Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII -- Postscript 2

Robin Grochowski of SWCC emailed me the official Goddesschess prizes for the chess femmes this morning.  Total Gchess prizes were $540 - guess I've lost my skill to do simple addition!

Open Section ($180):

Rachel Ulrich won $140.

Alena Huang won $40.

Reserve Section($290):

Anne Ulrich won $70.

Sabrina Huang won $70.

Ritika Pandey won $40.

Manisha Vootkur won $40.

Ellen Wanek won $40.

Divya Pandey won $30.

Rachel wins entry to HCC XVIII open section ($40), and Sabrina Huang wins entry to HCC XVIII reserve section ($30) on tie breaks. ($70).

 

Here is a photo of chess buddy Ellen Wanek receiving her Goddesschess prize check, courtesy of Robin:

 

 

After Challenge XVII Saturday night, I pledged to Ellen that I would play in Hales Corners Challenge XVIII in October, ready or not.  I am starting my "training," LOL!  Games against Ellen and my other chess buddy, Shira Evans Sanford, a new mommy, at chess.com.  I can but try... 

Post-script on Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII

Hola darlings!

What a shock this morning to wake up to SNOW!  But my heart is warmed by the great results for the chess femmes who participated in the Hales Corners Challenge XVII. 

My chess buddy, Ellen Wanek, wrote to me after she got back home after a long long day at the Challenge.  She is such an uplifting and encouraging influence in my life, I'm so happy to have made her acquaintance.   She sent me a couple photographs of the chess femmes at the Challenge, since I was not there in person -- they are all so beautiful! Ellen wrote that they were saying "Hi, Jan" in the top photo!  Thank you all - so sweet!  Brought tears to my eyes. 

One last email I opened last night, from Allen Becker, was a link to Rachel Ulrich's USCF ratings track and it was just awesome to see her progress graphed out -- in fact, so awesome to see the rise in her rating over the years that I snatched a copy of it and here it is!

Source: USCF

Allen wrote:  13 year old Rachel gained 77 ratings point and is Wisconsin's newest Expert.  Woop woop, arm pump!

I also wanted to mention that Anne Ulrich, who tied for first place in the Reserve Section, recently won the 2012 USCF Junior Grand Prix (hope I have that title correct) and, we believe, is the first-ever female to do so.  I looked for but could not find any comprehensive records of prior Junior Grand Prix winners to officially confirm this. 

And Sabrina Huang's performance!  I've seen her in action at the few Challenges I've attended and have tracked the performances of she and her sister, Alena Huang (who played in the Open Section again this Challenge, challenging herself and I'm sooo proud of her) at Challenges over the years.  Both sisters are delightful young women.  I am soooo proud of Rachel, Anne, Alena, Sabrina and, indeed, all of the ladies who played yesterday, including my buddy, Ellen, who improved her performance to two wins in this Challenge! And how cool is it that we have been lucky enough at the Challenges to have THREE sets of sisters playing, because another dynamic duo of sisters, Ritika Pandey (2.0) and Divya Pandey (1.5), also did very well.  Manisha Vootkur also finished in the Reserve at 50%, scoring 2 wins.   It gives me hope for the future to see all of these young women playing into and hopefully through their teen years and beyond.  We need MORE of you, chess femmes!  Pat Foat, where were you? 

For those of you who don't know Ellen Wanek very well, I've posted articles about her at this blog and you can find them by doing a search of her name. Ellen is based in Sheboygan and is very involved in a chess program that teaches kids how to play chess and, indeed, has extended the program to a Chess in the Park series where all are welcome and newcomers can visit and learn how to play the game in a casual, relaxed setting. She is one of my heroines and I admire her greatly.

Sandra Pahl, played in the Open again, and a young lady whom I don't believe has played in a Challenge before because, just like the first time I played in a Challenge, I did not have a USCF rating either, Carolyn Marta, who played in the Reserve, didn't score any points. Hey - I know that feeling! Did your head feel like it was going to explode, too? That's what playing in a Challenge (the few I've played in) makes me feel like! All my zeros were worth it, though, because I did earn a USCF rating, so I'm officially on the USCF books as a CHESSPLAYER, ha ha ha! Hang in there, chess femmes. I actually managed to win a game in the last Challenge I played, and Sandra Pahl has scored in the Open before, I know she'll do it again. And Sandra, I would love to continue our conversation on the interesting topics we got into the first/last time we chatted!

