).  Teams of 4 compete against each other and each team must have an average rating below 2200.  Besides team prizes, there are also individual prizes for each board and a prize for best team name.

In Pleasanton, 44 teams competed for a variety of place prizes.  The overall winner was the team from the Norcal House of Chess winning all 6 of their matches.  The winning team name was: "Vatican Tactics - Sac the Pope".  Individual winners were: Bd 1 - IM Ricardo De Guzman, Bd. 2 - FM Ronald Cusi, Bd. 3 - Brian Chan, and Bd. 4 - Daniel Gertmenian.

The Contra Costa Chess Club was able to field three teams:

Checkmate Unchained     Pawns Unchained    Bad Bishops Unchained

Robert H.                         Stewart S.                  Darmawan A.

Kevin K.                           Pete K.                       Ernesto M.

Jeff Mc.                            Nenad Z.                    Justin T.

Scott M.                           John S.                       Mike T.

Hossam N.                       Branislav R.                Mike D.

Performing the best compared to their rating was "Pawns Unchained".  They scored 3.5/6 to end up in 13th place (they were seeded around 20th coming into the event).  "Checkmate Unchained" scored 4/6 to end up in 9th place (they were seeded 5th at the start).  "Bad Bishops Unchained" scored 2/6 and 35th overall.

Thanks to all our club members for putting their time and energy into playing in this event!

If you have games or photos from the event, please send them to our e-mail and I will post them on the site.