One of the biggest accomplishments that many chess players hope to achieve is to become a USCF Chess Master. Recently one more CCL member climbed to the top of this huge mountain, which takes an exceptional amount of hard work and commitment. CCL is very proud of:

Sam Massick

Sam drove his rating over 2200 and became a National Master by tying for 2nd place in the U-2200 section of the Chicago Class Championships.

His parents report:
Sam is a rising sophomore who has been playing chess since he was seven years old.  Reaching the master level was a primary goal of his and Coach Goran.  Goran was his primary coach for years and provided great support and encouragement.  Sam is very thankful to Coach Alan and Coach Atanas, who have helped him with his game over the past year.

The following were active members of CCL from the early parts of their chess development through getting their Master’s title.  This amazing group  includes: Walker Griggs, John Hughes, Maggie Feng, Chris Shen, Luke Xie, Noah Keating-Adams, Annorjan Naguleswaran,  Aristo Liu, Vincent Baker, Forest Chen, Jason Wang, and Sam Massick.

Aristo came in clear 1st place and took home the gold medal in the U-14 division of the Pan American Chess Championship. This year the event was held in beautiful Costa Rica (note the parrot trophy). He was only the 10th seed at the beginning of the tournament but went undefeated with a 6-3-0 score, finishing a 1/2 point ahead of 2nd place and a whole point ahead of 3rd place. He defeated the top seed who was from Columbia. You can see that game by CLICKING HERE. This result earned Aristo the FIDE Master title, personal rights for the coming World Youth Chess Championships, and personal rights for the next Pan American Youth Chess Championships. An amazing result by an incredible representative of The CCL Chess School, both in the quality of his play and in the qualify of his good sportsmanship.

Congratulations to Adeti Mohanselvan and Alina Niu for finishing in 1st place in the U-1700 and the U-1300 sections respectively.

If you are a CCL graduate, CLICK HERE, for details on getting your CCL Graduate polo shirt.  The shirt will have your name and date of graduation on it.