USCS 22 Blitz Tournament Game 1: Praveen Balakrishnan vs Christopher Gu

This is the first round of a fun blitz tournament at the 22nd U.S. Chess School. Below are the rules of the tournament:

1. It's a single elimination knockout 3 minute tournament

2. The players decided before the tournament that black should start with an extra 20 seconds on the clock

3. If the game is a draw, they play another game at 2 minutes per side. If that's a draw they keep playing games at 1 minute per side until someone wins.

4. There were 12 players in the tournament, the top 4 rated got byes for Round 1, while the other 8 paired off against each other. The 4 winners join the 4 players who got byes in Round 2.

5. To make the games fun for everyone involved, there is no rule against talking during the game, for both the players and spectators. The only rule is that you cannot give help or advice during the game.

Enjoy and read below for information on our first two participants:

White - Praveen Balakrishnan: USCF 2240, #3 ranked 11 year old in the U.S.

Black - Christopher Gu: USCF 2421, #2 ranked 14 year old in the U.S.

Here is the complete list of players in the tournament:

1. Aleksandr Ostrovskiy: USCF 2486 (#2 ranked 17 year old in nation)
2. Michael Bodek: USCF 2484 (#2 ranked 15 year old in nation)
3. Robert Perez: USCF 2483 (#3 ranked 17 year old in nation)
4. David Hua: USCF 2373 (#5 ranked 16 year old in nation)

The four players above received first round byes due to having the highest rating at the time the tournament was played (July 2013 was the date of the tournament, but ratings and ages listed are August 2013 ratings)

5. Christopher Gu: 2421 USCF (#2 ranked 14 year old in nation)
6. Akshat Chandra: 2393 USCF (#4 ranked 14 year old in nation)
7. Justus Williams: 2366 USCF (#4 ranked 15 year old in nation)
8. Ruifeng Li: 2348 USCF (#1 ranked 11 year old in nation)
9. Kevin Mo: 2333 USCF (#7 ranked 18 year old in nation)
10. Awonder Liang: 2268 USCF (#1 ranked 10 year old in nation)
11. Nico Checa: 2267 USCF (#2 ranked 11 year old in nation)
12. Praveen Balakrishnan: 2240 USCF (# 3 ranked 11 year old in nation)

Kevin Wang and Arthur Shen also attended the camp but were unable to play in this tournament because they had to leave early to go to China and represent the United States in the World Youth Team Chess Championships.