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12/28/20132013 World Youth MACA Results in UAE as of 12/28/2013

girls 10U........................carissa yip 8.5-2.5 .........................3-way tie for 2nd!

open 16U.......................andrew liu 4.5-6.5

open 8U.........................eddie wei 5.5-5.5

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

12/21/2013Mika Brattain now Senior Master


High school player Mika Brattain achieved Senior Master status at Boylston Chess Club's Harry Lyman Memorial on 21 December 2013.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

12/15/2013FL K-12 Championship MACA Results

Several Massachusetts players competed in Florida in the K to12 grade championship held this weekend. Among them the players who won trophies were :
 
Nithin Kavi   -   2nd place - grade 6 ( 6 points , 5 wins and 2 draws )
 
Jason  Tang -  3rd place  - grade 5  ( 6 wins )
 
Andrew Liu   - 3rd place  - grade  9 ( 5.5 points, 5 wins and 1 draw )
 
Alex  Fauman - 10 th place  - grade 7 ( 5 points , 4 wins and 2 draws )
 
Alan Sikarov  -  10 th place  - grade 7 (  5 points ,5 wins )
 
Loring  Lauretti  - 10th place  - grade 9  ( 4.5 points, 4 wins and 1 draw )
 
Suraj  Ramanathan - 11th place - grade 4 (5.5 points, 4 wins and 3 draws )
 
 
Congratulations  to All !

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

12/15/2013Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial prize winners

Prize winners at the Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial, held December 15th in Marlborough, Mass.
 
Open Section
1st-2nd GM Alexander Ivanov, Mika Brattain 3.5-0.5
Top Under 2100 Aidan Sowa 3-1
 
Under 1900 Section
1st-2nd Robert Stewart, Eric Feng 3-1
Top Under 1750 D G Bird 2.5-1.5
 
Under 1600 Section
1st Richard Kahn 3-1
2nd Brian Yin 2.5-1.5
Top Under 1450 Max Bennett 2-2
 
Under 1300 Section
1st Abhinav Govindaraju 3.5-0.5
2nd-3rd Maruthi Tiruveedhula, Stephen Rubalcaba 2.5-1.5
Top Under 1100 Derek Zhao 2-2
Top Under 900 Joy Cao 2-2
 
Tied players in the Under 1300 Section are listed in tiebreak order.
 
The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger assisted by George Mirijanian. 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

12/8/20133rd Barry S. Spiegel Cup prize winners

Prize winners at the 3rd Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held December 8th in Marlborough.

Age 14 & Under Section

1st Jason Tang 3.5-0.5
2nd Michael Isakov 3-1
3rd Alan Sikarov 2.5-1.5

Age 11 & Under Section

1st Eric Feng 4-0
2nd-8th Sandra Shur, Richard Chen, Maxwell Chen, Michael Mi, Danila Poliannikov, Daniel Wang, David Sun 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st Derek Zhao 3.5-0.5
2nd-5th Dustin Liang, Bernie Xu, Arnon Kuzmin, Aaron Huang 3-1

Novice Under 800 Section

1st-2nd Timmy Guan, Evan Wei 3-1
3rd Alexander Sun 2-2

Novice Under 400 Section

1st Thomas Ha 4-0
2nd-5th Anthony Wang, Sam Cooley, Vineeth Nareddy, Arno Ohlenbusch 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

12/6/20133rd Qualifier Adv. Entries

Advance entries for the 3rd Qualifier (as of 5:09 PM) is available now.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

12/5/2013Sam Sevian Makes IM Norm

http://www.uschess.org/content/view/12454/735/

World Under 12 Champion Sam Sevian was awarded the IM title at the presidential board meeting in Yerevan, Armenia. He earned a fourth norm and crossed the 2400 FIDE rating barrier at the First Saturday tournament in Budapest, Hungary in November.

Results: http://www.firstsaturday.hu/1311/results.html

Crosstable: http://chess-results.com/tnr115275.aspx?lan=1&art=1&wi=821&flag=30

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

12/1/2013Bolton chess master plays a game for all ages

Original link: http://www.wickedlocal.com/bolton/news/x825435275/Bolton-chess-master-plays-a-game-for-all-ages

When it comes to the game of chess, Imre Toth of Bolton, has been a “pied piper,” of sorts. For more than 30 years, he has served as the Master of Postal Chess for a band of young players – armed with boards, rooks, kings and queens – eager to learn a game that many adults approach with some trepidation.

“I like seeing their growth in strategic thinking and love the lessons in sportsmanship taught through chess,” said Jenny Jacobsen, whose son, Henry, and daughter, Sofia, are members of the Nashoba Chess Club, which Toth started in 1980. 

“I love everything about chess club,” said 8-year-old Sofia.

“Going to the chess club on Fridays has became our family tradition and it will, no doubt, be part of wonderful childhood memories for Max and Winston,” said Qi Jiang, whose sons have excelled at the game.

“Dr. Toth is gifted in his ability to teach children of any age,” said Stacia Downey. “Our first-grade son started chess club in kindergarten. He has learned so much from Dr. Toth in just one year; first the basics, then strategies and most importantly, a love for the game.”

The Nashoba Chess Club meets at Nashoba Regional High School on various Friday nights through March. Toth, a ‘mostly’ retired physician, recently talked with the Common about his love of the game and desire to inspire kids.

How old were you when you started playing chess?

I watched chess games with fascination in the dining room at the science institute in Tihany, Hungary, where I lived until age 7. I played occasional, casual chess with friends or my father beginning at age 7. I started playing seriously in high school in Uppsala, Sweden. My father stopped playing me when I started playing competitively, and used to boast that he won the last game between us.

What got you hooked on the game?

The mixture of reason, logic, discipline, imagination, beauty, competition, and sportsmanship. It’s a sport of the brain. It stimulates deep thought.

When did you start teaching kids chess?

My kids and their cousins were interested in chess, so I taught them when they were in kindergarten through elementary school. I thought other kids might enjoy chess too, and I started the chess club at Emerson Elementary School in 1980. The chess club at Nashoba had ceased to exist, so when the kids from the Emerson chess club started to move up to Nashoba in 1983, I revived the Nashoba Regional High School Chess Club. For a few years, there were chess clubs at both school, as well as a separate club in Lancaster. The three merged, I think in 1985, and the chess club has operated on Friday evenings ever since.


Read more: http://www.wickedlocal.com/bolton/news/x825435275/Bolton-chess-master-plays-a-game-for-all-ages#ixzz2mkz4eYCI
Follow us: @boltoncommon on Twitter | 142076375818774 on Facebook

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

11/26/2013Rhodes Scholar from MACA

Jessica Wamala, one-time MACA Scholastic Tri-14U State Champion, has been designated a Rhodes Scholar..

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

11/24/2013Spiegel Cup Updates - List of Invitees and Points after NESA & BCC

Here is the standings by SCS points with just two qualifiers to go:
 
14&U
ANTON BARASH 17.5
ALAN SIKAROV 13.5
RAHUL KRISHNAN 10
DAVID MCCABE 6
ALLEN WANG 5.5
JASON TANG 5.5
MICHAEL GREGORY ISAKOV 5
GENE KUPERMAN 4
PAUL APOSTOLICAS 4
SANDEEP VADLAMUDI 4
GERSHON GILMAN 3.5
ALON TROGAN 3.5
MICHAEL GUTIN 3
ALEX G FAUMAN 2.5
GREGORY GRIMAYLO 2
SANDEEP SHANKAR 2
MARK KHRAPKO 2
ZUBIN M BALIGA 1.5
MICHAEL BELOUS 1
JASON CHIN 1
NITHIN KAVI 0
ERIC ANTHONY STEVENS 0
 
11&U
ERIC FENG 15.5
DANILA POLIANNIKOV 15
DANIEL ZHOU 9.5
ROHAN KRISHNAN 9.5
RAGHAV SRINIVASAN 8
GAVIN ELLIOTT RANDOLPH 7
LUKE GARRETT RANDOLPH 7
MAXWELL D CHEN 5.5
EDDIE WANG 5
NIKITA ROLDAN-LEVCHENKO 5
ALEXANDER BAO 4.5
AMRIT SUBRAMANIAN 4.5
BRIAN YIN 4
MARK CHUDNOVSKY 4
ELI MATTHEW RICHMOND 3.5
SURAJ RAMANATHAN 3.5
SANDRA SHUR 3.5
BERNIE XU 3
ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU 3
SAMMI PAN 3
ANDREW THE 3
MADELEINE HUNG 3
VITTAL RANGANATH 3
JUSTIN WU 2.5
MICHAEL MI 2.5
WILLIAM KIM 2
VICTOR NIKSDORF 2
MAX VON GOTTBERG 2
AIDEN S DYER 2
MATTHEW CONG DING 2
BHARATH HEGGADAHALLI 2
VISHNU RANGANATH 2
ALLAN MAXWELL KAFIG 2
AIDAN BURT 2
CLAIRE MAO 2
SHAHAB ARMAND KOUSHESHI 1.5
ALEX YU 1.5
CHENEY ZHANG 1.5
ERIC HAN 1.5
COLE PARKS 1
MADDOX LEVEQUE 1
DANIEL KATZ 1
BEN WINOCOUR 1
ERIC YAMAGUCHI 1
EVAN DYER 1
BOSHEN LI 1
BENJAMIN N EPSTEIN 1
MICHAEL MUKDISSI 1
BENJAMIN Z FAUMAN 1
VINEETH NAREDDY 1
VERONICA ARUTYUNYANTS 0
RONEL VOSHCHIN 0
LEILA MUKDISSI 0
 
