Got Mate? wins US Amateur Team Championships

At the US Amateur Team Championship playoffs on April 9, Got Mate? (North) defeated the Rainbow Unicorns (West) in the semfinals and went on to defeat Summer Chess Academy (East) in the finals. Summer Chess Academy defeated Chakis Mate (South) in the semifinals. The winning team (pictured above) consisted of: Board 1: Jacob Furfine Board 2: Todd Freitag Board 3: Vincent Do Board 4: Daniel Bronfeyn Got Mate?  team captain, Jacob, has loved chess his entire life. He played in his first US Chess-rated event at the age of 3, winning 4 of 7 games at the 2005 Illinois State Scholastic Championship. Over a decade later and still going strong, during the USAT semifinal match, Jacob was excited to play his friend Cameron, whom he met in Greece while playing for the USA at this past year’s World Youth & Cadets Chess Championship.

[pgn] [Event "USAT2015"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2016.04.09"] [Round "1"] [White "Jacob Furfine"] [Black "Ethan Li"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E04"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. O-O O-O 8. Qc2 b5 9. a4 bxa4 10. Rxa4 Bxd2 11. Nbxd2 Bb7 12. Nxc4 Nc6 13. Rd1 Nd5 14. Raa1 Nb6 15. Nce5 Nb4 16. Qc5 f6 17. Nd3 Nxd3 18. Rxd3 a4 19. Rc1 Rf7 20. Ne5 Bxg2 21. Nxf7 Qd5 22. f3 Bh3 23. e4 Qd7 24. Qh5 Qxf7 25. Qxh3 Rd8 26. Rc6 f5 27. Qh4 Rd7 28. Rxc7 h6 29. Rc6 fxe4 30. Qxe4 Nd5 31. Rc8+ 1-0[/pgn]

Jacob met Todd while competing at the 2014 "Exhaustion Invitational", one of the many tournaments that Sevan Muradian organized. Todd is a rapidly improving player, and he thus won against several higher rated opponents. His constant positive energy greatly contributed to the team’s morale. Vincent too is an extremely strong player, and has likewise pursued chess his entire life. During the USAT finals, Vincent scored 1.5/2, with both of his games against higher rated opponents! The boys have built a strong friendship through the camaraderie that the chess atmosphere provides, ever since their first chess event together in 2008. Vincent and Jacob will be beginning high school in the fall.

[pgn] [Event "USAT"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2016.04.09"] [Round "1"] [White "Banik, Siddharth"] [Black "Do, Vincent"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2327"] [BlackElo "2090"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [TimeControl "5400+5"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Be7 9. Qf3 O-O 10. g4 Nc6 11. O-O-O Rc8 12. Kb1 b5 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Nb4 15. c3 e4 16. Qg2 Nbxd5 17. Bc1 Nb6 18. g5 Nfd7 19. Qxe4 Bxg5 20. Rxd6 Bxc1 21. Nxc1 Qc7 22. Rd1 Nc5 23. Qg4 Nca4 24. Rg1 g6 25. Qg3 Qe7 26. Qd6 Qh4 27. Qg3 Qe7 28. Qd6 Qh4 29. Qd4 Qe7 30. Bd3 Rfd8 31. Rde1 Rxd4 32. Rxe7 Rd7 33. Rge1 Kf8 34. Rxd7 Nxd7 35. Bc2 Nac5 36. Rd1 Ke7 37. Ne2 Nb6 38. Nd4 Ne6 39. Re1 Kd6 40. Nxe6 fxe6 41. Re4 Rf8 42. Bb3 Nd5 43. Rh4 h5 44. Bc2 Rf4 45. Rxf4 Nxf4 46. h4 Ke5 47. b4 Kf6 48. Be4 Nd5 49. Kc2 g5 50. hxg5+ Kxg5 51. Bf3 h4 52. a3 Kf4 53. Bh1 Nb6 54. Kd3 e5 55. Ke2 Nc4 56. Bb7 Nxa3 57. Bxa6 Nb1 58. c4 h3 59. Kf1 bxc4 60. b5 c3 {White resigns} 0-1 [/pgn]

Another good friend, Daniel and Jacob competed on the same team in last year’s USAT event. This event especially, Daniel has played extremely well: he achieved a perfect 5-0 in the qualifying USAT-North tournament in February! He is a strong team player. The team would like to dedicate their victory in memory of Sevan Muradian.