The CCL Chess School

Chess, Community and Learning

 

Chess lessons and more, for players of all strengths and ages.

Alex Kolay becomes the 19th CCL graduate

Congratulations to our latest and 19th CCL graduate, Alex Koley.

  • Alex is the first person from California to become a CCL graduate.
  • CCL continues to spread its wings with its last 5 graduates coming from 5 different states.
  • Alex is only in 5th grade and brought his rating from 1400 to  2000 in the year and a half that he has been in CCL.
  • See Alex’s self-annotated game that helped to propel him to graduate by clicking HERE.
  • This Who’s Who chess list has been growing with great talent which is clearly characterized by a high value on perseverance, hard work, and passion.
  • What is a CCL graduate?  It is an honorary degree that we give to any CCL player who has worked their way through the ranks while in CCL and has made a USCF experts rating (>= 2000).   This group is becoming a who’s who of the top young talent around. It entitles them to lifetime membership in CCL, based on good behavior, without the requirement of taking lessons (although most still do).  They are allowed to receive email spam from me for the rest of their lives!!
  • Who will be next?

CCL graduates are (in order of obtainment):

  • John Hughes
  • Walker Griggs
  • Maggie Feng
  • Rahul Ramaswamy
  • Annorjan Naguleswaran
  • Luke Xie
  • Chris Shen
  • Noah Keating-Adams
  • Sam Massick
  • Anagh Kulkarni
  • Vikram Srivastava
  • Aristo Liu
  • Abhi Ramaswamy
  • Jason Wang
  • Ricky Wang
  • Vincent Baker
  • Forest Chen
  • Neo Zhu
  • Alex Kolay

CCL does very well at MOTCF (Midwest Open Team Chess Festival)

CCL was well represented at MOTCF (3/19 - 3/20) where 3 of our 5 teams came in 1st place in their respective classes.  A very impressive performance and everyone was very well behaved.  I am very proud of all of you.

Our A team came in tied for 1st place overall.

Our C team came in 1st place in the U-1800 section, tied with our D team who also came in clear 1st place in the U-1600 section.  What they did was take the money from both U-1800 and U-1600 and added it together and divided it by  two.  The checks are for:

A team = $700
C team = $950
D team = $950

The following CCL players participated in MOTCF:

Charlie Charlie Lima Alpha
Maggie Feng
Luke Xie
Alan Casden
Jason Wang
Vincent Baker

Charlie Charlie Lima Bravo
Hans Multhopp
Anagh Kulkarni
Elton Cao
Justin Storn

Charlie Charlie Lima Charlie
Nolan Song
Sujan Rachuri
Om Borkar
Aryan Balyan
Joe Kleban

Charlie Charlie Lima Delta
Adith Joshua George
Sanjay Medicherla
Emma Cheng
Dominic Mayhew

Charlie Charlie Lima Echo
Ethan Fang
Denish Bojja
Chai Annamreddi
Victoria Baker
Sneha Prabu

Neo Zhu becomes 18th CCL graduate

Congratulations to our latest and 18th CCL graduate, Neo Zhu.

  • Neo is the first person from North Carolina to become a CCL graduate
  • Neo earned his graduation with a 2nd place finish in the North Carolina K-8 championship.gelfand
  • Neo is a 7th grader from Chapel Hill, North Carolina
  • On the right is a picture of Neo with Super GM Boris Gelfand
  • This Who’s Who chess list has been growing with great talent which is clearly characterized by a high value on perseverance, hard work, and passion.
  • What is a CCL graduate?  It is an honorary degree that we give to any CCL player who has worked their way through the ranks while in CCL and has made a USCF experts rating (>= 2000).   This group is becoming a who’s who of the top young talent around. It entitles them to lifetime membership in CCL, based on good behavior, without the requirement of taking lessons (although most still do).  They are allowed to receive email spam from me for the rest of their lives!!
  • Who will be next?

CCL graduates are (in order of obtainment):

  • John Hughes
  • Walker Griggs
  • Maggie Feng
  • Rahul Ramaswamy
  • Annorjan Naguleswaran
  • Luke Xie
  • Chris Shen
  • Noah Keating-Adams
  • Sam Massick
  • Anagh Kulkarni
  • Vikram Srivastava
  • Aristo Liu
  • Abhi Ramaswamy
  • Jason Wang
  • Ricky Wang
  • Vincent Baker
  • Forest Chen
  • Neo Zhu

Advanced Rook Endgame Seminar

strategy concept - hand holding chess

CCL and the Dayton Chess Club are teaming together to present an advanced endgame seminar on rook endgames,  This will be a full day seminar at the Dayton Chess Club on Saturday February 20th.  If you are an advanced player, do not miss this essential training about one of the most important topics in chess.

For more details and registration, please CLICK HERE!

CCL and DCC Tie the Knot!

Something Awesome Is Coming

In a gentleman’s agreement, both Dayton Chess Club and CCL have joined forces to raise the level of chess in Dayton and the rest of Ohio.  It is our hope that by combining one of the top chess clubs in the country with one of the top chess training programs in the country that we will put Dayton and Ohio on the chess map, much like was done in St. Louis.

To help us achieve this goal, accomplished CCL coach International Master Leonid Bass will be giving over-the-board chess lessons in Dayton.  If you would like to meet Leonid, he will be giving a free group lesson at the Dayton Chess Club on Thursday evening January 14th at 7:15 PM.  He will be teaching about tactics in the King’s Indian Defense.

Also, on Saturday February 20th, esteemed endgame expert International Master Goran Vojinovic will be holding a 1-day chess camp on Advanced Endgame Play at the Dayton Chess Club.  You need to be rated over 1700 to participate in this camp.  More details will follow soon.