8&U
ARNON KUZMIN 22.5
DAVID KATSMAN 17.5
DAVID TIANYI ZHOU 16
MATTHEW LOOSE 9.5
AARON HUANG 7
DEREK CHUBO ZHAO 6
DUSTIN LIANG 5.5
EVAN YI HAO WEI 5
AADIT UNNIRAMAN 5
BENJAMIN ZILBER 4.5
JOY CAO 4
FITZGERALD HUNG 3
THOMAS TONGZHOU HA 3
YASEN COLON 3
DEREK JIN 3
SASHA KANEKO 3
WINSTON W ZHAO 2.5
JOHN R ARCHIBALD 2
MAXIM HAMILTON CHRISS 2
RACHEL KUZMIN 2
GREGORY PODSTRELOV 2
RAFAEL PASHKOV 2
MICHAEL JIANG 2
MICHAEL GARBER 2
DANIEL KAIE 2
DAVID XIE 2
JUSTIN YAMAGUCHI 2
KAI KITCHENS 2
DUNCAN NAYLOR 2
ADVAY GOEL 2
TIMMY GUAN 1
BENJAMIN ZALTSMAN 1
KATE JIANG 1
JUSTIN KAMINSKY 1
GARY PODSTRELOV 1
AMELIA CHOU TRAN 1
JESSE ANDREW FETTERS 1
SIRI VADLAMUDI 1
ASHER VIDAN 0.5
ELIAS MUKDISSI 0.5
ANI PERL 0
 

Here are lists of prospective invitees:

14&U
Evan Meyer 2079 Q1 winner
Henry Liu 1786 Q2 winner

Carissa Yip 2023
Danny Angermeier 2013
Mateos Sahakian 2005
Conway Xu 2005
Nithin Kavi 1929
Alvin Tan 1880
Allen Wang 1821
Jason Tang 1815
Jeffrey Yao 1788
Alex Fauman 1742
Michael Isakov 1734
Sandeep Shankar 1669
Anton Barash 1660
Sandeep Vadlamudi 1644
Tal Puhov 1575
Alan Sikarov 1564
David McCabe 1510
Daniel Arbel 1489
Alon Trogan 1457
 
11&U
Max Zhao 1720 Q1 winner
Michael Yu 1559 Q2 winner

Carissa Yip 2023
Jason Tang 1815
Brandon Wu 1744
Alex Yu 1742
Eddie Yi Ming Wei 1717
Lucy Cai 1678
Eric Feng 1664
Michael Mi 1606
Evan Maclure 1552
Suraj Ramanathan 1540
Sandra Shur 1508
Daniel Wang 1507
Eddie Wang 1457
Matthew Ding 1378
Luke Randolph 1350
Danila Poliannikov 1312
David Sun 1304
Nikita Roldan-Levchenko 1294
 
8&U
Achyuta Rajaram 1320 Q1 winner
Nicholas Belous 886 Q2 winner


Derek Jin 1292
Bernie Xu 1177
Dustin Liang 1099
Arnon Kuzmin 1055
Derek Zhao 970
Winston Zhao 865
Sammi Pan 849
John Archibald 825
David Katsman 777
David Zhou 757
Sasha Kaneko 737
Matt Loose 705
Aaron Huang 685
Ben Zilber 643
Joy Cao 604
Fitzgerald Hung 568
Aadit Unniraman 523

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

11/21/2013Scholastic Grand Prix Standings

John Archibald got 3 points in the last Burger King, getting very close to the leading trio.
Here are all contenders for the 3 trophies to be awarded at the end of year.

ARNON KUZMIN

17

6

DAVID KATSMAN

14

6

DANILA POLIANNIKOV

13

4

JOHN R ARCHIBALD

12.5

5

ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU

11

4

BENJAMIN ZILBER

10.5

4

ALEXANDER SUN

10

6

MARK CHUDNOVSKY

9.5

5

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

11/10/2013Fall Team Tournament prize winners

Prize winners at the Fall Team Tournament, held November 10th in Marlborough, Mass.

K-12 Section:

1st Weston High School (Adam Maimon, Marcus Luzzi, David Maimon, Colin Luzzi) 12-4
2nd Sage School (Daniel Plotkin, August Donovan, Adam Itani, Shivan Giroti) 4-12

K-6 Section:

1st Gold Warriors (Evan MacLure, Daniel Wang, Eric Han, Jesse Liu) 3.5-0.5
2nd New England Sports Academy (Mingyang Liu, Brian Yin, Alexander Bao, Maxwell Chen) 3-1
3rd Winer's Winners (Brandon Wu, Luke Randolph, Gavin Randolph, Jason Xiong) 2.5-1.5

Medals: Rohan Krishnan & Amrit Subramanian (Rookie Rooks) 3-1

K-3 Section:

1st-2nd Knights of Jedi (Danila Poliannikov, Arnon Kuzmin, Nicholas Belous, David Katsman),
        NESA 1Q3K (Dustin Liang, Bernie Xu, Sammi Pan, John Archibald) 3.5-0.5
3rd Rising Star (David Zhou, Joy Cao, David Xie, Thomas Ha) 1-3

Tied teams are listed in tiebreak order.

A total of 12 teams entered the tournament, which was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

11/5/2013Spiegel Cup Updates - After SCS Frida Tournament

The 2014 Spiegel Cup Likely Invitee List and the Spiegel Cup Series Standings Page are both updated.  

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

11/3/2013Scholastic Grand Prix Standings

Russian kids dominate Scholastic Grand Prix so far. Here is the standing of the top players:
 

ARNON KUZMIN

17

6

DAVID KATSMAN

14

6

DANILA POLIANNIKOV

13

4

ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU

11

4

BENJAMIN ZILBER

10.5

4

ALEXANDER SUN

10

6

JOHN R ARCHIBALD

9.5

4

MARK CHUDNOVSKY

9.5

5

DAVID TIANYI ZHOU

8

3

DEXTER LI KENNEDY

7.5

4

 
The next tournament is Burger King in Chelmsford on 11.17.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

10/27/20132nd Barry S. Spiegel Cup Qualifier prize winners

Prize winners at the 2nd Barry S. Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held October 27th in Marlborough, Mass.:

Age 14 & Under Section

1st-2nd Henry Liu, Jason Tang 3.5-0.5 (Liu won blitz playoff)
3rd Allen Wang 2.5-1.5

Age 11 & Under Section

1st Michael Yu 4-0
2nd Suraj Ramanathan 3.5-0.5
3rd-8th Eddie Wang, Eric Feng, Andrew The, Danila Poliannikov, Nikita Roldan-Levchenko, Raghav Srinivasan 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st Nicholas Belous 3.5-0.5
2nd-4th Sasha Kaneko, Derek Jin, Derek Zhao 3-1

Novice Under 800 Section

1st-2nd Vignesh Vanchinathan, Max Williams 3.5-0.5
3rd Eli Richmond 3-1

Novice Under 400 Section

1st-2nd Haley Kirouac, Timmy Guan 4-0 (Kirouac won blitz playoff)
3rd-7th Andrew Cass, Thomas Ha, Evan Wei, Holden Chalfant, Jason Xiong 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian, Steve Frymer, and Nathan Smolensky.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

10/26/2013Advance entries for the 2nd Qualifier

The Adv. Entries for 2nd Qualifier has been published here.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

10/18/2013Spiegel Cup Updates

The 2014 Spiegel Cup Likely Invitee List and the Spiegel Cup Series Standings Page are both updated. 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

10/13/2013Spiegel Cup Series Results 10/13/2013

The first Spiegel Cup Series event saw a good turnout of 27 players: 14 in 8&U section, 10 in 11&U, and 3 in 14&U. The trophy and medal winners are (in tie-break order):

8&U:
Arnon Kuzmin 4 points,
Fitzgerald Hung, Aaron Huang, David Zhou - all 3 points.
 
