Daniel Goldblatt erased two previous losses to Ivy McConarty in defeating her for the Group A championship, 8-2. He takes his place alongside Darius Vedadi as the two Group A champions in our short BGO history.
It is the second silver medal for McConarty, who also made the spring season final.
In Group B's Wednesday night final, Alvaro Orlove returned from a long hiatus through the summer to win a close match over Luke Mearns, 8-6. The latter almost made a comeback out of it--Mearns went up 2-0, but clawed back from 7-4 to almost force a tiebreak. It was Orlove's serve that created the most opportunities for him.
Cole Piraino unseated the 6-0 top seed Renata Cavallo, by a score of 8-5, in a hard-fought Group C final. Again it was a reversal of fortune as Cavallo edged Piraino in their earlier meeting this season, 8-7.
Piraino had finished both seasons with a .500 record, and this time it was enough to qualify him for the final. Cavallo had won Group D in the spring, and her meteoric rise likely will not stop here despite narrowly missing out on the crown.
Given Cavallo's promotion, Group D always was going to have a new champion. And it turns out to be late-comer Steven Herrle, who played his first matches in Week 5. Quickly he racked up a 4-1 record to win a tight race for second, and his win over group leader Razi Dinan 8-2 cements his place as champion, and perhaps a promotion next season.
The new Fall Season starts this week. It's all a race to CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND, Nov. 13-14! Sign up, and you could be crowned champion! Sign up or ask our tournament director any of your questions.
See our Power Rankings and final group standings for the summer below.
BGO Power Rankings - August 13, 2021
Currently registered players among the overall top 50 only.
BGO Group Standings - August 13, 2021
Top two from each group automatically qualify for group final.
Players are ranked by points (three for win, one for draw), then wins, percentage of games won, and games won.
Group A Champion: Daniel Goldblatt
Group B Champion: Alvaro Orlove
Group C Champion: Cole Piraino
Group D Champion: Steven Herrle