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03/9/2014:
Prize winners, Gus Gosselin Grade Championship
Prize winners at the Gus Gosselin Grade Championship, held March 9th in Marlborough, Mass.
Grades 8-12
1st Siddharth Arun 4-0
2nd-3rd Luke Lung, James Rao (9th grade) 3-1
Top 9th Grade Max Bennett 2-2
Top 8th Grade Gershon Gilman 2-2
Grade 7
1st Evan Meyer 4-0
2nd-3rd Alex Fauman, David McCabe 3-1
Grade 6
1st Eric Feng 4-0
2nd-5th Alexander Bao, Max Weinhaus, Andrew The, Bharath Heggadahalli 3-1
Grade 5
1st Sandra Shur 4-0
2nd-4th Michael Mi, Michael Yu, Amrit Subramanian 3-1
Grade 4
1st Maxwell Zhao 3.5-0.5
2nd-6th Gavin Randolph, Daniel Wang, Boshen Li, Jesse Liu, Madeleine Hung 3-1
Grade 3
1st Bernie Xu 4-0
2nd-4th Sammi Pan, Arnon Kuzmin, Benjamin Fauman 3-1
Grade 2
1st Dustin Liang 4-0
2nd-6th Nicholas Belous, Rachel Kuzmin, David Zhou, Rafael Pashkov, Aneesh Guda 3-1
Grades K-1
1st Derek Jin 4-0
2nd-3rd Winston Zhao, Derek Zhao 3.5-0.5
Top Kindergarten Evan Wei 3-1
Medals: David Katsman, William Palmer, Noah Brauner 3-1
Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.
The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, Chris Bird, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
Bob Messenger
Chief TD
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03/8/2014:
Adv. Entires for GGG
The Adv. Entries for the Gus Gosselin MA Grade Championship is available now: click here for the GGG adv. entry list.
Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster
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02/27/2014:
On Chess: Schein-Friedman Camp Brings Top Students to St. Louis
Article about Carissa Yip's attendance at this Chess Camp:
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/chess-schein-friedman-camp-brings-top-students-st-louis
Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent
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02/9/2014:
Barry S. Spiegel Cup prize winners
Prize winners at the Barry S. Spiegel Cup (Massachusetts individual scholastic championship) held February 9th in Marlborough, Mass.:
High School Section:
1st Mika Brattain 4-0
2nd Siddharth Arun 3.5-0.5
3rd Mateos Sahakian 3-1
Age 14 & Under Section:
1st-3rd Danny Angermeier (playoff winner), Evan Meyer, Carissa Yip 3-1
Age 11 & Under Section:
1st-3rd Brandon Wu, Suraj Ramanathan, Michael Yu 3-1
Age 8 & Under Section:
1st-3rd Bernie Xu, David Zhou, Derek Zhao 3-1
Tied players are listed in tiebreak order. Players finishing 1st or tied for 1st are state champions for their age group.
The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
Bob Messenger
Chief TD
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02/8/2014:
Adv. Entires for Spiegel Cup
Adv. entries for the 2014 Spiegel Cup State Championship available here.
Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster
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02/6/2014:
REMINDER TO MACA MEMBERS ON 2014-15 MACA ELECTION PROCESS (the 2-15 and 2-28-14 deadlines)
REMINDER TO MACA MEMBERS ON 2014-15 MACA ELECTION PROCESS (the 2-15 and 2-28-14 deadlines)
Attention MACA members of all ages, potential members and those who might wish to join/rejoin!
MACA's annual election of officers and board of directors at large will "kick off" on Feb. 15, 2014, with the deadline for nominations for the 4 officers and 8 at large directors to the MACA Election Commission (Stephen Dann, chair; George Mirijanian and Walter Driscoll). Anyone wishing to vote (be sent a ballot) must be a MACA member (Life, adult, junior) by Feb. 28, 2014, both dates stipulated by the MACA bylaws.
Ballots with any "campaign statements" will be mailed in early April, and ballots will be counted in public view at the Mass. Open on May 24, 2014 in Marlboro, and reported at the annual MACA meeting at 9 a.m. on May 26, 2014, also in Marlboro, MA.
Anyone who runs for the 12-member board of directors MUST update their MACA membership to run through June, 2015, as per the MACA bylaws. Candidates will have at least until 3-1-14 to prepare 100-word statements for the ballots (200 if running for one of the 4 offices), or to decline any nomination that is sent in to the Election Commission by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2014, and this 3-1-14 deadline may be extended, but not the date to send in nominations or self-nominations.