11&U:
Danila Poliannikov, Eric Feng - both 3 points.
William Kim, Mark Chudnovsky, Rohan Krishnan, Eli Richmond - all 2 points.
 
14&U:
Rahul Krishnan, Anton Barash, Alan Sikarov - all 3 points.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

10/13/2013Spiegel Cup Series 10/13/2013 Photo

The Spiegel Cup Series Papa Gino's Tournament is uploaded at our Facebook page.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

10/12/2013BCF Grand Prix Photos

The BCF Grand Prix  are uploaded at our Facebook page.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

10/7/201380th Greater Boston Open Photos

The 80th GBO Photos (by Max Sewell) are uploaded at our Facebook page.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

10/6/201380th Greater Boston Open prize winners

Prize winners at the 80th Greater Boston Open, held October 6th in Marlborough, Mass.

Open Section:

1st-2nd IM David Vigorito, FM Steven Winer 3.5-0.5
Top U2100 Arthur Tang, Jeremy Bader, Thomas Hartmayer 2-2

Under 1900 Section:

1st-2nd Andrew Luff, Eddie Wei 3.5-0.5
Top U1700 Martha Samadashvili, Hal Sprechman, Maxwell Zhao, Lucy Cai 2.5-1.5

Under 1600 Section:

1st-2nd Michael Yu, Aaron Dunigan AtLee 3.5-0.5
Top U1400 Achyuta Rajaram 3-1

Under 1200 Section:

1st Raghav Srinivasan 3.5-0.5
Equal 2nd/Top U1000 Derek Zhao 3-1
Equal 2nd Ram Kancharla 3-1

Under 900 Section:

1st Alexander Lieberwirth 4-0
2nd Mitchell Burns 3-1
3rd Winston Zhao 2.5-1.5
Top U700 Joy Cao 2.5-1.5
Top U500 J. Jefferson Gray 1-3
Top Unrated Benjamin Townsend 2-2

Players in the Under 900 Section are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger and George Mirijanian.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

10/6/2013Chess - Stephen Dann, Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Sunday, October 6, 2013
 

Chess - Stephen Dann

 

 
Picture
Vadim Martirosov as black in 2011 found a great move to win against Neil Cousin in today's position. Do you see how? Answer below.
» Enlarge photo
 
 

GM Max Dlugy was interviewed Thursday on www.chessbase.com to possibly break open the year-old cheating scandal in Croatia. In short, the ease of putting a small computer device in your shoe is called "low tech," but will this solve all kinds of other issues "underfoot?"

National Chess Week starts with a bang tomorrow, as www.pbs.org/pov/brooklyncastle runs the 90-minute movie on I.S.318 in New York City. Time at most New England PBS stations is 10 p.m. The trailer is on the website, and the movie will be on demand until Nov. 6. There will be a live online program for educators Tuesday offering tips on forming chess groups at schools, which may also be of interest to librarians and to parents across the country.

In Massachusetts, programs on Saturday, traditional National Chess Day, are not overflowing on www.masschess.org, but there is a Game/30 tournament to benefit Boston's One Fund at NESA in Westwood, a free scholastic event at the Stoughton Public Library, and both a rated Open and two unrated scholastic sections at Blackstone Valley Prep. School in Cumberland, R.I.

During the week, however, there are plenty more free and low-cost events, like Tuesday's 5 p.m. Larry Christiansen simultaneous display at the South Station concourse in Boston. Many clubs are starting new monthly events, both rated and unrated. Also check at www.uschess.org to view upcoming events as well as rating reports within hours after many tournaments end.

Visit www.wachusettchess.org, to view results of the Yedidia Open, where Bruce Felton of Fitchburg took first in a 37-player field at Fitchburg State University. At www.chesspals.com, see how John Curdo of Auburn won the September Chess Snippet, and Peter Shtudier and Marc Quevillon shared first in the Snippy September Under 1700 at the Greater Worcester Chess Club.

Local master Cliff McLaughlin came out of retirement to tie with John Curdo and Matt Meredith of Connecticut at the 30-player 6th WMCA Memorial in Holyoke. Last weekend also saw a 26-player round robin Blitzfest in Manchester, N.H., with Vadim Martirosov of Allston winning at 22.5-2.5, drawing with Braden Bournival of New Hampshire, who came a close second.

At www.uschessleague.com, New England defeated New Jersey, to now lead the Northeast Division, 5-1, with just four rounds to go. Boston drew New York and Connecticut lost to Manhattan. On Tuesday (at www.chess.com) more rival conference action, as New England takes on Los Angeles, Boston faces San Francisco, and Connecticut meets Arizona in round 7.

Chess.com, claiming 8 million online members, has made an agreement to purchase www.chessvibes.com a top chess news site in Europe.


Answer to quiz: Black won easily after 1. ... QxR, 2. QxQ d2 and the pawn cannot be stopped. Position from new second e-book at www.tacticstime.com.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

10/5/2013Greater Boston Open Advance Entries

The Adv. Entries for 80th GBO has been published here.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

10/4/2013Senior Chess at Plymouth County Council on Aging

Marc Turgeon is presenting a series of 4 chess classes for Seniors during National Chess Month (Day Oct 12) at the Plymouth County Council on Aging 10:30am to 12 noon Octover 3, 10, 17 and 24.
 
The Plymouth County Council on Aging Chess Club meets 12 30 to 2:00 on each Monday of the month at the COA in Plymouth, conducted by Marc Turgeon since July 2012.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

09/29/2013Scholastic Grand Prix Standings

Many changes among leaders:
 
10
4
ALEXANDER SUN
10
6
DAVID KATSMAN
9
4
ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU
8.5
3
BENJAMIN ZILBER
8
3
DANILA POLIANNIKOV
7.5
2
JOHN R ARCHIBALD
7.5
3
DEXTER LI KENNEDY
7.5
4
MICHAEL YU
7
2
AKHIL KAMMILA
7
3
 
Next tournaments:
10.13 Spiegel Cup Series, Waltham, Matt http://masschess.org/Events/Event_Details.aspx?Event_ID=4335
11.3 Spiegel Cup Series, Brighton, Frida http://masschess.org/Events/Event_Details.aspx?Event_ID=4363

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

09/17/20132014 Spiegel Cup Series Standings

A new page for the 2014 Spiegel Cup Series Standings has been created. The standings will be updated after each of the event listed at the Championship Page.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

09/15/2013USCF Returning Member Promotional Membership

From Franc Guadalupe, USCF Executive Director: 

The Executive Board has authorized a promotional membership offer for returning USCF members.

From now through November 8th, 2013, former members whose USCF membership has lapsed for at least two years may purchase a one-year premium Adult membership for $33.

This promotional membership is available through the TD/Affiliate Support Area, but there is no affiliate commission on this membership. This offer is only available through affiliates, it is NOT available through the USCF membership webstore.

 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

09/15/2013Prize winners, 1st Spiegel Cup Qualifier

Prize winners at the 1st Barry S. Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held September 15th in Marlborough, Mass.

Age 14 & Under Section:

1st Evan Meyer 4-0
2nd-4th Allen Wang, Anton Barash, Michael Isakov 3-1

Age 11 & Under Section:

1st-2nd Maxwell Zhao, Michael Yu 3.5-0.5
3rd-6th Eric Feng, Sandra Shur, Gavin Randolph, Raghav Srinivasan 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section:

1st Achyuta Rajaram 4-0
2nd-3rd Dustin Liang, Derek Zhao 3-1

Novice Under 800 & 400 Sections (combined)

1st U800 Arvind Sridhar 3.5-0.5
1st U400 Alexander Sun 3-1
2nd U800 Holden Chalfant 3-1
2nd U400 Narmada Kilaru 2.5-1.5
3rd U800 Krishnapriya Rajaram 2-2
3rd U400 Andrew Cass 2-2
Medal (4th U800/U400) Thomas Ha 2-2

Winners are listed in tiebreak order.  Maxwell Zhao won a blitz playoff for 1st in the Age 11 & Under Section.

There were 65 players.  The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian, Steve Frymer and Siddharth Arun.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

09/13/2013Advance entries for the 1st Qualifier

Advance entries for the 1st Qualifier (as of 3:24 PM) is available now.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

09/13/2013Update: Spiegel Cup Championship Page and Rules

  1. Complete schedule of the Scholastic Qualifiers, SCS events, and Final
  2. 2014 Spiegel Cup Rules. Please pay special attention to Section "VI. Qualification Methods, Notification, Acceptance, Disqualification, and Replacement Players". The updates give full explanation of the newly added Spiegel Cup Series (SCS).