I visited my adopted chess club's blog this morning and read the updated news on Challenge XVII, and copied this out:

Four-way tie for first in Open:
Erik Santarius
Ben Smail
Brady Harder
Rachel Ulrich




Three-way tie for first in Reserve:
Sabrina Huang
Anne Ulrich
Xavier Loomer

I had complained to Allen Becker last night (Yes, it is true. This woman [moi] knows no limits when it comes to gall) about how they publish the final results because they do it from highest ratings to lowest instead of who actually finished in what place by virtue of tie-breaks (at least, that was how it was explained to me once but that may not be correct, that's just the way it was assembled finally in my brain).  That method makes no sense to me because how can I use that to determine who actually finished in FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, etc.  It's drives me frigging nuts, and that's the truth.

So when I saw the above fresh information posted, now I know that Sabrina edged-out Anne on tie-breaks, and in the Open, Rachel lost FIRST "first place" on tie-breaks (next Challenge maybe she'll come out on TOP, hey, no pressure...) -- so now at least I see it in a format that makes sense to me.  I will NEVAH understand the other way of doing it, NEVAH! 

Okay, ladies, here's a challenge for you.  In Hales Corners Challenge XVI, you took home a record amount of Goddesschess prize money, the highest Goddesschess prize payout yet.  You did not break that record in Challenge XVII.  How do you feel about going for it in Challenge XVIII?

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII -- Final Standings!

I'll get right to the chase - here's how the chess femmes did:

No. Name St Rate Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Score

1. Santarius, Erik (1)........... WI 2394 W9 W14 W8 D5 3.5
2. Smail, Benedict A (7)......... WI 2120 W41 D5 W21 W15 3.5
3. Harder, Brady R (9)........... WI 2069 W42 W12 D4 W17 3.5
4. Ulrich, Rachel J (18)......... WI 1896 W11 W6 D3 W13 3.5
48. Huang, Alena (47)............. WI 1485 L27 W51 L25 L39 1.0
52. Pahl, Sandra R (49)........... WI 1441 L18 L31 L22 L49 0.0

Hales Corners Challenge XVII -- Reserve Cross Table No. Name St Rate 1 2 3 4 Score

1. Ulrich, Anne E (11)........... WI 1396 W10 W27 W23 D3 3.5
3. Huang, Sabrina (21)........... WI 1209 W24 W19 W6 D1 3.5
21. Pandey, Ritika (26)........... WI 1074 W38 L10 W33 L7 2.024. Vootkur, Manisha (31)......... WI 903 L3 W40 L19 W33 2.0
25. Wanek, Ellen Ann (32)......... WI 844 W13 W17 L2 L10 2.0
30. Pandey, Divya (28)............ WI 1048 W9 L33 D28 L12 1.5
40. Martz, Carolyn And (37)....... WI nnnn L22 L24 L36 L38 0.0

The Ulrich sisters rock!  Rachel, 13 years old, had an outstanding tournament playing against tough players in the Open.  For her 3 wins and 1 draw she'll take home $140 in Goddesschess prize money.  Anne Ulrich, (I believe she is a junior in high school), tied for first with Sabrina Huang in the Reserve Section and Allen Becker kindly emailed me and wrote:  Sabrina Huang tied for first in the Reserve with Anne Ulrich. Sabrina actually won the section on tiebreaks.

 In addition to whatever prizes they qualify for by virtue of their scores, both Anne and Sabrina will take home $70 each in Goddesschess prize money.

Other Goddesschess prize winners:

Alena Huang (Open) won $40
Ritika Pandey (Reserve) won $40
My buddy Ellen Wanek (Reserve) won $40
Divya Pandey (Reserve) won $30

Full cross-tables.

Congratulations to all of the chess femmes who played today, and to Rachel Ulrich and Anne Ulrich, highest place female players in each section.  They both win gift bags from Goddesschess and free entry into the next Hales Corners Challenge in October, should they choose to play. 

Hales Corners Challenge XVII TOMORROW!

Hola darlings!

The Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII, worth TEN USCF Grand Prix points, takes place tomorrow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's four grueling rounds in one jam-packed day! 