There is no age restriction to vote or run for the board, but minors (under age 18) should have the confirmation of a parent for a nomination for office or director as MACA is incorporated in MA (since 1954), and is a 501-c-3 federal non-profit organization under the IRS (since 1980).
You don't have to be a member of the MACA board of directors to be a volunteer with the Association, the state chapter of the U.S. Chess Federation for 75 years.
Currently, all officers and board members are volunteers, and empowering group to authorize spending for the Association. Please read the MACA bylaws, or contact the current officers, coordinators and committee chairs to find out volunteer opportunities within the Association.
MACA currently is seeking volunteers (may include an expense stipend) to serve the Association in such capacities as Chess Horizons Editor, and to chair committees starting in June, 2014 to May, 2015, following the Mass. Open.
Those wishing to view the extensive MACA annual financial reports should contact the MACA Treasurer, and/or view the monthly board meeting reports by the MACA Clerk.
This is my first opportunity to be the chair of the Election Commission, and I hope to get feedback from anyone in the membership as to interest in serving the Association as a volunteer in 2014-15. George Mirijanian is also the new publications coordinator, seeking to find a new Chess Horizons (state publication since 1969) editor, and, Walter Driscoll rounds out the Election Commission, which has pledged NOT to run for MACA office during this upcoming year.
We prefer nominations in writing (in person, mail or e-mail) or a confirmation in writing if there is a phone call, rather than "conditional nominations" and we will confirm any that we receive within the Election Commission.
Note that the new MACA fiscal year is from May 1 to April 30, so that there will be a true annual report (not 10 months) presented at the annual meeting on May 26.
Thanks to everyone who has made MACA one of the outstanding state chess associations for at least the past 50 or so years.
We very much urge you to make sure your home/mailing address and CURRENT PREFERRED E-MAIL ADDRESS is known to MACA, through Bob Messenger, the membership secretary and data processing coordinator, as the board has authorized no further mailings except for the ballots themselves by MACA.
Election ballot details may be modified at the scheduled Feb. 16, 2014 meeting of the MACA Board of Directors, so, watch for such changes and this comission's report before March 1.
Stephen Dann (steveadann@gmail.com, Box 452, Worcester, MA 01613-0452, 508-753-7270), Election Commission chair & Volunteer Coordinator of MACA
Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent
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02/1/2014:
Winter Team Challenge prize winners
Prize winners at the Winter Team Challenge, held February 1st in Marlborough, Mass.
Grades K-12 Section:
1st Knights (Alex Fauman, Michael Isakov, Alan Sikarov, Anton Barash) 16.0
2nd Newton South (Nicholas Komarovsky, Michael Ostrovskiy, Winston Jiang, James Rao, Nishant Varma) 0.0
Grades K-6 Section:
1st The Four Knights (Eric Feng, Derek Jin, Andrew The, Boshen Li) 4-0
2nd Hastings (Richard Chen, David Sun, Daniel Zhou, David Zhou) 3-1
3rd-4th Gold Warriors (Evan MacLure, Daniel Wang, Luke Randolph, Gavin Randolph),
NESA K-6 (Michael Yu, Brian Yin, Dustin Liang, Alexander Bao) 2.5-1.5
Medals for individual players: Nicholas Belous (Jedi Knights), Andrew Bistras (ACLS Tigers) 3-1
Grades K-3 Section:
1st NESA Challengers (Sammi Pan, Aaron Huang, John Archibald, Aadit Unniraman) 12.0
2nd Cabot School (Benjamin Fauman, Duncan Naylor, Desmond FitzGerald-Lara, Hernan FitzGerald-Lara) 10.0
3rd CCFB (Milo Somers, Adithya Sharma, Ali Abouhilal, Owen Zhang) 2.0
Tied teams are listed in tiebreak order.
The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
Bob Messenger
Chief TD
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01/17/2014:
Spiegel Cup Invitation List
Spiegel Cup invitation lists for 14U, 11U and 8U.
Invited players should send their confirmation to Steve Frymer [sfrymer (at) rcn (dot) com].
If an invited player is not coming please contact Steve Frymer immediately [781-862-3799].
Alternate players should inform Steve Frymer whether they are presently available to substitute for an invited player.
the 1st and 2nd alternates should provide a contact phone number, AND CONFIRM WHETHER THEY ARE WILLING
TO BE ONSITE ON 9 FEBRUARY. Note that an alternate could be called on Saturday evening [8 February] or early
Sunday morning [9 February]. If an invited player drops out during registration on Sunday morning the highest rated alternate
who is present at the hotel will be invited in.