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

09/11/2013Scholastic Grand Prix 2013

Here are the leaders after 10 events:
 
 

ALEXANDER SUN

 

10

 

6

 
 

ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU

 

8.5

 

3

 
 

BENJAMIN ZILBER

 

8

 

3

 
 

JOHN R ARCHIBALD

 

7.5

 

3

 
 

DEXTER LI KENNEDY

 

7.5

 

4

 
 

MICHAEL YU

 

7

 

2

 
 

AKHIL KAMMILA

 

7

 

3

 
 

ARNON KUZMIN

 

7

 

3

 
 

DAVID KATSMAN

 

7

 

3

 
 
 

Steve Frymer
MACA Correspondent

09/8/2013USCF Supplement Cutoff Date Changing

The US Chess Federation (USCF) will be changing the cutoff day to get rated games included in a monthly Supplement to the third Wednesday of the month. This will be effective with the October supplement, which means that the upcoming cutoff date is going to be 18 September 2013. One of the main reasons for this is balancing the operational workload of our servers. [Currently we do a ‘re-rate’ beginning on the Tuesday before the Supplement ratings are computed. Then, almost immediately, we need to do another re-rate for the Supplement’s ratings. By changing from a Friday cutoff to a Wednesday one we will be able to eliminate the second re-rate. Overall, this change will not make the Supplement any later or earlier in the month – the cutoff date will still be between the 15th and the 21st [inclusively].
 
The Wednesday cutoff still gives three days for the previous weekend’s events to get rated and make the upcoming supplement. [Most events are submitted online within 1-2 days of their end date.] Updated ratings for players should be available by late Thursday morning instead of sometime on Saturday. The Supplement files, themselves, should be out by the close of business on Monday. [We expect that, for the most part, they will be ready before the weekend.]
 

Again, the cutoff is 11:45 PM Central Time on the third Wednesday of the month. This means that an event needs to be submitted AND rated by this time to be included in the upcoming month’s Supplement. 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

09/7/2013Spiegel Cup ratings and the SCS [Spiegel Cup Series]...Q #1 on 15 September 2013

14&U [* on two lists]
Danny Angermeier 2013
Nithin Kavi 1980
Carissa Yip* 1959
Evan Meyer 1947
Mateos Sahakian 1904
Conway Xu 1879
Alvin Tan 1870
Allen Wang 1829
Alex Fauman 1821
Jeffrey Yao 1788
Henry Liu 1735
Michael Isakov 1727
Anton Barash 1696
Sandeep Vadlamudi 1609
Tal Puhov 1575
Sandeep Shankar 1561
Danny Arbel 1560
Alan Sikarov 1557
Alon Trogan 1443
 
11&U [* on two lists]
 
Carissa Yip* 1959
Jason Tang 1835
Brandon Wu 1658
Eric Feng 1633
Alex Yu 1631
Michael Mi 1602
Maxwell Zhao 1573
Eddie Wang 1505
Daniel Wang 1497
Lucy Cai 1484
Matthew Ding 1462
Suraj Ramanathan 1461
Evan Maclure 1380
Sandra Shur 1321
David Z Sun 1312
Michael Yu 1311
Luke Randolph 1281
Nikita Roldan-Levchenko 1220

8&U

Eddie Yi Ming Wei 1489
Bernie Xu 1117
Dustin Liang 1048
Sammi Pan 887
Arnon Kuzmin 730
Winston Zhao 681
Derek Zhao 664
David Katsman 612
John Archibald 534/23

The SCS is a proposal that the MACA scholastic committee is likely to implement this year. It is effectively changing our 4-6 system [4 Q winners and 6 invited by rating] to 4-5-1, whereby the 6th highest rating invitation is replaced w/ an invitee ["wildcard"] who has scored the most total points in a combination of the four qualifiers and additional scholastic events organized by maca affiliates which are designated in advance as SCS events. There may be one or more of these, held between 1 September 2013 and 3 January 2014.

Steve Frymer
MACA Board Member

09/6/2013Spiegel Cup

The first qualifier is scheduled for 15 September 2013 in Marlborough.

I am currently compiling lists of the highest rated players in each category. [Age determination as of 31 December 2013]

I need your help in determining who else may be eligible for inclusion on the lists.

8U: eddie wei, bernie xu, dustin liang, david katsman, sammi pan, arnon kuzmin, winston zhao, john archibald, nicholas belous and derek zhao...Ratings above 500.

11U: carissa yip*, jason tang, alex yu, eric feng, brandon wu, michael mi, suraj ramanathan, maxwell zhao, j. lucy cai, evan maclure, daniel wang, matt ding, eddie wang, luke randolph, nicholas roldan-levechenko  and michael yu ...Ratings above 1200.

14U: danny angermeier, carissa yip*, nithin kavi, evan meyer, mateos sahakian, conway xu, jeff yao, allen wang, alex fauman, henry liu, tal puhov, alvin tan, michael isakov, anton barash, alan sikarov, alon trogan, sandeep vadlamudi and sandeep shankar...Ratings above 1400.

Steve Frymer
Assistant TD

09/3/201373rd New England Open prize winners

Prize winners at the 73rd New England Open, held August 31st to September 2nd in Leominster, Mass.

Open Section:

1st-2nd IM William Paschall, Andrew Wang 5 - 1  (New England co-champions)
3rd IM Igor Foygel 4.5 - 1.5
1st U2200 Farzad Abdi 3.5 - 2.5
2nd-3rd U2200 Leonid Tkach, Scott Didham 3 - 3

U2000 Section:

1st-4th Stephen Brudno, Valentin Levin, Peter Korzeb, Mateos Sahakian 4.5 - 1.5

U1750 Section:

1st John Brady 5 - 1
2nd-3rd Arthur Nagel, William Ravn 4.5 - 1.5

U1500 Section:

1st Sandra Shur 5 - 1
2nd Lawrence Legros 4.5 - 1.5
3rd-7th Raymond Behenna, Stanford Talcott 4 - 2
3rd-7th/U1350 Michael Stevens, Donald Kirouac 4 - 2
3rd-7th/U1350/U1200 Andrew Piortowski 4 - 2

K-12 U1500 Section:

1st-2nd David McCabe, Michael Yu 3.5 - 0.5
3rd-5th David Sun, Luke Randolph, Bernie Xu 3 - 1

K-12 U800 Section:

1st Nicholas Belous 4 - 0
2nd Derek Zhao 3 - 1
3rd-4th Joy Cao, Winston Zhao 2 - 2

K-6 U1400 Section:

1st Brian Yin 4 - 0
2nd Luke Randolph 3 - 1
3rd-4th Alexander Bao, Michael Yu 2.5 - 1.5

K-6 U600 Section:

1st-2nd Nicholas Belous, Mark Chudnovsky 3.5 - 0.5
3rd-7th Keshav Rangan, Allan Kafig, Aaron Huang, John Archibald, Vineeth Nareddy

K-3 U1200 Section:

1st-3rd Derek Zhao, Danila Poliannikov, Dustin Liang 3 - 1

K-3 U500 Section:

1st Sasha Kaneko 4 - 0
2nd-3rd John Archibald, Siri Vadlamudi 3 - 1

New England Blitz Championship

1st Vadim Martirosov 8 - 2
2nd-3rd FM William Kelleher, Andrew Wang 7.5 - 2.5
U2000 Anatoly Levin, Michael Isakov 6.5 - 3.5
U1800 Andrew Boyer, William Ravn 5.5 - 4.5

Tied players in the scholastic sections are listed in tiebreak order.

The chief tournament director was Bob Messenger, assisted by George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

09/2/201373rd New England Open Photos

Day 3 photos are uploaded at our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151872259016420.1073741827.304603651419&type=1.

If you have additional photos (especially Scholastic events photos) that you would like to share, please e-mail them to "webmaster@masschess.org".

 

 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

08/28/201373 New England Open Advance Entries Available Now

As of 08/28/2013 9:20 PM. Click the link to see entries from ALL sections: http://www.masschess.org/Events/Advance_Entry/2013-08-31-NEO.htm

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

08/27/2013USCF Executive Board Approved Changes to the Ratings System

Read details at USCF site: http://www.uschess.org/content/view/12202/5/

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

08/25/2013New "Frida Chess Club" for scholastics!

 
David Katsman of Chestnut Hill was overall winner of the 1st event, scoring a 4-0 sweep against a 7 player field.

Steve Frymer
MACA Correspondent

08/21/2013Burger King Scholastic Grand Prix

Scholastic events run at Chelmsford BK by Matt Gosselin. Prizes for top finishers!
 
Standings after 8 events:
 
 

ALEXANDER SUN

9

5

JOHN R ARCHIBALD

7.5

3

DEXTER LI KENNEDY

7.5

4

MICHAEL YU

7

2

ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU

6.5

2

MADELEINE HUNG

6

2

WINSTON W ZHAO

6

2

TOBY SHU

6

3

   COLE PARKS..........................5.5......4

Steve Frymer
MACA Correspondent

08/15/2013Hotel name change for the 73rd New England Open

The Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Leominster, site of the 73rd New England Open, is changing its name to Doubletree by Hilton.  The location and phone number are unchanged; just the name is changing.

