2025 DCC Tribute to Martin Luther King
3:09pm Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025

...at any DCC tournament you will find competition.
Brian Wall and Eamon Montgomery games have been added to the Games Section
A tribute is a statement intended to show gratitude, respect, and admiration. Today, countless people would express exactly that when speaking of Martin Luther King. The Denver Chess Club naming a chess tournament in his honor is a small thing compared to what he did for countless people of color. Racism was once accepted as perfectly okay, particularly in the southern states. Rural country stores would have two water fountains. One for "Whites Only" and another set at a lower level, grungy, and labeled for "Coloreds". Which I've seen with my own eyes. The heading and all the photos used in this report are by John Brezina. Also note that his excellent photography is not necessarily related to the text.
Not Rosa Parks, but Kaavya Sakthisaranan would not have gone to the back of the bus either.
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man and go to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama bus, Reverend King, and his friend Ralph Abernathy, organized a nationwide civil rights movement, which led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A law that was intended to right the wrongs of racism. We have come a long way, but to say racism has been eradicated from American society would be wishful thinking.
A record attendance of wall to wall chess players at the MLK.
I am pleased to note that the 2025 MLK attendance had a record registration of 154 players. Despite a cold snowing winter storm blowing outside. A significant increase from the 2024 registration of 134 players, when there wasn't a cold snowing winter storm blowing outside :-) Chess continues to grow in popularity here in America and worldwide. Chess.com has a registration of over 100 million members!! Internet chess is all well and good, but over the board, face to face against an opponent, in a tournament for prize money and USCF rating points is the real thing.
NM Brian Wall (w) vs. NM Eamon Montgomery (b)
So then on to who won what at the DCC 2025 Tribute to MLK. The Premier section was especially strong with no less than six National Masters, and I'm sure Candidate Master, Rhett Langseth, will soon have the National Master title. So it is no surprise that NM Eamon Montgomery, NM Chris Peterson, NM Abhishek Mallela, NM Daniel Herman, and LM Brian Wall all finished with 4 points. LM is not a typo. Mr. Colorado Chess has been playing good chess for so long that he has earned the USCF Life Master title. Each player took home 290 dollars. Not bad money for sitting down and doing what they like to do anyway.
Griffin McConnell is not at all camera shy.
Expert Luis Jimenez, Amitia Sebba, and Jason Nigatu all ended up with 3.5 points and they share the U2100 prize of 249 dollars and 99 cents. Luis had to hold NM Griffin McConnell to a last round draw to earn his share of the prize money. The 100 dollar Premier section Upset Prize went to Clifton Ford (1800) for his round 2 win against Daniel Herman (2115) Mr. Ford's other two wins were also big upsets. He only lost in the last round to NM Mallela.
Poking at my brain helps me think.
Krish Mathimaran ruled the U1800 section. Taking 1st place with 4.5 points that included two Upset wins and an Upset draw. This fine performance put 400 dollars in his pocket. Emmett Lignell and Enrico Moss finished with 4 points and share the combined 2nd and 3rd place prize of 500 dollars. All of Enrico's points, except for his last round win, were Upsets. The rating point difference totaled up to 413.5 points. (when it's a draw the rating point difference is halved.) The 100 dollar U1800 Upset Prize went to Neel Yadatore(1471) for his round 4 win against Andrew Starr (1765) Neel's other points were also from winning against higher rated players.
Nick Hvizda - who I only recognize because he has been winning all his games at the DCC monthly Thursday night tournament.
Nick Hvizda has been winning all his games at the DCC Thursday night monthly tournament, and here at the MLK, he allowed a last draw to end up taking 1st place in the U1600 section with 4.5 points and he took home 350 dollars. Joseph Reininger and Ryan Hajjali both finished with 4 points and incredibly their points were all from upsetting their opponents. The combined rating point difference of both players totaled up to an astounding 1177.5 points. Mr. Hajjali (1240) also won the 100 dollar U1600 Upset prize for his last round win against Andrew Robinchard (1578).
Chewing my finger helps me think :-)
In the U1400 section, there was a three way tie for 1st place. Thus, Tarun Karthikeyan, Tristan Heikes, and Lucas Vasquez each won 216 dollars and 67 cents. Turan didn't have to upset anyone. Tristan (1323) had a last round Upset win over Devin Banks. (1326) and Lucas (1288) had to earn his prize money by upsetting three of his opponents. The rating point difference totaled up to 172 points. Not a big difference but upsetting is upsetting. The 100 dollar Upset prize went to Shri Sha Ramkumar (1057) when he won his round 4 against Nathan Hight (1337).
I know there is a good move somewhere in this position.
Jason Wuu only allowed a last round draw to Noah Keene and won the U1200 section with 4.5 points. Which put a prize check of 300 dollars in his wallet. Mr. Keene, Jeremy Piech, and Viaan Kandelwal all won 100 dollars by scoring four out of five points. Anirudh Saibalian (831) won the 150 dollar U1200 prize by winning against higher rated Anaya Medu in round 4. The100 dollar U1200 Upset prize was won by Seam Mattews (367) for his round 1 win over Jonathan Reinhard (973). Mr. Mattews also had huge upset wins against Nicholas Brookins (843) and Dan Ruparel (703).
By my count, there were 119 upset wins or draws at this DCC event. I like to highlight Upsets because anytime a player wins, or holds a draw against a higher rated player, it had to have been a good game. I think it's safe to say at any DCC tournament you will find competition.
It was good to see Madeleine Finch, back at the chess board, pink hair and all :-)
Youngster Charlie Kovacs playing USCF rated tournament chess. A possible future GM at the board.

Best Game
by NM Christofer Peterson
There were many great games played at the tournament over the weekend. Some great struggles were being displayed live on DGT boards. Those games can be viewed on this website: DGT board games. I picked a game from one of those DGT broadcast games to be the best game of the MLK tribute tournament. The game features many complicated tactical positions that provide lessons on how to approach those kinds of situations. It also concludes with a satisfying king hunt.
Sebba, Amitai (1865) - Sakthisaravanan, Kaavya (1767)
Round 5 of DCC Tribute to MLK 2025 [ 2025.01.18 ]
2025.01.22
Peterson, Christofer (2234) - Wikle, Earle (1853)
Round 1 of DCC Tribute to MLK 2025 [ 2025.01.18 ]
2025.01.18
Simberg, Benjamin (1677) - Peterson, Christofer (2234)
Round 2 of DCC Tribute to MLK 2025 [ 2025.01.18 ]
2025.01.18
Peterson, Christofer (2234) - McConnell, Griffin (2198)
Round 4 of DCC Tribute to MLK 2025 [ 2025.01.18 ]
2025.01.19
Langseth, Rhett (2134) - Peterson, Christofer (2234)
Round 5 of DCC Tribute to MLK 2025 [ 2025.01.18 ]
2025.01.19
Diagrams