Registration is open tomorrow before start time, so come on down and register if you have not already done so! Necessary information if you wish to register - and stay overnight for that matter, as it truly is a long day (I've played in a couple and speak from experience!)

The latest count of pre-registered players for the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII, as of  8:00 p.m. this evening, is 74 - WOO WOO! 

Five national masters are registered to play in the Open! But you know me, I'm primarily interested in the chess femmes because, after all, we're Goddesschess!  So, how are we doing right now?

In the Open and Reserve, pre-registered chess femmes - 10 as of the last count I received an official email about earlier today (GREAT NUMBER!).  My apologies, ladies, if I have not recognized all of YOUR names so I may be missing some of you and, mea culpa to any chess dude I may have inadvertently included on this list.  I didn't do it on purpose, it's just that, sometimes, I am not able to distinguishing certain cultures' males and female names from each other. Guys (organizers) -- I've mentioned this before -- it would be extremely helpful if you would add an "F" after a female player, makes things a lot faster from my end:

14 Ulrich, Rachel 1896 
35 Huang, Alena 1485
37 Pahl, Sandra R 1441

In the Reserve (U1600),  pre-registered chess femmes:

10 Ulrich, Anne 1396
18 Huang, Sabrina 1209
23 Pandey, Ritika 1074 
25 Pandey, Divya 1048
27 Vootkur, Manisha 903
28 Wanek, Ellen Ann 844
34 Martz, Carolyn unr

Of course I recognize the Ulrich sisters! I haven't met Tom Ulrich, but he is one of the top ranked players and one of NMs playing in the Open. The Huang sisters are also playing - so happy about that!, and the Pandey sisters - so happy about that!

I am very happy about each and every one of the chess femmes playing tomorrow.  I have had the pleasure of meeting many of you, and becoming friends with some of you.  But, I say, you are all very close to my heart, whether I have met you or not.  Having you come out and play in tournaments such as the Hales Corners Challenges is what Goddesschess is about.  It is about YOU!

I wish I could be there with you tomorrow but, truly, my health just does not permit me to play competitive (or more truthfully, non-competitive) chess right now. I just don't have the stamina it takes to last through four intense games in one long long day.  On the other hand, if I were to play a pick-up game at my kitchen table, with no clock involved, well then, that might be a different story, LOL!  Okay, so I like to delude myself as to my individual chess greatness...

I am particularly pleased to see a number of new unrated players coming to play in the Hales Corners Challenge for the first time. I did that too, to get a rating, a couple Challenges ago.  Yep, I have my very own official USCF rating.  It's low, but it's mine, all mine :)

May dozens and dozens of chess femmes appear tomorrow morning and register to play in the Hales Corner Chess Challenge XVII!  That is my prayer, Oh Caissa, and Oh Athena, Goddesses of Chess.

Tomorrow I will be following the results of the rounds closely at the Southwest Chess Club blog and will be reporting on them as regards the chess femmes as results are posted.

A special shout-out to Ellen Wanek, who is doing wonderful things for chess in the Sheboygan area.  I've got my fingers crossed for you, Elie Mae :)

Good luck to all the chess femmes. May you win lots and lots of Goddessches prize money! 
 

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVII

Hola darlings!

The Hales Corners Chess Challenges are my favorite local events here in Milwaukee/SE Wisconsin, and Goddesschess has provided prizes for the Challenges since Challenge VIII.  The Challenges are one of the strongest events held in southeastern Wisconsin twice a year, and attract players from a multi-state area. 

Challenge XVII is coming fast!  April 13, 2013.  Goddesschess is once again sponsoring prizes as follows - just for the ladies:

Open:  $40 per win; $20 per draw (4 rounds)
Reserve:  $20 per win; $10 per draw (4 rounds)

In addition, Goddesschess pays the entry fee for the top-finishing female in each section should she choose to enter the next Challenge. 

This Challenge, as in Challenge XVI, Goddesschess is providing specially created gift bags for the top female finisher in each section will also be presented. 

More information and entry form for Hales Corners Challenge XVII. 

By the way, the Hales Corners Challenge is worth 10 USCF Grand Prix points, nothing to sneeze at :)

Would LOVVVVEEEEE to see Chess Femme Power increase at Challenge XVII, heh heh heh, shows those chess dudes a thing or two and prove once again, oh yeah, that Challenge femmes are formidable forces to be reckoned with...