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

08/13/2013Summer 2013 Chess Horizons RELEASED!

 It is with great pleasure that MACA announces today the long, long awaited return of its award winning state chess
assocation publication, Chess Horizons.

 
After more than a year in hiatus a new editorial team, comprised of both veterans and new blood, was put together
and set to work.Today the result is released.
 
"Today features the regeneration of Chess Horizons," says its new editor, Doc Kinne. "This first issue is a bit rough
because we were picking up the pieces after such a long time. I hope people like that we're back, and I can tell
you that you can expect better things as the team gets used to this new beast."
 
"I want to especially thank Chess Horizon's last editor, Bob Messenger," Kinne continued, "who I refer to as 'the
hardest working person in New England Chess.' It was because he was so snowed under that Chess Horizons
had to be regenerated. Bob remains on the team and was invaluable in providing continuity for the reboot. Also
staying with the team, thankfully, is Max Sewell as Layout Editor. Max is who makes Chess Horizons look good!
I'm particularly thrilled that we're now featuring full color photos in our electronic edition. If this issue has any
legs, its not due to me, but due to my team, who are the best! The Summer issue is out and the team is diving
right back in to produce the Fall issue in late September. We're back Massachusetts!"
 
Chess Horizons can be seen at the MACA website at www.masschess.org, and can be downloaded in PDF
format at http://masschess.org/chess_horizons/articles/ch_summer2013.pdf
 
The print edition has been sent to the printers and should start appearing in mailboxes next week.

Doc Kinne
MACA Correspondent

08/2/2013National Scholastic Winners Make MA Proud!

As we speak the US Open is taking place and the National Scholastic Tournaments - the High School Denker Tournament, the K-8 Barber Championship, and the new National Girls Invitational Tournament have all ended. The participants sent from MA did the Commonwealth proud.

Michelle Chen gained 3rd Place in the first National Girls Invitational Tournament, and also garnered that competition's Best Game Prize.

The Barber K-8 Championship was won By MA's Andrew Liu. While first place was shared by Andrew Tang of Minnesota, and Vignesh Panchanatham & Craig Hilby of California, Andrew was declared the winner on tie-breaks.

Congratulations to all the MA winners and participants of the National Scholastic Tournaments this year. Your fellow chess players are proud of you!

Doc Kinne
MACA Correspondent

07/18/201382nd Massachusetts Open Most Interesting Game Prize Winners Announced

Game judge FM John Curdo has announced the winners of the Most Interesting Game prizes at the 82nd Massachusetts Open:
 
Championship Section: IM David Vigorito, for his game against IM Jonathan Yedidia.
 
Under 2100 Section: Stephen Brudno, for his game against Stefan Trandafir.
 
Under 1800 Section: Alan Sikarov, for his game against Robert Babcock.
 
Under 1500 Section: Michael Stevens, for his game against Raymond Behenna.
 
In addition, FM John Curdo and IM David Vigorito have been awarded a special prize for their drawn game in the
Championship Section.
 
Money for the prizes was donated by MACA life member Walter Champion. 

 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

07/1/2013Youngest female Expert in USA!

At Saturday's Boylston CC event Carissa Yip  of Chelmsford went 2.5-1.5 and reached the Expert level at age 9, the youngest girl to achieve this level since the USCF began electronic record-keeping in 1991.

Steve Frymer
MACA Correspondent

06/30/2013Chess program in Roxbury this summer

Boston Parks & Recreation Department offers free chess program in Roxbury
 
The Boston Parks & Recreation Department has announced that the Alvan Kittredge Park in Roxbury will play host to a number of free chess sessions, as part of the department's "Knights in the Park" program. On Mondays, July 8 and July 15, from 6 to 7 p.m., the free program will be held at the park opposite 10 Linwood St.  Everyone from beginners to experienced players are encouraged to attend. Mike Howell, a USCF-rated member of the Billerica Chess Club, will be on hand to offer tips and tricks.
 
An additional session will be held at the Gertrude Howes Playground, located at 68 Moreland St. in Roxbury, on Tuesday, July 16, from 6 to 7 p.m. For more information, call the parks department at 617-635-4505 or visit www.cityofboston.gov/parks/.
 

 

George Mirijanian
MACA Board Member

06/22/2013"Boston" vs. "North Shore" Scholastic Match, Blitz afterwards


Kibitz a scholastic match and play blitz afterwards. Blitz for juniors.

Two scholastic chess matches are going between "Boston" and "North Shore" teams. Captain of Boston is Dmitry Barash, captain of North Shore is Michail Perelshteyn.
The first match held in Lynn on 5.19 was won by Boston 6:4. The second match will be on 6.23 in Makor Center at 10:30am - 12:30pm. If you are interested in playing free blitz after the match (12:30pm - 2:30pm), please contact Dmitry Barash 617 256-5536.
Site in Brighton Mass on Commonwealth Av. Call for directions.

Dima

Steve Frymer
MACA Correspondent

06/17/2013Expiration date extension for Chess Horizons subscribers

To compensate Chess Horizons subscribers and MACA members receiving Chess Horizons for missed issues, MACA has extended their expiration dates so that they will receive four issues of Chess Horizons for each year of dues.  The last issue that was published was the November-May 2011-12 double issue, which was published in May 2012 and counted as October-December 2011 and January-March 2012. The issues missed would have been: June 2012 (counting as April-June 2012), July-September 2012, October-December 2012, January-March 2013, and April-June 2013.  Our new editor, Richard "Doc" Kinne, expects to publish the next issue, to be called Summer 2013, this month.  In terms of the old naming system it will count as July-September 2013.

The new expiration dates are posted in the Membership section of the MACA website.

Bob Messenger

MACA Membership Secretary and Treasurer

 

Bob Messenger
MACA Board Member

06/7/20132013 Hurvitz Cup Photos Download

I have uploaded all 2013 Hurvitz Cup chess photos (high resolutions) on Zenfolio. To download the photos for free click the link here: http://tiffanywang.zenfolio.com/2013_hurvitz, find the photo(s) you like and click "Download" --> "Original".

You can also order print version directly from the webpage. (The fee for print version is charged by the printing company, I do not make any profit from it.) 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

05/27/2013Prize Winners, 82nd Massachusetts Open

Prize winners at the 82nd Massachusetts Open, held May 25-27 in Marlborough.

Championship Section:

1st-2nd: GM Alexander Ivanov, Robert Perez 5-1
3rd-6th: IM Igor Foygel, FM Charles Riordan 4-2
3rd-6th/Top U2300: Andrew Wang, Andrew Liu 4-2

Under 2100 Section:

1st: Yoon-Young Kim (RI) 5½-½
2nd-4th: Elliot Strassman 4½-1½
2nd-4th/Top U1950: Stephen Brudno, Scott Didham 4½-1½

Under 1800 Section:

1st: David Canning 5-1
2nd-5th: Benjamin Swiszcz: 4½-1½
2nd-5th/Top U1650: James Zhou, Andrew Saint Louis, Daniel Glassman 4½-1½

Under 1500 Section:

1st: Jason Wang 5½-½
2nd: Eddie Wang 5-1
Top U1350: Justin Wang 4-2
Top U1200: Rahul Krishnan, Eric Heinecke, Rohan Krishnan 3½-2½

K-12 Under 1500 Section:

1st: Ian Youth 3½-½
2nd: Bharath Heggadahalli: 3-1
3rd-5th: Michael Yu, David McCabe, Evan MacLure 2½-1½

K-12 Under 1000 Section:

1st: Brian Reidy 4-0
2nd-6th: Hoacheng Huang, Kathleen Wang, Amrit Subramanian, Sammi Pan, James Cassidy 3-1

K-6 Under 1400 Section:

1st: Luke Randolph 3½-½
2nd-5th: Gavin Randolph, Bernie Xu, Daniel Wang, Michael Yu 3-1

K-6 Under 800 Section:

1st-2nd: Amrit Subramanian, Eric Stevens 4-0 (blitz playoff)
3rd-8th: Audrey Gaines, Kanishk Pandey, Shrujal San, Andrew Gao, Derek Zhao, Maxwell Chen 3-1

K-3 Under 1200 Section:

1st: Brian Yin 3½-½
2nd-3rd: Bernie Xu, Matthew Loose 3-1

K-3 Under 500 Section:

1st: Derek Zhao 4-0
2nd: Joy Cao 3½-½
3rd-4th: Dustin Liang, Mark Chudnovsky 3-1

Massachusetts Blitz Championship:

1st: Vadmin Martirosov 8½-1½
2nd: Chris Williams 8-2
Top U2000: Agustin Garcia, Erik Elbieh 6-4
Top U1800: Michael Isakov: 5½-4½

The top Massachusetts resident or student in each section of the main tournament is the state champion for that rating category.  Tied players are co-champions.

