WIM Ruiyang Yan and WFM Natalie Tsodikova 2025 Calchess Women’s Champions

IM Timothy Taylor and NM Dmytro Dzhanhirov Calchess Senior Champions

 

It all came down to the last round!

In the Northern California Senior State Championship, four players had a chance going into round 5. IM Elliott Winslow and NM Michael Walder had 3.5 of 4, being chased by IM Timothy Taylor and NM Dmytro Dzhanhirov with 3 of 4. The round 5 pairings could not have been more poetic as the pair with 3 faced the pair with 3.5 to decide the Champion in the last round! Even after Dmytro defeated Michael, the title of champion or co-champions could have gone three ways depending on the Winslow vs Taylor result. Taylor prevailed, creating a two way tie for the championship with Dzhanhirov, and being favored in tiebreakers, earned the right to represent Northern California at the National Tournament of Senior State Champions to be held this July in Wisconsin. Congratulations Timothy, winning for the third year in a row!

In the Northern California Women’s State Championship, three players had a chance at the Title going into the last round! Tied with 3.5 wins out of 4 were WIM Ruiyang Yan and WFM Natalie Tsodikova, with WFM Uyanga Byambaa close behind with 3 of 4. Byambaa was paired with Tsodikova, so had a say in the final result, while Ruiyang was paired against her younger sister Reyna Yan in the last round (!)… Older sister (and defending two-time Champion) Ruiyang eventually prevailed (as her younger sister made sure to use all of her time 🙂

Natalie and Uyanga had the same number of whites and blacks going into the last round, and an esoteric rule determined that Natalie would play black despite being the higher rated player. After almost four hours, and with Uyanga playing on the increment of 30 seconds per move, Natalie prevailed.

With 4.5 out of 5, Natalie and Ruiyang are Northern California 2025 Women’s State Co-Champions! This is Ruiyang’s third Championship in a row, and Natalie’s second State Title, winning in 2019 as well. Natalie was also the winner of the 2024 United States Senior Women’s Championship held in Utah this past December.

We thank all the players who participated this weekend! So many of you thanked our staff and our organization for once again putting on a very well run and very competitive, yet harmonious tournament, building camaraderie in the chess community!

Here is a link to the US Chess rating report of the event per your convenience.
https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202504139702