Cole Braun wins Ohio Middle School Championship

February 27, 2024

Cole won the Ohio Middle School Championship and will represent Ohio and CCL at the Barber tournament, playing against all other state middle school champions. Cole just recently joined CCL and will represent our program well. Below is a picture of Aadhi Adaikappan, the Ohio 3rd grade champion, who came in 2nd place in the K-5 division of the Ohio HS/MS Championship. I will participate with Aadhi and some of our other young stars on the same MOTCF team.

CCL Chess Camp 4/20-21/2024

February 17, 2024

A weekend chess camp by International Master Atanas Kizov

- Date: Saturday/Sunday April 20-21, 2024
- Time: 9:00 – 5:00
- Where:
  CCL Training Center
  at the home of:
  Dr. Carrie Casden
  736 Watterton Drive
  Westerville, Ohio
  
  Open only to CCL members.
  Lectures, game reviews, camp review book, tournament, and many prizes.
  Draw or beat Atanas in a 5-1 game or Alan in a 5-3 game and win a $1, tournament trophies, free future chess lessons, books, etc.
  All chess equipment and snacks will be provided but bring your own lunch.
  For more details, or questions call Alan (614) 561-2718 or email cclalanc@gmail.com.
- 40% discounts to 2nd/3rd person from the same family, participants coming from over a 45-minute drive to Columbus, and retired individuals.
  100% refunded if you cannot make it to the camp, no questions asked. This camp is only open to the 1st 24 signups! IM Atanas Kizov will be teaching these 6 topics, the first 3 on Saturday and the second 3 on Sunday

Bobby Fischer and the Square d5..

- Bobby Fischer and the Square d5:

Bobby Fischer who inspired us with his light square strategy and if we look even more deeper with his master ship by controlling over the extremely important square d5 in various Sicilian variants. His opening setups were in principle focused in the light square strategy: various Sozin variants (Bc4), with
the plan f4-f5, which forced the opponent to move e6-e5 (or to take e6-f5), or unusual variants with h2-h3, where his opponents in most cases did not recognize that they are already deadly lost and of course did not know why this happened at all …

First, we look at the definition of the weak square:
»A square is weak when it is controlled by your opponent and you have little or no chance of regaining control due to a lack of pieces which can effectively fight for that square. Typically, pawns that could have controlled the square have moved past it and, of course, cannot move backwards to help guard it. Single weak squares are called “holes”. Holes on the opponents half of the board that can be occupied by one of your supported pieces are called “outposts”.

Playing without castling

Backward pawn on c7

- Backward pawn on c7

When white takes c4xd5 and black recaptures with e6xd5 in the queens gambit, we reach the well known Karlsbad structure, where black usually plays c7–c6. But sometimes, black delays or is not able to play c6, and white manages to advance his b pawn to b5, leaving the c7 pawn backwards. In this article we will have a look at this type of positions, which usually are in white's favor. Let's start with a fantastic game by Magnus Carlsen, where the World champion shows a deep understanding of this type of position.

Bobby and the Hedgehog

- Bobby and the Hedgehogs

Every legendary champion had its own favourite plan in classical structures. They have their own individual preferences how to conduct typical plans. Fischer have a few interesting games in hedgehog structure for both sides. He played few really high quality games. He even invented the classical attack with the g-pawn! Hedgehog was considered until 70-ies years of the last century as extremely passive and a boring structure, completely suffering from the lack of space. But suddenly games of Adorjan, Ljubojevic, Andersson and Psakhis showed a lot of dynamic potential here. Even such active players as Garry Kasparov applied this kind of structure in a number of games. Nowadays enthusiasm of hedgehogs disappeared - foxes are ruling!

Triangle central set up

- Triangle central set up

The set up with Black pawns c6-d5-e6 became universal weapon against closed openings. In such way Black avoids sharp play ,slowly prepares b7-b6,Bc8-b7 and then is ready for central counterstrikes like c6-c5,sometimes e6-e5. White has two plans against this set up. First is old Pillsbury plan Nf3-e5, then f2-f4, making center position strong and then preparing for attack on the Kings side. Second plan is to play e4 and to open position maximally, but the main idea is still attack on the Kings side.

When is it OK to Play g4?

- When is it OK to Play g4?

When we teach our students, it is important to teach them the basic principles of chess. Once they are aware of those and are able to apply them in their own games, it is just as important to point out when it may be ok not to follow those same principles and recognize the exception from the rule. Let us imagine a situation when we are in the opening (or middlegame) with most pieces (especially queens) still on the board, and we castle (or plan to) to the kingside of the board.
In such situations, we generally do not recommend playing g4 as it typically would weaken our kingside and put our king in potential danger.

Cost of the camp
- - two days - $199
  - one day - $109
  - 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 this chess camp.

Click Here

Rohan Padhye win Cardinal Open while CCL finishes very strong

January 19, 2024

The Cardinal Open is one of the top perennial tournaments in Ohio each year. This year CCL came in 1st place in four of the 5 sections.

Rohan Padhye - Clear 1st place in Open section; won $1,500; a CCL graduate; picture is from the World Youth U-16; rating 2353

Dakshin Pisini - Tied 1st place in U-1900 section: won $400; a CCL graduate; back from a long break from tournament chess; aka Doctor Shin

Shiv Srinivasan - Clear 1st place in U-1600 section; won $800; current Ohio 5th grade co-champion

Om Chatterjee - Clear 1st place in U-1300 section; won $800, gained 216 rating points; just joined CCL 2 months ago

Rohan Padhye

Shiv Srinivasan

Dakshin Pisini

Om Chatterjee

Mehmet is a National Champion

December 19, 2023

Mehmet Yilanli, a CCL superstar, is now the National Kindergarten champion. At the National Grade Levels last weekend, Mehmet swept the Kindergarten section with a perfect 7-0, claiming clear 1st place. Below is a note that I got from Musa, Mehmet's dad.

We just made it back to Columbus late last night, and Mehmet is still buzzing about his incredible win at the Championships. He can't stop talking about it 🙂 Mehmet made a lot of friends from all over the country. He even mentioned how grateful he was for the helpful tips he received from other parents and players before each game. I was particularly impressed by how focused Mehmet was throughout the tournament. He was always one of the first players on the board, eager to face his opponent.

Now, he is asking a lot of questions about the World Cadet Championship 🙂

Thanks for your guidance and support throughout Mehmet's journey.

CCL wins most of the grades at the Ohio Grade Levels

November 25, 2023

CCL wins 7 of the 13 grades at the Ohio Grade Levels. Another dominant performance from CCL.

Top 3 finishers from CCL:

K = Mehmet Yilanli - State Kindergarden champion
- Leo Augustine - 2nd place
3rd - Aadhi Adaikappan - State 3rd grade champion
- Henry Wolfe - 2nd place
5th - Shiv Srinivasan and Maxwell Chung - State 5th grade co-champions
6th - Yichang Lin and Ethan Yuan - tied for 3rd place
7th - Louis Zhang - State 7th grade champion
- Sarah Zhang - 2nd place
- Aryan Kondekar - tied for 2nd
8th - Siddarth Kunapuli - State 8th grade champion - 4-time grade level champion
- Chase Chang - 2nd place
11th - Dae San Kim - State 11th grade champion - 5-time grade level champion
12th - Michael Lin - State 12th grade co-champion