Players in the scholastic sections are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

05/27/20132013 MACA ELECTION RESULTS

A total of 788 ballots were issued by mail for the 2013-2014 MACA election. From that total, 113 ballots were returned by the deadline of Saturday noon, May 25, 2013, when ballots were counted by members of the MACA Elections Commission (Stephen Dann, Walter Driscoll and George Mirijanian) and various tellers, including Percy Yip, Donna Alarie, David W. Martin and others.
 
OFFICIAL RESULTS (with those elected listed in boldface)
 
PRESIDENT: Nathan Smolensky of Brookline - 73 votes
                    Robert E. King of Plymouth -           39 votes
                    Blanks                                            1
 
VICE PRESIDENT: John Sadoff of Somerville -   59 votes
                             Marc Turgeon of Plymouth -      49 votes
                             Blanks                                      5
 
TREASURER: Bob Messenger of Nashua, NH - 103 votes
 
CLERK: Nicholas Sterling of Needham -            95 votes

             Steven Frymer of Lexington (write-in) -        1 vote
             Blanks                                                   17
 
DIRECTORS:
 
George M. Mirijanian of Fitchburg -      89 votes
Steven J. Frymer of Lexington -            85 votes
Richard C. "Doc" Kinne of Somerville - 85 votes
Walter A. Driscoll III of Cambridge -      80 votes
John Sadoff of Somerville -                        75 votes
Marc Turgeon of Plymouth -                  71 votes
Stephen A. Dann of Worcester -            66 votes
Robert E. King of Plymouth -                 54 votes
Kenneth P. Belt of Concord -                 52 votes

 
WRITE-INS:
Nathan Smolensky of Brookline -         13 votes
Mark Kaprielian of Framingham -           4 votes
Maryanne Reilly of Newton Centre -       3 votes
Kenneth Ballou of Framingham -           2 votes
Daniel C. Racine of Quincy -                2 votes
Donna M. Alarie of Rutland -                 1 vote
Dmitry Barash of Brighton -                  1 vote
Walter J. Champion of Wellesley -        1 vote
Christopher Chase of Somerville -         1 vote
John P. Elmore of Stratham, NH -         1 vote
Eric Fauman of Newton -                      1 vote
Paul Felker of Quincy -                         1 vote
Igor Foygel of Brookline -                      1 vote
Margaret King of Amherst -                   1 vote
Mikhail Perelshteyn of Swampscott -     1 vote
F. Alexander Relyea of Bedford, NH -     1 vote
James A. Rizzitano of Southborough -    1 vote
Daniel Sullivan of Medford -                    1 vote
David E. Vigorito of Andover -                 1 vote
 
George Mirijanian,
Member, Elections Commission
 

George Mirijanian
MACA Board Member

05/25/2013Advance Entries for 82nd Massachusetts Open

 Advance Entries for Mass Open is available here (as of 5/24/2013 3:07 PM):

http://masschess.org/events/Advance_Entry/2013-05-25-massopen.htm

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

05/17/2013MACA Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the Massachusetts Chess Association will be held Monday, May 27 at 9:00 a.m. at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough, site of the 82nd Massachusetts Open.

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

05/9/2013Chess Horizons Under New Management

Chess Horizons is an award-winning, decades-long MA chess publication. It has been beleaguered of late. Its largest problem has been staying on any sort of schedule. This was because the former editor was Bob Messenger, whom I like to call "The Hardest Working Man in New England Chess." Putting "Editor" into the mix just proved too much. Sometimes there are are just not enough hours.

And so, Chess Horizons was put under new management last month. No committees. No searches. Just one person (or hopefully as you'll see, a small group of persons) in our community taking the reigns and moving forward.  "Decisions are made by those who show up," as President Jed Bartlett once said.

Let me introduce you to the new Chess Horizons team.  We'll start at the top just to get the tension out of the way.

Editor - Doc Kinne. Yea, that's me. Why me? What experience do I have? Well, I've worked as a semiprofessional magazine writer before, largely in the writing and computer technology fields. About 20 years ago, for two years, I was editor and publisher for a small newsletter/magazine, doing both the editing and the layout. Yes, there has been a good bit of water under the bridge, but I've done something like this before. I'm also a member of the Chess Journalist of America, not that that means much right now.

Layout & Photography Editor - Max Sewell. Max has been integral in making Chess Horizons the award-winning publication it has been. In a visual medium like a magazine the layout is every bit as crucial as anything else. I'd be dumb not to retain him, and I look forward to working with him!

Publications Consultant - Bob Messenger. Wait? Wasn't the entire point to separate Chess Horizons and Bob?  Well, not quite. As Publications Consultant Bob will be there to answer procedural questions and be able to supply a bridge from the old to the new as the new team gets going. I'm going to try to keep him from doing a lot, honestly, but I expect his role will be more important than even I can imagine right now.

Copy & Games Editor - Nathan Smolensky. Nathan is one of those competent people who showed up with ideas and an interest. His rating is now high enough (I actually entertained fantasies that I could beat Nathan a year ago!) that I very much trust him on games editing.

So, that's the team as it now stands. There is room, I think, for one or two more Copy Editors, and I'll entertain applications. I'd be looking for someone who has a strong computer and internet presence, can work with either Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer, and is prepared to give me deliverables. I'd like to see an Advertising Manager for Chess Horizons in the future, but first we need to get back on a regular schedule and hold that so that advertisers will want to advertise with us.

Oh! I was wrong! That's not the whole team. I left out, frankly, the most important person  - hopefully you! You as writer! A magazine cannot exist without it getting input and this nicely ties in with my editorial philosophy - Chess Horizons, I hope, will be very much a grassroots publication. Your publication, in fact. The team above is just the assemblers. I need you and your news, views, and opinions.

Chess Horizons will be accepting and looking for completed articles submitted as ASCII text, Rich Text Format .rtf files, Microsoft Word .doc files, and LibreOffice Writer .odt files. Game scores will be solicited either in .txt or .pgn formats. Photographs can be submitted as .jpg, .pgn, or .gif formats.

I can see trying to organize a stable of writers, and will be contacting some of you with regard to this soon. Would you want to put Stringer for Chess Horizons on your resume? Maybe!

Finally, the schedule. Chess Horizons over the last several years has been so erratic in this department that I hope this will be its greatest change and improvement. The magazine will be going back to a quarterly schedule and will roughly be maintaining the same page count, based on submissions. I'm an astronomer in my real life, so in my mind a quarterly schedule means the Solstices and Equinoxes. Instead of a May-September (or whatever) issue, we'll be having Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter issues with release dates falling on our about the seasonal starting dates. Deadlines for submissions will be the first of the appropriate months: 1 March, 1 June, 1 September, 1 December.

So, that's our big news for now. Questions, comments, and submissions can come to "kinnerc @ gmail.com".  I look forward to hearing from each of you!

Doc Kinne
MACA Correspondent

05/6/2013Election ballots have been mailed

MACA election ballots and Massachusetts Open tournament flyers were mailed Monday, May 6 from the Fitchburg Post Office.  Nathan Smolensky, who is a candidate for MACA President, is also a candidate for MACA board Director, but his name was inadvertently omitted from the ballot.  The MACA Elections Commission regrets this error.

 

George Mirijanian
MACA Board Member

04/29/20132013 Hurvitz Cup Photos

The photos are uploaded at our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151624172391420.1073741825.304603651419&type=1

If you like your photo and want to have a high resolution copy, please e-mail me at webmaster@masschess.org with the photo number.