No entry fee for 10 player invitationals though e-mail confirmation is requested. If an invited player fails to confirm
he/she is at risk of being replaced. Confirmations should be received no later than midnight 31 January.
Steve Frymer
chair
MACA scholastic committee
14&U
Evan Meyer 2079 Q1 winner
Henry Liu 1786 Q2 winner
Jason Tang 1899 Q3 winner
Alvin Tan 1880 Q4 winner
Anton Barash 1619 SCS winner
Mateos Sahakian 2053
Nithin Kavi 2043
Conway Xu 2027
Danny Angermeier 2013
Carissa Yip 1991
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Allen Wang 1821................................................alternate #1
Alex Fauman 1798.............................................alternate #2
Jeffrey Yao 1788................................................alternate #3
Michael Isakov 1754..........................................alternate #4
Sandeep Shankar 1666.....................................alternate #5
11&U
Max Zhao 1699 Q1 winner
Michael Yu 1618 Q2 winner
Eric Feng 1776 Q3 winner
Andrew The 1410 Q4 winner
Danila Poliannikov 1424 SCS winner
Brandon Wu 1828
Alex Yu 1765
Suraj Ramanathan 1671
Eddie Yi Ming Wei 1640
Lucy Cai 1629
_______________________
Michael Mi 1566..................................................alternate #1
Sandra Shur 1521...............................................alternate #2
Richard Chen 1474.............................................alternate #3
Eddie Wang 1457................................................alternate #4
Evan Maclure 1454..............................................alternate #5
8&U
Achyuta Rajaram 1292 Q1 winner
Nicholas Belous 907 Q2 winner
Derek Zhao 1115 Q3 winner
David Zhou 1135 Q4 winner
Arnon Kuzmin 1033 SCS winner
Derek Jin 1390
Dustin Liang 1215
Bernie Xu 1104
David Xie 904
John Archibald 863
_______________________
Joy Cao 852.........................................................alternate #1
Sammi Pan 840...................................................alternate #2
David Katsman 810.............................................alternate #3
Winston Zhao 786...............................................alternate #4
Aaron Huang 777................................................alternate #5
Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent
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01/17/2014:
MACA Chess Education Exposition, Boston Chess Congress, 1/10/2014-1/12/2014
To everyone who participated in the Education Expo at the Boston Chess Congress,
Thank you all abundantly who contributed to the 3rd annual Chess Education Expo organized by Massachusetts Chess Association this past weekend at the Hyatt Harborside Hotel. The Expo took a great deal of effort to plan and assemble over the past three months, and I appreciate everyone's assistance enormously. I have been catching up on some other urgent non-chess projects for the last few days that had to be put aside for the Expo and then frantically rushed to be completed afterward, so that is why this letter of gratitude is a bit tardy.
To make a few accolades:
1. First, hearty thanks to the Hyatt Hotel and Kendra, the Convention Manager, for providing us such a wonderful locale for the Expo. The view lived up to its superlative reputation, and the thunderstorm we got to watch against the Boston skyline was tremendously exciting. ![*:D big grin]() We commend the efficiency of the staff in helping us out, the superb cuisine at the nearby Harborside Grill, and the care that was taken to keep valuable possessions in the room secure. I will soon be posting photographs on MACA's Facebook page.
2. Second, let me thank Nathan Smolensky, President of MACA, and Stephen Dann and George Mirijanian, Directors of MACA, for manning the room for extended hours; and Bob Messenger, Treasurer of MACA who was also a Tournament Director of the Boston Chess Congress, for helping us spread the word through some marvelously improvised publicity. Apparently the Expo had over 50 visitors on Sunday after its light attendance (around 20 stragglers) on Saturday.
3. And finally, I thank Sharon Burtman for coming on Sunday to deliver her presentation on educating children in chess such as to inspire them for life. I am sorry I could not be there in person, but I understand there was a large and appreciative crowd.
The Education Committee of MACA will review the Expo, ups and downs, and make plans for our next event. We understand and regret the short notice of some invitations that unfortunately prevented some of you (and others not contacted here) from attending who might have done so. We also wish to be better organized about consignment of book vendors in the future to avoid the last-minute frenetic scramble - and drop-outs - that preceded this event.
