On July 26, 2023, the Community Chess Club of Rochester's Co-Champions Matt Slomski (National Master, USCF rating: 2033) and Ryan Beh (USCF rating: 2108) played chess against 26 players simultaneously. The annual CCCR event took place at the Center of Chess in New York state: The Rochester Chess Center.
The event started with a pizza party to kick-off the occasion. We were treated with chess-shaped cookies made by Ryan's mother. The chess games were underway by 7:40pm and all games were completed by 9:55pm. During the games, Matt and Ryan made alternate chess moves and opponents had 4 opportunities to pass on their move. This gave more time for Matt's and Ryan's challengers to consider the next move.
The first player to finish his game against Matt and Ryan was Joe Sarratori at 8:45pm. The last game of the night finished just before 10pm with John Manning. A two-minute blitz clock (with 1 second increment) was introduced to random games starting around 9:25pm to ensure the event would finish at a reasonable time.
Here are the overall standings for Matt and Ryan against their 26 opponents:
Ryan and Matt scored 20 Wins, 2 Draws and 4 Losses.
The Wins against Matt and Ryan were by Jonah Green (USCF rating: 1513), Randy MacKenzie (USCF rating: 2000), Jacob Snell (USCF rating: 1985) and Erich Snell (USCF rating: 1623).
The draws against Matt and Ryan were by John Strazzabosco (USCF rating: 1403) and David Carr Jr. (USCF rating: 1507).
Prizes for the draws and wins against Matt and Ryan were given out tonight. The prize for Matt and Ryan will be given out next week at our regular club meeting. We will have a cake to celebrate on August 9th.
A special thanks to everyone who helped with the last-minute arrangements and to all the participants for helping to make this CCCR event a great success.
More photos here: Gallery link
What's the next big event coming up with the Community Chess Club of Rochester? That would be the Annual Club Championship, with FIVE rounds this year on 5 consecutive Wednesdays: Oct 4, 11, 18, 25 and Nov 1st, 2023. Join CCCR and complete 10 USCF-rated games between Nov. 2, 2022 and Sep. 27, 2023 to be eligible to enter. Visitors are always welcome. Chess store also on-site.
