It was a fun day at the OSCF Co-Ed Team Championship! The only caveat was that we all had to wake up two hours earlier than usual to participate :(. This event attracted over 200 players, including a record-breaking 70 female players. Puddletown brought five teams (conveniently named teams 1 through 5) for a total of 25 players. Furthermore, many players from Puddletown joined their respective school teams. Puddletown Team 1 and 4 took home 1st place trophies (both had perfect scores!) in the K-12 Mixed Open and K-12 Mixed Reserve sections respectively.
The excitement of the team format was unparalleled. ALL scores matter! Can you imagine the feeling of standing there, watching your team’s last game while the score is tied at 2-2, and quietly chanting “rook d1 check!” for 5 moves in a row but it never happens? I remember several nail-biting games of my teammates: Lucas gained a decent position against a much higher-rated opponent but unfortunately blundered. William had a great opening against an opponent rated 500 points higher but could not hold on. Emel won a crucial game against the board 2 of Rose City Chess that was the last in our team to finish; everyone was pacing in circles while sending mental wishes. It was unfortunate that Puddletown Team 1 and 3 had to compete against each other in the last round, so we treated that round as pure fun!
The enthusiasm for team events was palpable, with many parents and players expressing desire for more such events. Therefore, Puddletown is planning to host a (fun!) team event in the near future.
Find the USCF rating report here: https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202403160752
Find all the images here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/19dIcQLzJtHNxpzHqcMZ1fV__65fKOfd6
