Got Mate Wins '16 USAT North on Tiebreaks; Schmakel 5.0/5

Despite a fifth-round draw with the Goldin Shower squad, Got Mate pulled out the championship of the US Amateur Team event, edging (on tiebreaks) Sam's Scrubs which had an identical 4.5 score. The Got Mate squad included Jacob Furfine on 1st Board, Todd Freitag on 2nd, Vincent Do on 3rd and Daniel Bronfeyn on 4th.

The five-round event was held February 19 - 21 at the Hyatt Schaumburg, organized by Chess Weekend's Glenn Panner and the late Sevan Muradian. Mr. Muradian's untimely death February 17 was the chief topic of conversation between rounds and attendees recorded their thoughts on a pair of memory boards which were later presented to family.

There were six players with perfect 5-for-5 scores on the weekend; Sam Schmakel had the only one on board one; five players had perfect scores on board four.

Runner-up Sam's Scrubs was lead by Sam Schmakel whose lone 5.0 score on first board was just ahead of five 4.5's scorers. 

The five 4.5 scorers on top board were Gopal Menon, John Cole, Ken Wallach, Jonathan Hrach and Peter Zheng.

Sam's Scrub's William Aramil (4.0 on 2nd), Jonathan Kogen (4.0 on 3rd), and Whitney Young's Phuc Hoang (4th) rounded out the second place squad.

Freitag posted one of four 4.5 scores on second board, compiling the top tiebreak ahead of Dennis Monokroussos, Spencer Lehmann and Ilan Meerovich.

Two players had 4.5/5 scores on third board including Darcy Linde of The Life of Pablo and George Li of Wisconsin Chess Academy. Linde managed a slightly higher tiebreak to claim top honors for third board players.

Bronfeyn tallied one of the five perfect 5.0 scores on fourth board, placing second on tiebreaks to Efe Kalyoncu of U of I Overrated. Jonathan Tan, Mohammad Duha and Franklin Lu were the other fifth boards with 5.0's.

10 teams with an average rating under 1900 posted 3.0 scores, with Cafe and Kings tallying the highest tiebreak (Jeff Davis, Marc McConney, Cameron Heino, and Seth Chiles).

15 teams with an average rating under 1600 posted 2.0 scores... with Wild & Crazy Knights and Secret Weapon also eligible for the Under 1300 distinction. We Will Hrach You lead by Jonathan Hrach had the top tiebreak among 2.0 teams Under 1600, ahead of E4 Effort. The Hrach squad managed four draws out of five rounds to mount the 2.0 tally.

On tiebreaks, Wild & Crazy Knights (rated 1299) edged Secret Weapon (1296) for U1300.

Best team name went to R1 P7 -- a tribute to Sevan, as was Chess 24-Sevan.

Best costume was awarded to Pink Fluffy Unicorns.

Results are posted on the Chess Weekend site. FIDE ratings are pending but US Chess ratings (individual) are posted.

294 players participated, representing 70 teams. Although most players were from Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan, registrants from 15 states made it into the crosstables.