🌟 Future Stars of Minnesota Chess Shine at DBR Playoffs 🤩
- Tim R
- 6 days ago
- 1 min read
Minnesota's top scholastic chess players competed in the Denker-Barber-Rockefeller (DBR) Playoffs over the weekend of April 12-13 at Bethel University. This is an invitation-only event based on results from the March State Scholastic Tournament. The winner of each section advances to their respective "National Tournament of State Champions" which will be held in Wisconsin in late July 2025.
NM Troy Cavanah won the K-12 Denker Playoff with 4.5 points. Troy was sparked by a key 1st round victory with the black pieces against runner-up John Blomer (4.0 points). Troy reached his peak USCF rating of 2240 back in 2022 and his chess form is surging once again.
In the K-5 Rockefeller it was relative newcomer Matthew MingMing Liu claiming the championship with 4.5 points. Matthew displayed excellent endgame form with a rook-pawn endgame win against #2 seed Krish Mahajan in round 3, and again during a clinching round 5 draw against defending champion, #1 seed, and runner-up Ryan Zhou. Matthew is a "relative newcomer" on the Minnesota chess scene in that he entered the September 2023 Northern Open as a 461(P4) provisional player and now finds himself heading to to the Rockefeller State Nationals a short 19 months later.
In the K-8 Barber there was a 3-way tie for first at 3.5 points between Vivian Yang, Ahmed Ilyasov and Ajay Singamsetty. Vivian, Ahmed and Ajay all played excellent chess this past weekend and will now compete in a tiebreaker playoff to determine who represents Minnesota in the Barber section at State Nationals.