IN PHOTOS

Rookies and pros push rooks at Faye Webster Invitational

The indie musician hosted a three-day event that ended in a chess tournament.

Photos by ANNA JORDAN
Words by ANNA JORDAN
  • (Anna Jordan / Daily Trojan)

The checkered floors of the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood held a different kind of dancing queen than the typical concertgoer Sunday morning.

Last weekend, the historic venue hosted most of the third annual Faye Webster Invitational, a three-day event featuring a day each for a tennis tournament — at Hermon Park and Tennis Courts, not at the Fonda — a Pokémon card trading tournament and a chess tournament. Saturday and Sunday night also ended with joint yo-yo showcases and concerts in which singer and indie darling Webster herself and opener Laila! performed.

Benét, a musician and the weekend’s host, laid down the law with the help of some seasoned chess officials. Sunday’s chess tournament, done in collaboration with Chess.com, had an amateur bracket and open bracket. Players in both brackets participated in a four-round, Swiss-system format with 10-minute time-controlled matches that culminated in amateur and open knock-out finals.


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The tournament, which was free to both play in and spectate, allowed for a range of skill levels thanks to the double bracket format, guaranteeing that all players would play around four games at minimum. For example, attendee Citlalli Calderon embraced the spirit of the entire weekend, participating in both the amateur bracket in the chess tournament Sunday and the beginner clinic in Friday’s tennis tournament.

Despite having “never picked up a racket in [her] life,” nor ever playing against a human opponent in chess, Calderon attended the Invitational as a “big Faye Webster fan” and took the opportunity to spend time with her father, Alfred, after registering him for the tennis and chess tournaments as well.

Along with Webster, the tournament featured several big names, all of whom played at least one match. Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, the top-ranked player in the United States and the No. 2 player in the world, opened the tournament with a ceremonial first move in a match between Webster and Emmy Award-winning actor Lionel Boyce, and was not slated to compete.

However, when first-round opponents were assigned and the dust settled, participant Doug Chung found himself facing an empty chair. Before Chung could receive a bye for round two, Nakamura stepped in for an unranked, friendly match, much to everyone’s surprise.

“I was excited to even see him in here, and then I was kind of bummed I didn’t get to play a first-round game,” Chung said in a post-match interview. “So, for him to volunteer to play me, [it was] pretty cool.”

The Chung-Nakamura match was among the longer round-one bouts, putting pressure on the theory knowledge of both players — and Chung put up a fight.

“I played Petrov’s [Defense], which is, in [Nakamura’s] words, ‘boring-old-man style,’ so he kind of spiced it up,” Chung said. “I wasn’t expecting to win or even put up a fight, so it’s like a win-win.”

Webster played one more match, while Boyce went on to win the entire amateur bracket.

However, no participants walked away empty-handed — and it wasn’t just because Benét was giving away wireless Bose headphones and Diamond Chess.com memberships throughout the tournament.

Alfred Calderon, who had significant chess knowledge and experience, walked away with a pair of headphones from winning a match, some satisfyingly challenging games and a weekend spent with his daughter. He also took a whopping third place in the open bracket, after losing on time and shaky knowledge of the King’s Indian Defense in the semi-finals to Joah Rosing, who would go on to take the open title.

“I gotta move faster, but I had fun overall,” Alfred Calderon said in a post-match interview. “This last game [was my favorite]. I think the other ones were [wins] because the guys made mistakes. It was easy. But this one was challenging.”

From participants who didn’t know anything about Petrov’s Defense or the King’s Indian Defense to fiercely knowledgeable competitors alike, the Invitational was a safe space for those interested in enjoying and learning about some of Webster’s favorite pastimes.

“In sports, I didn’t really love the pressure of competing in high school, but just learning for fun [with] chess and tennis — I hope to continue, maybe get better in a year, at least win a game,” Citlalli Calderon said.

The strength of the Faye Webster Invitational proved to be its eclecticism, for chess players, card traders and tennis fiends alike.

“It was a good event … you have Pokémon, tennis, chess, yo-yo,” Alfred Calderon said. “Webster has something for everyone.”

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