The first Chicago tournament for Ilias Gikas

Like all good things, the inaugural Windy City Challenge came with great anticipation and went like the wind! We expected up to nine players for our first tournament but, due to various circumstances, we quickly became 6 players.

The venue was amazing for this type of event! There were endless groups of both parents, kids and young adults milling about just outside the roped off area where we were playing. They were amazingly curious about what was going on. All of the players had an opportunity to engage them in conversation about our hobby/sport. We even had one parent/child inquire about purchasing a game set that was on display. He will soon be a member of our Chicago Area Subbuteo Club! Thanks to Sid Bond we had a great demonstration table available that was used for most of the tournament time by kids and curious parents who played with two of my extra teams. Sid and Tony were our best spokespeople spending a lot of time explaining the game and how the group came together.

Left to right: Sid Bond, Mike Ewer, Chris Sweetland, Ilias Gikas and Tim Tumminaro

As to the games, while the points at the top of the table might indicate otherwise, Ilias Gikas ran away with the tournament with 18 goals for and only 2 against. One of those goals against was mine as Ilias and I drew to a 1-1 tie (my high point in the event and the only blemish on Ilias' record). Mike and Tim were solid all afternoon. Ricky and Sid are new to the sport. Otherwise, the following was the final table:

Ilias Gikas - 13 pts
Mike Ewer - 12 pts
Tim Tumminaro - 9 pts
Chris Sweetland - 8 pts
Ricky Alvarez - 3 pts
Sid Bond - 0 pts

I look forward to our next event which is yet to be scheduled. I also want to schedule some introductory / educational sessions at Tony's facility to try to draw some more new players to the pitch.

(Report by Chris Sweetland)