On October 9th, 2022, Washington Square Park bustled with vigorous and bubbly chess energy: Unruly Queens Fall 2022 Chess Festival was held in the park’s chess plaza under the cheerful October sunshine.
The event kicked off with grand opening remarks, where UQ members briefed on how their chess journey led to the formation of the all-female group. They also recalled the numerous online camps and tournaments they held throughout the pandemic, and how their persistence culminated in their first in-person festival post pandemic. UQ expressed their immense gratitude towards US Chess Women and Jennifer Shahade, who generously provided funding for the event, as well as the New York State Chess Association, Chess-in-the-Schools, and the Marshall Chess Club, and of course the volunteers who were helping on site.
The first activity was a simul exhibition, where WIM Ellen Wang and WFM Yassamin Ehsani, two founding members of UQ, each battled 10 aspiring players at once. All the competitors put up admirable fights, with two rising stars Anjyu Fujita and Lilianna Gao winning their games!
An exciting 6-round blitz tournament followed, with players of all ages, levels and both genders. Alice Shen surged ahead quickly, with a score of 5/5 before losing in the last round to Eric Niyazov. This warranted a 3-way tie for first place, with Niyazov taking the top spot, Gao placing in second and Shen in third based on tiebreaks.
Off the board, participants also showed their tactical prowess through a puzzle contest, which featured everything from checkmate-in-ones to endgame studies. Ultimately, the top solvers were Gao in first place, Dhruthi Rao in second, and Shen in third.
The event concluded with some inspiring remarks by the UQ girls – they hope that each and every one of the participants, especially the girls, continues the hard work, shows tenacity and courage over the chess board, competes with an unruly spirit and most importantly, enjoys chess!
For pictures and video recap of the event, please visit UQ Flickr Album & YouTube Channel.