Alex Chastukhin: 2012 City Champion

The 2012 Cincinnati City Championship is complete! Check out games from the later rounds as well as all the results below.

Read below for an account of the tournament from Robert Chenault.

At the conclusion of the tournament, there were actually two players tied for first place with 5-1 scores, Andy Mackowiak and Alex Chastukhin. So this meant a playoff. But there was controversy…Andy Mack (as we call him) and Alex (The Ukrainian Fist…. as we call him) they had already played head to head. When that game was played, Andy Mack rocked it slow and ever so tender…. pulling out the win against Alex. Duane Larkin, the TD, ruled that this head to head tie breaker did not determine a clear champion (engraving a name in the trophy) and a playoff was ordered.

The playoff was held one week later during the Annual CCC Christmas Party. It was a two game playoff match, game in 30. The Ukrainian Fist represented and played masterly, winning both games. Alex Chastukhin’s name will be engraved in the coveted city championship trophy, a long running tradition that dates back to 1959. Andy Mack was gracious in the playoff lost, still allowing us to eat the Panera Bagels and cream cheese that he provided for the Christmas party. Andy Mack also had a great tournament, beating two masters, FM Hans Multhopp and Alex. The only lost that Andy Mack suffered was to close personal friend Andy Ward (who has inside knowledge on the rising expert’s game)

We had a strong field of 20 players, 3 masters, 3 experts and 3 class A players. Sergey Berchenko who, showed up and played after a 3-year hiatus …he looked great. Sergey’s presence made the tournament. Sergey has more city championship wins under his belt than anyone else, with 8 wins. We wanted to see a match between Berchenko and Chastukhin (Russian vs. Ukrainian) but it did not happen because Anthony Bayless scored a surprising upset against the Russian Master Berchenko. That was not the only upset that made headline news…. Ben Bryant beat the 2012 CCC Club Champion Robert Chenault. Unbelievable. As a matter of fact, Ben (a 1650 rated player) had the best tournament overall…. gaining over 100 rating points. Ben defeated a master (Berchenko), then a strong expert and lastly a class A player.

Jeremy Schiedt took home the under 2000 prize; Ben Bryant handily grabbed the under 1800 prize, Mike Hall (his return to chess) did well and tied for his under 1500 section, along with Brad Warren who also played well. We all got a chance to celebrate at the Christmas Party, good food. Hans ran a chess book auction that was a big hit and it raised good money for the club.

# Name Rtng Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Rd6 Total Prize
1 Sergey Berchenko 2266 W11 L7 W8 W9 L15 Bye 3.5
2 Oleksandr Chastukhin 2222 W12 W6 W9 W3 L4 W15 5.0 $165
3 Hans Multhopp 2200 W14 W10 D7 L2 W8 L4 3.5
4 Andrew Mackowiak 2030 W15 L9 W11 W7 W2 W3 5.0 $165
5 Duane Larkin 2013 Bye L14 W17 - L10 D13 2.0
6 Robert Chenault 2001 W16 L2 W14 L15 W7 W9 4.0
7 Anthony Bayless 1987 W18 W1 D3 L4 L6 Bye 3.0
8 Jeremy Scheidt 1910 W17 Bye L1 W10 L3 W14 3.5 $90
9 Andrew Ward 1883 W19 W4 L2 L1 W11 L6 3.0
10 Jeffrey Palun 1837 W21 L3 L15 L8 W5 W16 3.0
11 Jack Riesenbeck 1770 L1 W13 L4 W16 L9 W12 3.0
12 Vito Carla 1721 L2 L17 W13 - W19 L11 2.0
13 Keevin Lee 1700 Bye L11 L12 W17 L14 D5 2.0
14 Tim Lake 1667 L3 W5 L6 W21 W13 L8 3.0
15 Benjamin Bryant 1648 L4 W19 W10 W6 W1 L2 4.0 $90
16 Jeff Davis 1595 L6 L21 W19 L11 W20 L10 2.0
17 Mike Hall 1290 L8 W12 L5 L13 W21 - 2.0 $45
18 Dennis Chenault 1161 L7 - - - - - 0.0
19 Brad Warren 740 L9 L15 L16 W20 L12 W21 2.0 $45
20 Austin Lewis(house player) 389 - - W21 L19 L16 - 1.0
21 Jordan Smith UNR L10 W16 L20 L14 L17 L19 1.0