This Expo was the first one I came to and oversaw as Education Chair. In my mind, it was still in its pilot stage. I myself would like to expand the Expo's appeal next year to have many more lectures, vendors, chess education experts, software and website developers, and other invaluable and often overlooked providers of chess education on hand. All of us deserve to receive recognition and have all of our combined service become far more conspicuous and appreciable for the chess-playing public. In particular, parents of up-and-coming Scholastic players of noteworthy ability should be much more attuned to the tools out there. Naturally, all of this will require far superior advance planning and organization than was in place this year, and I pledge to make that happen.
If any of you would like to be involved in, and informed about, future chess educational events, please write back to confirm and we will keep you apprised of developments.
On behalf of MACA and the Education Committee, I thank everyone for a successful Expo and look forward to having all of you, and many others, at our next, hopefully even better, Expo.
Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.
MACA, Education Committee, Chair
[--]
At the beginning of the new year, Massachusetts Chess Association, in conjunction with the Boston Chess Congress held on the weekend of 1/10/14-1/12/14, is hosting its third annual Education Expo. The Expo is the brainchild of the MACA Education Committee, and its aim is to showcase, through displays, lectures, and demonstrations, successful projects, literature, software, and other instructional programs that have contributed, and will continue to contribute, to chess education in Massachusetts.
The Education Committee, which took on new leadership in 2013, has become increasingly aware that there are numerous scattered efforts to educate kids all across the state. Some of these involve teaching kids new to chess, such as those who meet in clubs after school or even get exposed to chess in school. Others involve coaching more experienced kids who play in Teams. Whatever the age, instructor's experience, forum, or means, chess education is flourishing across the state in ways that go unknown by most chess players and unacknowledged by the state's chess association.
Along these lines, the Expo provides the opportunity for providers of chess education to receive recognition and promotion of their efforts, and for coaches, parents, and kids to learn new ways to educate players. We welcome speakers, teachers, software developers, and other purveyors of chess education to present their efforts at the Expo. The location within the Hyatt Harborside Hotel is the ballroom situated conveniently just down the hall from the Boston Chess Congress, a uniquely prestigious annual USCF-rated tournament held by Contentinal Chess Assocation in Boston. We will post signs in the area of the tournament to invite players to visit the Expo and receive more insight into chess education in MA.
You are invited to join us and present your efforts in chess instruction. Feel free to contact the Chair of the Education Exposition, Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D., by e-mail at nicholas@xenophon98.com or by phone at 781-733-0849 with any q uestions or requests to attend. We appreciate all who will come to take advantage of this special occasion.
Nicholas Sterling
MACA Board Member
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01/5/2014:
Scholastic Grand Prix Standings
Grand Prix 2013 had 15 tournaments served by Matt Gosselin and Frida Kuzmin. Three players, who got most points were awarded the trophies:
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ARNON KUZMIN
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17
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6
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DAVID KATSMAN
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14
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6
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DANILA POLIANNIKOV
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13
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4
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JOHN R ARCHIBALD
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12.5
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5
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ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU
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11
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4
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BENJAMIN ZILBER
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10.5
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4
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ALEXANDER SUN
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10
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6
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MARK CHUDNOVSKY
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9.5
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5
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Grand Prix 2014 series takes quick start with the first event on this coming Sunday 1.12 at Waltham Papa Ginos and the second one on 1.19 at Chelmsford Burger King. All players are welcome to start their long way to Grand Prix trophies!
Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent
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01/4/2014:
4th Spiegel Cup Qualifier prize winners
Prize winners at the 4th Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held January 4th at the BB&N school in Cambridge, Mass.
Age 14 & Under Section:
1st Alvin Tan 3.5-0.5
2nd Michael Isakov 3-1
3rd-4th Alex Fauman, Max Bennett 2.5-1.5
Age 11 & Under Section:
1st Andrew The 4-0
2nd-5th Michael Mi, Evan MacLure, Luke Randolph, David Sun 3-1
Age 8 & Under Section
1st-3rd David Zhou (playoff winner), John Archibald, Arnon Kuzmin 3-1
Novice Under 800 Section
1st-2nd Arvind Sridhar, William Kim 3.5-0.5
3rd-4th Eli Richmond, Anthony Wang 3-1
Novice Under 400 Section
1st Rachel Kuzmin 4-0
2nd-5th Noah Brauner, Holden Chalfant, Aidan Duncan, Senthil Sivakumar 3-1
Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.
The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, Steve Frymer and Nathan Smolensky.
Bob Messenger
Chief TD
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01/2/2014:
Adv. Entires for Q4
Adv. Entries for 4th Qualifier posted: http://goo.gl/eavx4I.
Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster
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