Scott Varagona wins Alabama chess championship title, upsets at the World Cup
Published on September 15, 2017

National Chess Master Scott Varagona won his seventh Alabama chess championship title over the Labor Day weekend. Varagona, who is a professor at University of Montevallo, won five games straight and drew his last round game to take clear first over a strong field.

Tejas Thorat won clear second place. Last year’s state champion Bill Melvin, who is an eight times Alabama state championship title holder, finished in a tie for third place.

Concurrent with the state championship were two days of K-12 chess events. All of Alabama’s top scholastic chess programs, ChessKidsNation, Madison City Chess League, CaesarChess, MagicCityChess, and Tuscaloosa’s Freedom Chess Academy were represented in the tournament.

The 34-year old Varagona was very pleased with his result and the games he played. “It feels great to win the title after my disappointing near-miss last year,” he said.

Full article here: http://www.al.com

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