08/18/2026
The State of North Carolina's U.S. Chess rated Closed tournament was held this past weekend at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Winston-Salem . WSCC club and local players , and followers , who were prize winners include the following : Original Life Masters Emmanuel Carter and Chris Mabe , who both tied for 2nd place in the Championship section and drew one another in Round #4 with Emmanuel ( B ) and Chris ( W ) playing a double bishop and equal pawns ending to a peaceful conclusion , as well as Matt Embler with 3.0/5.0 which was good enough to secure a tie with 4 other players for a 7th-place finish .
In the U-2000 section Joel Kindy shook off a 1st-round defeat and managed to shock the competition thereafter with 4 straight WINS , plenty good enough to secure a 4-way tie for 2nd-place , a rather impressive 🏆 trophy and some sweet prize money 💰 🤑 💸 for his efforts ! Honorable mention must also go to Jorge Del Arca , Garret Allen ( pictured above in Rd.5 ) and Will Odom with 3.0/5.0 performances 👏 👏 👏 and to Richard Smith ( board pictured above in Rd. 5 ) with 2.5/5.0 👏 .
In the U-1600 section Samuel Priddy was undefeated ( 3 Wins , 2 Draws ) , earning a 6-way tie for 2nd-place 🏆💰🤑💸 with 4.0/5.0 and Rayhan Shahid gained nearly 200 rating pts. and a tournament -Under- prize with a 3.5/5.0 performance ! 👏 Honorable mention to current WSCC Secretariat , John Retarides ( pictured above in Rd. 5 ) and Rishi Kannan who managed to secure scores of 3.0/5.0 over the weekend . While John lost this final game with the Black ♟️ pieces he played a wildly dynamic line of the Pirc Defense which saw both he and eventual tied-for-2nd-place finisher , Munisa , forced to find several accurate moves in its complicated middlegame positions .
In the U-1200 section prize winners included Jax Barbour , who impressed 👏 with a 4.0/5.0 score ... Theo Buie Nervik , Shreyansh Kesireddy and Jonathan Paul Sealey 👏 👏 👏 who all managed 3.0/5.0 scores ..... with deserving honorable mention to Miae Porter , both Joshua and Rain Quintanilla , Davin Crockett and Scott Andersen earning 2.0/5.0 scores !
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