The CCL Chess School

Chess, Community and Learning

 

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

Chess Math is here!

chessmath

Chess Math is presented by esteemed mathematician Dr. Harvey Friedman for CCL only!

- earned his PhD from MIT when he was only 18 years old
- Guinness Book of World Records for being an assistant professor at 18 years.
- Winner of the Alan T Waterman Award
- Wikipedia article

Date: Sunday, December 1, 2024
Time: 1:00 - 5:00
Location: second floor of Harrison on Fifth, 579 W. 5th Avenue

The whole CCL community is invited, as is everyone else who lives in the same home. We will have a moderate amount of space but may have to limit participation. We will take the participants in order of signup.

We will meet at 1 PM on the second floor of Harrison on Fifth, 579 W. 5th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201. This is near Grandview and opposite Batelle. Parking is available here and nearby. Snacks and drinks will be available. Additional food items will be determined. The meeting will last through 5 PM, with flexibility for late departures for chess-related activities. The lectures will be given with a TV screen(s) within everyone's sight.

More info or signup

Click Here

March CCL Chess Camps

Two CCL chess camps by International Master Atanas Kizov

 

Camp 1

date: March 26, 2025
time: 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
where: second floor of Harrison on Fifth, 579 W. 5th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201
If you are below HS, you need adult supervision.

Camp 2

date: March 30, 2025
time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
where: home of Adhi Adaikappan
689 Maple Vista Dr, Delaware OH 43015
Paking on the street.  It could be cold in Adai's basement so dress appropriately, depending on the weather.

All chess equipment and snacks will be provided.
For more details or questions, call Alan (614) 561-2718 or email cclalanc@gmail.com.

40% discounts are available to the second or third person from the same family, participants coming from over a 45-minute drive to Columbus, and retired individuals.
If you cannot make it to the camp, you will be 100% refunded, no questions asked. Camp 2 is only open to the first 24 signups! 

  • Cost of the camps
    • camp 1 - $65
    • camp 2- $109
      • camp 2 is free to the parents of a student in 2nd grade or below
      • 40% discount to the 2nd student from the same family, students greater than 45 minutes from Columbus, and retired parents/students.

Payment to reserve a spot for these chess camps..

Click Here

Maxwell again! Good Gosh

What is the deal with Maxwell?  When he reached 1600, I told him he might plateau.  I didn't want him to be shocked when it happened.  Ignoring my sage prediction, Maxwell won his section in a major tournament.  After that happened, my new prediction was that he would hang out around 1700.  I guess he wasn't listening again, as his clear 1st place finish in the U-1900 section of the Ohio Chess Congress brought his rating up to 1800.  Maxwell will now hang out around 1800 for a while.  It is obvious..... right????????

20240901_180510

Maxwell with his mother Li-Chun.  Wait, that is the trophy that goes to the State champion.  Does Maxwell have some plans for the future?

Louis Zhang becomes the 36th CCL Graduate

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Congratulations to Louis Zhang, our latest and 36th CCL graduate. He participated in many tournaments and graduated when his rating went over 2000.

When Louis was 7 years old, he went to a nearby library where there was a chess club. He joined and learned how to play. This was where his affection for chess began. Even to this day, he still remembers getting up at 6 am to play chess when he was in elementary school. He discovered the joy of victory and the regret of losing, which fueled his passion for chess and led him to where he is now. Louis appreciates Atanas's teaching, and he learned a lot from CCL. 

The skills developed in becoming a CCL graduate transfer to a successful future.  I am amazed at all of the accomplishments of CCL graduates in their future endeavors, which I am sure I will see in Louis' future as well.

Louis is the current Ohio 7th-grade champion, and he won the most recent chess camp tournament,  It is a hard-earned honor to become a CCL graduate, which includes a lifetime membership to CCL based on good behavior, without the need to take lessons from CCL.  Anything that CCL has to offer (newsletter, library, team participation, etc. will always be available to you).    To become a CCL graduate, you need to meet any of the following requirements:

- 1 year in CCL and earning a rating of 2000
- 4 years in CCL and earning a rating of 1900
- 5 years in CCL and earning a rating of 1800

I will probably not know if you meet one of these requirements unless you notify me.

CCL Graduates
from first to most recent

  • 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
  • Xavier Paganini
  • Justin Storn
  • Stanley Cao
  • Elton Cao
  • Jasen Lai
  • Shourjya Ghosh
  • Aryan Balyan
  • Viktor Mishkin
  • Dakshin Pisini
  • Rohan Padhye
  • Dae-San Kim
  • Adeti Mohanselvan
  • Joe Kleban
  • Michael Lin
  • Minghao Gu
  • Matt Wang
  • Louis Zhang

Major Changes in CCL

CCL has been around for almost 20 years, and most of the top young players from Ohio come from our group.  Although I am still in good health, I am 73 years old, and I want CCL to outlast me.  Then, a synergy of events led to moving to a more parent-involved group and a new way of doing CCL.  The main idea is to change the current CCL operation over time, trying to go from Alan Casden to the community it serves (mostly parents of the students).

The Student Activity Group has recently formed, and they will run CCL. They will get $5 from every lesson, and I gave them the authority to make future decisions on CCL. Although this sounds simple, I think it is deceptively complex, but we got some great parents on the project.  One of my mom's sayings was, "If you never reach for the stars, how would you ever know how far you could go?"

This group needs your help. All suggestions for creating an inspiring, supportive chess community for Team CCL are welcome. If you want to send suggestions, you can post them in the new CCL WhatsApp Group. Others can comment on the suggestions as well.

The Student Activity group was just formed and has already executed some great ideas. Om's parents set up a WhatsApp CCL group. Anyone in CCL can join this group. There is a link on the 'Students' 'Private' page. This will probably be where much of the future CCL information will be communicated.  I can get the news out quickly and with little effort.  I encourage everyone to join this WhatsApp group.  WhatsApp is an easy and effective way for anyone in the group to communicate with everyone else.

The other idea was an Impromptu chess get-together. Henry's mom designed and delivered it. It was a last-second thought, and it worked out perfectly. The kids had a great time. Below are pictures from this event.