Getting ready for Dallas!!!

Early morning preparation

1st Place at the Bronx High School of Science!

Our players were incredibly focused this Saturday at the Masterminds of Science Chess Challenge hosted at the Bronx High School of Science. Once again we won first place in both the Novice and Reserve Sections. Congratulations to Jack Guitarerro (4-125) and Leo Fernandez(5-132) who won 1st and 2nd Place as individuals securing the 1st Place prize for our Novice team.

The newest addition to the Sunset Knight team, Nicole Wang (3-3260) finished with 3.5 out of 4 winning a trophy in the Non-rated Beginner's Section.

Here is a beautiful checkmate from Jeremy's 3rd round.

1st Place in Queens!

Our team won First Place in both the Novice and Reserve sections at this weekend's tournament at 150q in Queens yesterday. A special congratulations to Jack Guitarerro (4-125) won led the Novice team to victory by winning 1st Place as an individual with a perfect 4-0 score.

Brooklyn Keeps on Taking it! First, First, and First @ PS 503!

The Sunset Knights won First Place in Rookie, Novice, and Reserve at this weekend's tournament at PS 503. Congratulations to Devyn Jimenez and Edwin Mendez on their perfect 4.0 score in Rookie.

Showdown in Chinatown! The Knights win First Place!

The Sunset Knights won First Place Rookie Section at PS 124 this weekend. Congratulations to Rookie players Nelson Tung and Connie Gao who led their teams to victory with a 4-0 scores. Our Novice team tied for Second with PS 282. Zheng Zou finished (again!) with a perfect 4-0 score.

Here are two games from Jonathan Mendez who recently moved up to the Reserve section.

WHITE TO MOVE

BLACK TO MOVE

Kings of Queens: Total Domination!

This weekend, the Sunset Knights won First Place in EVERY section we played: Rookie, Novice, and Reserve! If that weren't enough, as individuals our players won First Place in all these sections. Edwin Mendez (4.0) won First Place Rookie, Zheng Zou (4.0) won First Place Novice, and Steven Xue (4.0) won First Place Reserve (actually a three-way tie for First). Also, Giovanni Cortez won 3rd place Rookie with a perfect 4.0 score. Our game of the week is from Zheng's 3rd round game against a player from 150Q. Playing black, Zheng finds 18...Bxf3! luring white's rook from defending the back rank. Zheng told us after the game that he expected 20. Re3 Rxe3 21. fxe3 Ne4 winning an outpost for his knight, but instead his opponent played 20. Bxg5? that forced him to give up his queen to stop a mate.

Second Place in Harlem, First in our Hearts!

The Sunset Knights won Second Place in the Rookie and Reserve sections at the Chess-in-the-Schools tournament in Harlem. Here's a highlight from round 3, Jeremy's win against a 7th grader from the Manhattan Center For Science and Mathematics. Jeremy (playing White) takes advantage of his opponent's unsafe king to launch a creative king-side attack by kicking black's f6 knight with his g-pawn. After Jeremy's queen check on h5, Black is forced to lose material and get mated.