Earlier this fall, IM Stuart Rachels won his sixth Alabama state championship on the weekend of August 30 through September 1. The state championship — hosted by the Mobile Chess Club — was held at Spring Hill College in Mobile for the first time in 40 years.
In that 1984 tournament, a then-12-year-old Rachels won his third consecutive state championship. Rachels won two more state titles but then stopped competing in his home state until, seemingly out of the blue, he emerged this year! This comeback is the subject of a documentary — created by Cynara Inman and Tyler Dickerson — that was shared earlier this week:
This fantastic interview-rich oral history — of both the event and Rachels’ standing in Alabama chess history — is embedded above and can be found on YouTube here. According to Brent Inman, a Life Master who "came up" in Mobile, he told his daughter Cynara that the state championship was returning to her hometown for the first time in four decades, and her boyfriend Tyler asked if they could come down from Raleigh, North Carolina, to take photos.
Brent then suggested they turn this project into the documentary you see here. In an instance of the stars aligning, this was all before Rachels had decided to make his comeback! Another project, focusing on the intergenerational clashes of players at the championship, is in the works. Below are some highlights of the tournament.
Rachels got off to a 4/4 start while showcasing his mastery of the fundamentals, such as his use of the bishop pair here:
Then, a fascinating game in the penultimate round against Aaron Decord, the experienced IM was unable to exploit his opponent’s shattered kingside structure in a tense Italian.
Rachels won his final game to finish on 5/6, but Decord controlled his own destiny entering the final game with a 4½/5 score. But a loss to Georgia’s Vishnusankar Jonnalagadda saw the Georgian leapfrog over Decord into a tie for first with Rachels. As the top-finishing Alabama player, the sixth title was Rachels’!
The results from the tournament can be found here. The top board was broadcast online for the last four rounds.
Rachels is also the author of the 2020 autobiography The Best I Saw In Chess. Hand-signed copies are available on US Chess Sales. IM John Watson’s review of the book can be found in the September 2020 issue of Chess Life magazine, available to all via the Chess Life archives.
Categories
Archives
- December 2024 (1)
- November 2024 (18)
- October 2024 (35)
- September 2024 (23)
- August 2024 (27)
- July 2024 (44)
- June 2024 (27)
- May 2024 (32)
- April 2024 (51)
- March 2024 (34)
- February 2024 (25)
- January 2024 (26)
- December 2023 (29)
- November 2023 (26)
- October 2023 (37)
- September 2023 (27)
- August 2023 (37)
- July 2023 (47)
- June 2023 (33)
- May 2023 (37)
- April 2023 (45)
- March 2023 (37)
- February 2023 (28)
- January 2023 (31)
- December 2022 (23)
- November 2022 (32)
- October 2022 (31)
- September 2022 (19)
- August 2022 (39)
- July 2022 (32)
- June 2022 (35)
- May 2022 (21)
- April 2022 (31)
- March 2022 (33)
- February 2022 (21)
- January 2022 (27)
- December 2021 (36)
- November 2021 (34)
- October 2021 (25)
- September 2021 (25)
- August 2021 (41)
- July 2021 (36)
- June 2021 (29)
- May 2021 (29)
- April 2021 (31)
- March 2021 (33)
- February 2021 (28)
- January 2021 (29)
- December 2020 (38)
- November 2020 (40)
- October 2020 (41)
- September 2020 (35)
- August 2020 (38)
- July 2020 (36)
- June 2020 (46)
- May 2020 (42)
- April 2020 (37)
- March 2020 (60)
- February 2020 (38)
- January 2020 (45)
- December 2019 (35)
- November 2019 (35)
- October 2019 (42)
- September 2019 (45)
- August 2019 (56)
- July 2019 (44)
- June 2019 (35)
- May 2019 (40)
- April 2019 (48)
- March 2019 (61)
- February 2019 (39)
- January 2019 (30)
- December 2018 (29)
- November 2018 (51)
- October 2018 (45)
- September 2018 (29)
- August 2018 (49)
- July 2018 (35)
- June 2018 (31)
- May 2018 (39)
- April 2018 (31)
- March 2018 (26)
- February 2018 (33)
- January 2018 (30)
- December 2017 (26)
- November 2017 (24)
- October 2017 (30)
- September 2017 (30)
- August 2017 (31)
- July 2017 (28)
- June 2017 (32)
- May 2017 (26)
- April 2017 (37)
- March 2017 (28)
- February 2017 (30)
- January 2017 (27)
- December 2016 (29)
- November 2016 (24)
- October 2016 (32)
- September 2016 (31)
- August 2016 (27)
- July 2016 (24)
- June 2016 (26)
- May 2016 (19)
- April 2016 (30)
- March 2016 (36)
- February 2016 (28)
- January 2016 (32)
- December 2015 (26)
- November 2015 (23)
- October 2015 (16)
- September 2015 (28)
- August 2015 (28)
- July 2015 (6)
- June 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (2)
- April 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (3)
- January 2015 (1)
- December 2014 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- October 1991 (1)
- August 1989 (1)
- January 1988 (1)
- December 1983 (1)