The club commenced the month of July with its annual knockout and Swiss tournament. FM Nelson Castaneda, who drafted the format for this event, reprised his role as tournament director. According to the rules for this unique tournament, all players were initially assigned numbers based on rating and were grouped into one section for pairing purposes. The first and all subsequent winners in each round of the knockout event would advance until there was one champion. The losers in each round of the knockout event would be placed into an open Swiss system section. In case of a draw, a two-game blitz match would have to be played to determine the winner of the match. If the draw persisted after the blitz match, then the person who played with black in the classical game would advance. After three rounds, new member Niloy Chaudhuri and Nelson, prior knockout champion, were vying for the title of NBCC Knockout Champion 2022. The battle on the sixty-four squares between the #7 seed and the #1 seed was one for the history books. However, with the game ending up a draw, we went into overtime to break the tie. Because Niloy played as Black against Nelson, he had the advantage in the blitz chess playoff. All Niloy had to do was win one of two games in the playoff to clinch first place. And he did! Niloy is now the NBCC Knockout Champion of 2022! Of historical note, this is his first major tournament win in the club. In the Swiss section, Joseph Bihlmeyer took home the gold. He has won (or tied for first place) in the Swiss section for two consecutive tournaments.
https://connecticutchess.blogspot.com/2022/07/chess-by-sm-rick-bauer-connman.html
