Southeastern Regional Women's and Girls' Chess Championship: Metro Atlanta Chess Connections

Editor’s Note: This article is on the Southeastern Regional Women's and Girl's Chess Championship, which brought out some of the region’s strongest female players. It also attracted titled players from outside of the southeast, including champion FM Megan Paragua of New York and this article’s author, WIM Dr. Alexey Root, who traveled all the way from Texas.

One reason for this tournament’s success was the guaranteed $5,000 prize fund made possible from a US Chess grant. You can find more reporting on tournaments and other events made possibly by US Chess grants here.

While some spent their Saturday preparing for Mother’s Day on May 10, dozens of chess players were instead competing for prizes at Atlanta Chinese Christian Church for the Southeastern Regional Women's and Girl's Chess Championship.

Girls and women took center stage on May 9 in the Open and Under-1800 sections, which each featured four rounds of 60-minute games with a five-second delay. In addition, the tournament featured girls’ events (grouped by grade level) and a Friends & Family event (for all ages and genders), all of which were five-round events at a faster 25-minute time control (with a five-second delay). All results are available on MUIR.

Special Touches

The opening ceremony featured WFM Aasa Dommalapati, who graduated from Georgia Tech the day before the tournament. With her diploma in hand, she will be working for Tesla in Austin. Her father, US Chess Executive Board member Anand Dommalapati, also spoke. One of the sponsors, Ty Cooper (CTO of Sewell Energy), invited players to test out a wireless-powered lamp.

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Two of the organizers, Dr. Kathy Lee and Dr. Fun Fong, thanked sponsors and led the crowd in prayer, first in Chinese and then in English. After the opening ceremony ended, Southeast Chess Board Members Tiffany Harris and WIM Carolina Blanco set up Girls Club Rooms, which featured activities such as fingernail painting in the tradition of the Girls Club Room at national scholastic tournaments.

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Results and Games

In the Women’s Open, FM Megan Paragua won with a 3½/4, a half-point ahead of Florida’s Sophie Li. The top two finishers drew their head-to-head game in Round 2.

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After Paragua missed a subtle intermezzo to convert her advantage, Li played with urgency to get back into the game before an eventual time scramble (when the players stopped notating).

Paragua bounced back with a win over South Carolina’s WFM Bahar Hallayeva — the section’s second highest rated player, behind Paragua — in Round 3:

Li also won her third game (against Alisa Antony Joseph) to keep pace with Paragua entering the final round. In Round 4, Paragua won her game while Li was held to a draw by Hallayeva, giving Li clear second with a 3/4 score and Hallayeva a share of third (along with Joseph).

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With a 2/4 score and a tie for fifth place overall, I won Top Senior (50+). (Editor’s note: Thanks to Evelyn Qiao — who also tied for fifth with a 2/4 score — for also sharing both of her wins with Chess Life Online. Those games can be found here and here.) I drew my first two games from losing positions, with Round 1 being the more interesting of those two potential losses.

In Rounds 3 and 4, I decided to offer draws before I reached losing positions. I was unable to gain significant winning chances in either game, so I decided it was practical to offer draws rather than risk over-pressing. As a result, I was the only player to draw all four of her games.

I played these games because I said, “Yes, and …” to my first-ever trip to Metro Atlanta…

Yes, and …

One rule of thumb for improvisational theater is “Yes, and …” One improviser accepts what another improviser has stated and expands upon it. On February 27, Fong sent me the flyer for the Southeastern Regional Women's and Girls' Chess Championship, adding “Would love to see you in Atlanta.” I replied, “I am interested! Do you think it would be of interest to have a book signing for my book United States Women's Chess Champions, 1937–2020?” My “Yes, and …” improvisation inspired him to add Lee to our conversation.

Lee’s “Yes, and…” added refreshments and a separate date for the book signing: May 7. A member of the Board of Trustees for the Gwinnett County Public Library, she connected me with the library system’s Jina DuVernay (Adult Services Manager) and Paige Howard (Adult Services Specialist). They arranged for me to give a short book talk followed by a 10-player simultaneous exhibition. Over 40 people attended, and those not playing me challenged each other to casual games. Lee and Fong recruited a handful of additional players for May 9, and eight copies of my book sold.

Metro Atlanta Chess Connections

Maybe a future grandmaster was among the participants at the May 7 event. If so, it would be another example of chess and libraries connecting in Metro Atlanta. GM Arthur Guo, who attends Yale and promotes chess there, became interested in chess at the Fulton County Library Northeast/Spruill Oaks Branch. His father Ken “Mike” Guo emailed that he “discovered a weekly community chess program at that location when Arthur was about five and a half years old (in late 2011). David Vest was the coach for the program.”

A national master and an original life master, Vest made an appearance at the Southeastern Regional Women's and Girls' Chess Championship, too. I first met him when I was 11 years old at Tacoma Chess Club, in Washington State. We hadn’t seen each other for about 40 years, having last bumped into each other in Plummer Park in West Hollywood.

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The Guo family belongs to the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church. The Church has multiple locations in Metro Atlanta. The Guo family attends the north one. The Southeastern Regional Women's and Girls' Chess Championship was at the Tucker location. The church was one of the tournament’s sponsors.

Georgia on My Mind

Besides Lee, Fong, and Blanco, many others helped make the Southeastern Regional Women's and Girls' Chess Championship fun and memorable for participants. Tournament directors, volunteers, and parents kept the rounds running on time, the food plentiful, and the trash picked up.

As an example of this tournament’s spirit of generosity and collaboration, FM Andrew Jiang started his day by sweeping the Friends & Family side event with a 5/5 score. But instead of calling it a day after his victory, instead he gave a simul — taking Black in each game — entertaining dozens of players before the prize ceremony.

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Before the awards ceremony ended, this energetic crew was already discussing ideas for next year. Players should keep Georgia on their minds for quality chess events.

This article has been updated to include Southeast Chess Board Member Tiffany Harris's involvement and contribution to this event.