 

 

 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

04/28/2013Hurvitz Cup prize winners

Prize winners at the Hurvitz Cup, Massachusetts scholastic team championship, held April 28th in Boxborough:

Grade 9-12 Section:

1st: Lexington High School (Mika Brattain, James Lung, Vikas Shiva, Timothy Lung, Nicholas Zhang) 4-0
2nd-3rd: BU Academy (Andrew Wang, Bary Lisak, Kevin Hu, Matthew Lee),
         Newton North High School (Winston Huang, Jacob Fauman, Tian Rossi, Charlie Fauman) 3-1

Medals: Parsa Mansouri (Commonwealth A) 4-0; Solo Bat-Erdene (Brookline H.S.), Anthony Rodriguez (Prospect Hill Academy) 3-1

Grade 6-8 Section:

1st: Curtis Middle School (Sudbury) (Michael Isakov, Sandeep Shankar, Jesse Sun, Jacob Donowitz) 4-0
2nd: Noble and Greenough School (Max Sheerin, Iain Sheerin, Paul Apostolicas, Camden Filoon, Gustave Ducrest) 2-2
3rd-4th: Prospect Hill Academy (Ellen Wang, Marrs Griggs, Kunchok Dingyon, Daniel Trivino),
         BB&N Knights (Samuel Gloss, Siddharth Arun, Aurash Vatan, Philip Melki, Samiha Datta) 1-3

Grade K-5 Section:

1st: Bridge Elementary (Conway Xu, Justin Lin, Lucy Cai, Evan Maclure) 4-0
2nd-3rd: Park School (Luke Randolph, Gavin Randolph, Shahab Kousheshi, Karen Li),
         Merriam Chess Kings (Acton) (Brandon Wu, Jerry Tan, Devin Brown, Cameron McKnight) 3-0

Medals: Luke Dias (Franklin) 4-0; Michael Yu (Gates), Aaron Zhang (Gates), Andrew Trias (Cabot), Eric Han (Estabrook), Philip Liu (BB&N), Fernando Riedewald (Cabot), Anthony Wang (Cooley Team, Sudbury) 3-1

Grade K-3 Section:

1st: Vinson-Owen Sachems (Winchester) (Eddie Wei, Larry Jin, Kate Jiang, Michael Jiang) 3½-½
2nd: Merriam Chess Knights (Acton) (Advay Goel, Steven Tan, Alex Frederick, Vedant Deokar) 3-1
3rd-6th: Cabot School (Ben Fauman, Max Williams, William Ayinon, Duncan Naylor),
         Carlisle Huskies (Andrew Bistras, Aaron Gao, Marcus Lee, Max Seeley),
         International School of Boston (Benjamin Holman, Stefan Stojanovic, Ian Van Hulle, Petar Stojanovic, Emile Allam),
         Edith C. Baker School (Brooklin) (David Katsman, Nathaniel Kagan, Joshua Chan, Andrew Dementiev, Timothy Lee) 2½-1½

Medals: Ben Rippy (Cope Team, Sudbury) 3-1

The top three teams in each section won trophies and are listed in tiebreak order.  Players on teams tied for third and not winning trophies won medals.

The tournament directors were Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian, Dan Racine, Steve Frymer, and Kavyashree Mallanna
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

04/28/2013NGIT Match

Michelle Chen 2.5-1.5 Carissa Yip

Steve Frymer
MACA Board Member

04/28/2013Hurvitz Cup

winners:

high school..........................Lexington

middle school......................Ephraim Curtis,  Sudbury

elementary..........................Bridge, Lexington

primary...............................Vinson-Owen, Winchester

Steve Frymer
Assistant TD

04/27/2013Advance Entries for 2013 Hurvitz Cup / State Team Championship

 As of 05:12PM today:

http://masschess.org/events/Advance_Entry/2013-04-28-Hurvitz.htm

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

04/21/201323rd Massachusetts G/60 Championship

Prize winners at the 23rd Massachusetts G/60 Championship, held April 21st in Marlborough, Massachusetts:

Open Section

1st-2nd GM Alexander Ivanov, Mika Brattain 3½-½
Top U2200 Andrew Liu 3-1

Under 2000 Section

1st Tyson Slesnick 3½-½
2nd-4th Alonzo Ross, Michael Odell, Michael Isakov 3-1

Under 1800 Section

1st Daniel Racine 4-0
2nd-3rd Alex Fauman, Gaetano Bompastore 3-1

Under 1600 Section

1st Michael Yezukevich 4-0
2nd-3rd Eduardo Valadares, Gordon Weast 3-1

Under 1200 Section

1st Max Bennett 4-0
2nd Eugene Tappen 3½-½
3rd-5th Aaron Dunigan AtLee, Justin Wang, Bharath Heggadahalli 3-1

The tournament directors were Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

04/20/2013New England Junior Open

The New England Junior Open, organized by Celestial Minds, was held Saturday, April 20th in Nashua, New Hampshire.  Chief organizer Kavyashree Mallanna provided the following report:

Dear all

  Thank you for attending Celestial Minds NE Junior Open Chess Championship-2013. Congratulations to all the Fifty Seven players who participated in this USCF rated event. We were happy to see players from ME, MA and NH states making the event more challenging; this  gives upcoming players an opportunity to face tougher games.

We hope to see you all again for our future events.

We thank our Honorable Mayor of Nashua, Donnalee Lozeau; our chief guest of the evening Mr.Mike Lachance, CEO of YMCA Nashua; our Special Guests Mr.Ravi Torvi , Mr.Bob Messenger, Mr.Prasanna Nagabhushan; Mr Sanjay Shah for graciously accepting to preside over the function, distributing the prizes and motivating the Players with their inspiring speeches.

We thank all our team members for their constant support and helping us bring this event together.

We also thank John Elmore, Alex Relyea, Hal Terrie of the New Hampshire Chess Association for their support.

We are very pleased to have Sterling Smiles - a professional family dentistry - and India New England (e-news portal) for their Support and being our Media partners.

Below are the event results #

K-12 Category:

1. Bharath Heggadahalli   MA
2. Michael Yu     MA
3. Daniel Robert Faubel   MA

K-7 Category Winner:

1. Michael Yu  MA

K-3 Category:

1. Abhinav Govindaraju NH
2. Kaival Shah   NH
3. William Colglazier   Maine

Unrated Category:

1. Shashank Vasanth
2. Akash Shaji
3. Jasper Xu

The Most Powerful Weapon In Chess Is To Have The Next Move !!

LOST and FOUND #

1. Grey sweater
2. Chess Clock ( if you confirm the look and color , we can sync up and you can collect it from us)

We will soon upload pictures on Facebook and picasaweb and share it with you all.

Regards

Celestial Minds Team

Team Members:

Kavyashree Mallanna , Prasanna Nagabhushan, Ravi Torvi, Siri Venepalle,  Deepti Navaratna, Kishore Tiruveedhula ,Rajashree Ravi, Sanjay Shah, Pratibha Konnur, Kiran Kumar CJ,  Venu Sathu, Shashidhar KC, Vrushi Gurudev,  Harshita Rao, Vaishali Shah, Bob Messenger, Ilya Krasik, Joe Perl.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

04/16/20132013 Super Nationals

  • K-12 Championship: Tian Rossi tied for 19th place with 5 points (5 wins) , and was 23rd according to tie-breaks.
  • K-6 Championship: Alex Fauman tied for 20th place with 5 points (5 wins).
  • K-5 Championship: Nithin Kavi tied for 2nd place with 6 points (5 wins and 2 draws), and was 7th according to tie-breaks. Jason Tang tied for 9th place with 5.5 points (5 wins and 1 draw), and was 14th according to tie-breaks.
  • K-5 under 900: Bharath Heggadahalli tied for 3rd place with 6 points (6 wins), and was 6th according to tie-breaks.
  • K-1 Championship: Eddie Yi Ming Wei tied for 3rd place with 6 points (6 wins), and was 10th according to tie-breaks

Webmaster note:  Original data published by Steve Frymer on 4/7/2013. Bharath Heggadahalli's result added by MACA Webmaster on 4/16/2013.

Steve Frymer
MACA Board Member

03/23/20132013 BK Scholastic Grand Prix

After three events the current leaders are [total points and total events]: 
 
 MICHAEL YU     7     2  
WINSTON W ZHAO    6      2
UTKARSH PANDEY       5     2
DEXTER LI KENNEDY  4.5  3
TOBY SHU                       4     2
COLE PARKS                 3.5  3
ABHINAV GOVINDARAJU   3   1
ARNON KUZMIN           3      1
MATTHEW LOOSE       3      1
UTKAL PANDEY           3      2
 
 

 

 

Steve Frymer
MACA Board Member

03/10/2013LOST AND FOUND...Grade School Championships

i have a winter jacket, reddish-brown, left at the tournament today.

 

inquiries to steve frymer, sfrymer [at] rcn [dot] com, 781-862-3799.

Steve Frymer
Assistant TD

03/10/2013Gus Gosselin Grade Championship prize winners

Prize winners at the Gus Gosselin Grade Championship, held March 10th 2013 at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough.

