Amateur Team East 2023
Front row (left to right): Nikhil, Kimmy, Arturo; Middle row: Reevu, Ryan, Dina, Sanjana, Martha, Camden; Back row: Nimrod, Noam, Tyler, Timo, Karen, Ricco, Walter; not pictured: Destiny, Sagar
From Feb 19-21, four Cornell teams competed in the largest open team tournament on the east coast! On a Friday afternoon, we made the 4-hour trek from Ithaca to the sleepy town of Parsippany, NJ in order to prepare for Round 1 on Saturday. Our teams were comprised of a variety of players from all different backgrounds: some had consistently played in tournaments up until college while others were rekindling their joy for the game after years of inactivity. New and old members alike, we were determined to play our best games and meet other teams.
With over 1200 registered players and 300 teams, Amateur Team East definitely takes the spotlight for the most popular team tournament on this coast. Rarely would you find people idling - they were either sharing drinks and playing chess at the hotel bar, or frantically preparing for their opponent next round. What was beautiful was the fact that so many different people all came here to play chess. From 5-year-olds (the most terrifying chess demographic - unclear if they just started playing or if they are a prodigy) to 70-year olds (who were likely to be Grandmasters), this tournament reaffirmed that chess is a game for anyone.
CORNELL TEAM A (avg. 2170): Martha Samadashvili (2326), Sanjana Vittal (2170), Camden Wiseman (2094), Ryan Xu (2093)
CORNELL TEAM B (avg. 1962): Kimberly Liu (2029), Arturo Ruiz-Mautino (2006), Walter De Jong (1919), Nikhil Kalyanraman (1897)
CORNELL TEAM C (avg. 1513): Tyler Roonprapunt (1822), Ricco Venterea (1395), Noam Benson-Tilsen (1322), Karen Petrosyan (unr)
CORNELL TEAM D (avg. 1106): Dina Brustein (1523), Reevu Adakroy (1319), Destiny Smith (1098), Timofei Babenko (484)
Ironically, in the last round, Cornell Team A was paired against Cornell Team B because both had 3.5 points thus far. At first, we were outraged since both teams were in contention to win a prize in the mixed doubles or U2100 categories, respectively. We asked the organizers if it would be possible to redo the pairings since we didn’t drive 4 hours all the way out here to play each other again. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do so we had to momentarily set aside our team camaraderie and just play the game. Surprisingly, all four boards drew against each other, so our teams earned 0.5 points a piece and finished with 4/6 points! Cornell Team C finished with 2.5 points and Team D finished with 3 points!
Many people tried Takis for the first time here - it was a momentous occasion as the unique flavor got some people addicted while it repelled others. Perhaps a Takis sponsorship will come in the near future ;) Special thanks to Walter for bringing an abundance of potato chips from his conference! It definitely fueled us in the best way possible. Special thanks to Destiny, Nikhil, and Walter for being our esteemed drivers. And huge thank you to all the team members who took the time this weekend to compete. This trip would not have been possible without you all!
Let’s hear about some of our teammate’s favorite memories from this tournament ~
“The best part of the USATE was the secret, hidden, late-night tournament, residing in a small back corner room in the hidden recesses of the tournament hotel. Here the finest amateur duos duel in the purest form of chess, bughouse. This year I didn't get to play in it myself, but watching the sometimes inebriated bughouse masters do battle was the highlight of the tournament for me this year.
[My favorite memories with the team include] driving back from the tournament, getting some late dinner with most of us and reminiscing about the tournament, and playing blindfold chess for the rest of the ride back.” - Noam
“My overwhelming impressions of USATE --
1. Holy cow, there are so many incredibly intelligent students in the Cornell CC!
2. Cornell CC members are very good at supporting each other. I saw a lot of kindness. And a lot of joy.
Hummus Republic was the best food I’ve eaten in a few years. I never would have predicted that :) “ - Walter
“My favorite moment was probably [when] my entire team [rooted] for Reevu to clutch his draw” - Timo
“An iconic moment that I have to immortalize was when Timo risked his life to smuggle food out of the $25 Hilton breakfast buffet - he brought enough back to feed an army…in all seriousness, there are too many favorite memories for me to list. From the taki-tasting to meeting up with old chess friends, there’s so much more to a chess tournament than just playing the game. I’m excited for all of our future expeditions as a team!” - Kimmy
The Cornell teams also met up with the CMU chess club (not donut club) - we played a couple of fun and intense blitz and bughouse games before the first round started :) hats off to all the great games!