Grade 8-12 section:

1st-2nd: Siddharth Arun, Yi Yang 3½-½
3rd: Peter Teodorescu 3-1
Top Grade 9: Karthik Karnik 1½-2½
Top Grade 8: William Nemirovsky, Kyle Rector 2-2

Grade 7 section:

1st: Michael Isakov 4-0
2nd: Mark Khrapko 3-1
3rd-5th: August Donovan, Gershon Gilman, Jason Chin 2-2

Grade 6 section:

1st: Alex Fauman 4-0
2nd: Sandeep Shankar 3-1
3rd-6th: David McCabe, Alvin Tan, Alon Trogan, Anton Barash 2½-1½

Grade 5 section:

1st: Alexander Bao 4-0
2nd-3rd: Bharath Heggadahalli, William Kim 3-1

Grade 4 section:

1st: Alexander Ying 3½-½
2nd-4th: Jason Wang, Karen Li, Shahab Kousheshi 3-1

Grade 3 section:

1st: Maxwell Zhao 4-0
2nd: Luke Randolph 3½-½
3rd-6th: Daniel Wang, Alex Yu, Eric Han, Nikita Roldan-Levchenko 3-1

Grade 2 section:

1st: Justin Wang 3½-½
2nd-4th: Sammi Pan, Benjamin Fauman, Benjamin Zilber 3-1

Grade K-1 section:

1st: David Katsman 4-0
2nd-4th: Joy Cao, Winston Zhao, Nicholas Belous 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

03/7/2013Advance Entries for 2013 Gus Gosselin Grade Championship

The advance entries for 2013 Gus Gosselin / Mass Grade Championship (as of 03/07/13) 7:38 PM is available now. 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

02/10/2013Prize winners at the Barry S. Spiegel Cup

Prize winners at the Barry S. Spiegel Cup, the Massachusetts scholastic championship for individual players, held February 10th at the Embassy Suites hotel in Marlborough:

High School Section

1st: Mika Brattain 4-0
2nd: Tian Rossi 3½-½
3rd-5th: Andrew Wang, Michelle Chen, Grant Xu 3-1

Age 14 & Under Section

1st: Andrew Liu 3½-½
2nd-4th: Siddharth Arun, Yi Yang, Evan Meyer 3-1

Age 11 & Under Section

1st-3rd: Jason Tang, Carissa Yip, Conway Xu 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st: Alex Yu 3½-½
2nd: Evan MacLure 3-1
3rd: Nikita Roldan-Levchenko 2½-1½

Players with the same score are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament directors were Bob Messenger and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

02/9/2013Advance Entries for 2013 Spiegel Cup

 Advance Entries for 2013 Spiegel Cup is available now.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

02/4/2013LOST AND FOUND, Qualifier #2 and Winter Team Challenge

I have a winter jacket.

I HAVE A CHESS CLOCK

I HAVE DIRECTIONS FOR DIGITAL CHESS CLOCK USE [different from lost clock]...

Steve Frymer...781-862-3799...sfrymer@rcn.com

Steve Frymer
Assistant TD

02/3/2013Prize winners at the Winter Team Challenge

Prize winners at the Winter Team Challenge, held February 3rd 2013 at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough:

K-12 Section:

1st: Horse Power (Nithin Kavi, Mateos Sahakian, Conway Xu, Eddie Wei) 3-1
2nd: The Newtonians (Evan Meyer, Henry Liu, Gershon Gilman, Max Bennett, Calvin Jungreis) 3-1
3rd: Russian Knights (Anton Barash, Michael Isakov, Alon Trogan, Alan Sikarov) 3-1

K-6 Section:

1st: ACLS Dragons (Eric Feng, Alexander Ying, Jacob Zhang, Evan Xu) 3½-½
2nd: Lugalesh Conquerors (Luke Randolph, Gavin Randolph, Alexander Bao, Shahab Kousheshi) 3½-½
3rd: Cabot School (Benjamin Fauman, Andrew Trias, Javier Bonilla, William Ayinon) 2½-1½

Medal winners:

Samuel Qiu (ACLS Tigers), Adrian Hackney (Learning Project) 4-0
Richard Chen (Lexington), Madison Dietl (Franklin School), Peter Posever (German International School of Boston A) 3-1

K-3 Section:

1st: Lexington Friends (Daniel Wang, Jesse Liu, Christopher Ye, Eric Han) 4-0
2nd: Yin-Yang (Larry Jin, Sammi Pan, Bernie Xu, Claire Mao) 2½-1½
3rd: ACLS Tigers (Andrew Bistras, Joy Cao, Advay Gao, William Blevins) 2½-1½

Medal winners:

Alex Yu (ACLS Dragons), Danila Poliannikov (Knights of Jedi), Alex Friedman (Franklin School) 3-1

22 teams entered the tournament, which was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

02/2/2013Advance Entries for 2013 Winter Team Challenge

 The link for the Adv. Entries (as of 5:30 PM) can be found here: http://www.masschess.org/events/Advance_Entry/2013-02-03-wtc.htm

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

01/20/2013Spiegel Cup Invite Lists as of 20 January 2013

The ratings below are considered final for the February rating supplement. We now have our 10 finalists!

Spiegel Cup scheduled for 10 February 2013 at Embassy Suites Hotel in Marlborough.  Round one scheduled for 9:30 am. Please arrive between 9 and 9:15 for announcements, and so we can begin on time.

The 7th player on the raing priority list is the 1st alternate. Please let me know if you are available to play if needed.

The High School championship and Denker Tournament of High School Champions [at US Open in Madison Wisconsin in August] qualifier is a 4SS open to any high school player in Massachusetts. The entry fee for the high school division is $20.

 14&U
Evan Meyer    1815    Q1 winner
Loring Lauretti    1704    Q2 winner
Alvin Tan    1810    Q3 winner
Luke Lung 1844   Q4 winner


Yi Yang    2211
Andrew Liu    2189
Siddharth Arun    2075
Danny Angermeier    2015
Charlie Fauman    2011
Mateos Sahakian    1852
_______________________

Nicholas Plotkin    1838
Jeffrey Yao    1788
Allen Wang    1750
James Zhou    1638
Michael Isakov    1629
Tal Puhov    1578

11&U
Alex Fauman    1751    Q1 winner
Anton Barash    1689    Q2 winner
Eric Feng    1590    Q3 winner
Alan Sikarov 1473  Q4 winner


Nithin Kavi    1880
Conway Xu    1806
Jason Tang    1795
Carissa Yip    1782
Henry Liu    1693
Eddie Yi Ming Wei    1577
_______________________
Alon Trogan    1555
Maxwell Zhao    1523
Eddie Wang    1423
Jesse Sun    1335

8&U
Luke Randolph    1156    Q1 winner
Alex Yu    1083    Q2 winner
Daniel Wang    1066    Q3 winner
Nikita Roldan-Levchenko    1014 Q4 winner


Evan Maclure    1054
Ben Fauman    978
Gavin Randolph    975
Jesse Enoch Liu    958
Christopher Ye    935
Eric Han    914
____________________
Aahan Mehra    831
James Cui    731


 

 

Steve Frymer
MACA Board Member

01/20/2013Prize winners at the 4th Barry S. Spiegel Cup Qualifier

Prize winners at the 4th Barry S. Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held January 20th at the Best Western Royal Plaza hotel in Marlborough:

Age 14 & Under Section

1st Luke Lung 3½-½
2nd-3rd Michael Isakov, William Nemirovsky 3-1

Age 11 & Under Section

1st Alan Sikarov 4-0
2nd-8th Jerry Tan, Maxwell Zhao, Brandon Wu, Alon Trogan, Matthew Ding, Luke Randolph, Lucy Cai 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st-4th Nikita Roldan-Levchenko (playoff winner), Gavin Randolph, Aahan Mehra, Sammi Pan 3-1

Novice Under 800 Section

1st-4th Mark Khrapko, Adrian Seeger, Isaac Tang, Mark Nazzaro 3-1

Novice Under 400 Section

1st Nicholas Holt-Doucette 4-0
2nd Swapnesh Baguli 3½-½
3rd-8th Narmada Kilaru, Veronica Arutyunyants, Madeleine Hung, Nicholas Belous, Arvind Sridhar, Benjamin Lee 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, Siddharth Arun, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

01/5/2013Prize winners at the 3rd Barry. S. Spiegel Cup Qualifier

Prize winners at the 3rd Barry S. Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held January 5th at the BB&N School in Cambridge:

Age 14 & Under Section

1st Alvin Tan 3½-½
2nd-3rd  Luke Lung, Henry Liu 3-1

Age 11 & Under Section

1st  Eric Feng 4-0
2nd  Brandon Wu 3½-½
3rd-6th  Eddie Wei, Alon Trogan, Michael Yu, Richard Chen 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st  Daniel Wang 3½-½
2nd-3rd  Danila Poliannikov, Jesse Liu 3-1

Novice Under 800 Section

1st  William Marshall 3½-½
2nd-5th  Van Chung, Husayn Karimi, Benjamin Wiegand, Ryan Saklad 3-1

Novice Under 400 Section

1st  Nicholas Belous 4-0
2nd  Mark Chudnovsky 3½-½
3rd-6th  Siri Vadlamudi, Brandon Rubinshtein, Arvind Sridhar, Colin Michna 3-1

Players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament directors were Bob Messenger, Nathan Smolensky and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD