I am so glad that CCL is able to play a role in bringing two FIDE invitational tournaments to Ohio.  Although CCL is an official sponsor, most of the work and costs were absorbed by the parents of CCL member John Hughes, Sally and Martin Hughes.   Also, a  special thanks goes out to the many CCL members that helped to make this event possible.   This is a great moment for chess in Ohio.

The first event is the CCL IM Norm Tournament.  In order to earn a FIDE International Master title, a player must achieve a specified result in three tournaments with international players and strength of opponents that meet rigorous standards established by FIDE, a result that is call a “norm”. The CCL Norm Tournament will meet all these standards, so our local players will have a chance to compete on the first step to an IM title.

This event will be held from February 14 – 18, 2014 at 150 East Wilson Bridge Road, Worthington, Ohio.  Two CCL coaches (IM Goran Vojinovic and IM Atanas Kizov) as well as two CCL students; NM and two time State of Ohio Champion Walker Griggs and current State of Ohio Champion NM John Hughes, will be competing in this 10 player round robin.  The field will also include some of the top chess talent from around the Midwest.  It is expected that most players will need to score 6.5 to earn a leg on an IM title.

With an average USCF rating of over 2400, the following players will be competing in this round robin invitational:

International Masters: IM Goran Vojinovic, IM Atanas Kizov, IM Mauricio Arias Santana

Norm Seekers:

FM Sean Vibbert (Indiana) – Top rated player in Indiana

FM Seth Homa (Michigan) – Top rated player in Michigan

FM Atulya Shetty (Michigan) – National High School Champion

FM Awonder Liang (Wisconsin) – Two time World Youth Champion

NM Walker Griggs (Ohio) – Two time Ohio Champion

NM Scott Ramer (Ohio) – Central Ohio Invitational Champion

NM John Hughes (Ohio) – Ohio Champion, North American U16 Champion

 

The 2nd event is the Ohio Scholastic Invitational Championship.  A closed tournament, limited to the top 25 scholastic players in Ohio. By invitation only. Play against only the top scholastic players in the state.

Format:                           5SS   40/90, G/30, +30 seconds per move

Rating:                            FIDE and USCF rated

Schedule:                        February 14 – 16. Round 1, 7:00 pm.  Sat. 11:00 am and 6:00 pm. Sun. 10:00 am and 5:00 pm

Location:                         150 East Wilson Bridge Road, Worthington, Ohio   43085

It will be the only tournament where all the top scholastic players will be able to slug it out without limitation by grade, or by one student being favored by random pairings against lower rated players.  The Ohio Scholastic Invitational Championship will be held in conjunction with the CCL IM Norm tournament.  Be there for the first norm tournament in Ohio in 30 years. Be part of history.

In order to assure top playing conditions for this championship and the IM norm tournament, there will only be 20 spaces available.  The first 20 players to return their entries will get the chance to play.

                   Sponsored by CCL, Fahey Bank, and many volunteers.

Saturday and Sunday      February 8 – 9^th

This time both of our camps are going to be held concurrently at the same place, although in different rooms.  By the incredible generosity of the Yeluguri family, we will be holding the two chess camps in two large rooms in their home.  There will be multiple titled chess coaches giving the lesson, moving from group to group.  I feel that there will be greater value in this approach as the students can learn chess from two different accomplished coaches, who each have their own perspective on the game.   It is the CCL attempt to provide the very best in everything that we do.  Please pack a lunch to eat during a game playing break in the middle of the camp.  These camps are only open to CCL, Pre-CCL, and Alan’s OCCS Advanced Chess Class.

Space is limited to these camps are first come, first serve.

 

Date:  February 8 – 9^th

Time:  9:30 – 4:30, total of 14 hours

Place:  Monish and Ganesh’s home

244 Long Branch Run

Delaware Ohio 43015

U-1600

Limited to the 1^st 24 who sign up!

 

O-1600

Limited to the 1st 20 who sign up!

This section is for players rated over 1600.  However, if you are rated between 1400 and 1600 you can request entry into this section.

 

Registration is now open

 

Cost per camp:

 

If paid by 01/31

One day = $100

Two day = $175

 

If paid on or after 02/01 =

One day = $125

Two day = $200

 

2nd child from the same family is 50% off

 

Registration to:

Alan Casden

7520 Deer Crossing Court

Worthington, Ohio   43085

 

acasden@insight.rr.com

(614) 561-2718

 

World renowned mathematician, Dr. Harvey Friedman, has joined forces with CCL.  He will be working with the students of CCL to create new discoveries in the area where chess, mathematics, and computer science intersect.  Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to work side by side, on a chess/math project, with one of the top mathematicians of our time.  Click <here> for more details.

With 7 CCL players participating in the overlapping World Youth Championships, only two of us made the trip to Orlando for the National Grade Levels.  However, those two did not disappoint.

• Jason Wang swept the field with a perfect 7-0 score, finishing a full point ahead of the rest of the field.  Jason is now the national champion of 2nd grade!

• Aristo had a strong 6-1 finish at the National 5^th grade championship.  He finished just ½ point behind the 1^st place finisher, tying for 2nd place.

Many of our CCL players did not participate in this year’s grade levels but it did not stop us from winning a Grade Level Championship for every grade that we participated in.  That is grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 12.  That is a new record for CCL.  The train just never stops and we will try our best not to set any artificial limits on it.  If I had set limits in the past, we would have stopped a while back but without limits we are starting to reach the sky.  You are so amazing, so much more than I could have imagined.

Final results are posted at http://www.ohioscholasticchess.org/2013gradelevelresults.html while ratings can be viewed on our plycount page.

Grade K-1 – no regular CCL players

2^nd grade – “The little one” Emma and Jason Mason from Wang, Ohio are co-champions (4.5).  They had a wild draw in their individual encounter and beat everyone else.  Emma edged out the 1^st place trophy on tie-breaks. Finishing with 4-1 were Viktor M (4^th) place and Alan Z (5^th place).

 

3^rd grade – Lainie (4.5) takes home a two-way share of the crown with a 1^st place finish.  We are starting to see the girls in CCL moving ever so clearly to the front of the line.  I am so proud of how well our girls are doing in this traditionally male dominated activity.  They are crashing down the walls!  They should be exceptionally proud of themselves.  Let no limiting stereotypes be unturned.

Lainie’s pictures are a before and after tournament comparison.

 

4^th grade – Austin swept through the field 5-0 and took home his Grade Level Championship.  Austin was the clear 1^st seed in this section, and he left no doubt why that was the case.  Other CCL trophy winners include Soham (4-1 3^rd) why in the world is this chess talent rated so low?), Rusty (3.5 5^th place), Doc (3.8 8^th place).

5^th place – Arvind SP swept through the 5^th grade ranks for a sole title at 5-0.  It was a race between Arvind and Vincent the whole way.  Arvind won their individual contest, leaving Vincent in clear 2^nd with a 4-1 score.  The rest of the field laid in their wake.  However, finishing in 4^th place with 3.5 points was the exceptionally under rated Aditya.  He like Soham, in grade 4, are going to be soon moving quickly up the ranks.

 

6^th grade – Team mates from the same school Luke and Matthew were the top seeds in their grade level.  They were weeding their way through the field, until they met in the last round.  There was no grandmaster draw here but the final result was the same.  Luke and Matthew are the 6^th grade co-champions, with Luke taking the nod on tiebreaks for the 1^st place trophy.  Following closely in the 4-1 pack were Sujan, Joe, and Kunal. If my memory hold me right, Luke has participated in every grade levels from K-6, earning 1^st place 6 times and 2^nd place once.  This has to be one of the most dominate Grade Level performances in the history of the grade levels and he can still compete 6 more times!  Now onto the World Youth Championships for Luke.

7^th grade – It didn’t seem like Anagh (missing picture) broke out a sweat in his sweep of the 7^th grade field.  He seem to know something, walking around with a confident swagger that I don’t always see in him.  Anagh looks like he might be the next CCL graduate.  With a rating of 1997, he is only 3 points from graduating!  Other CCL trophy winners include Jacob (4-1 4^th place), Nolan (3.5 5^th place), and Jeremy (3.5 6^th place).

8^th grade – Abhi and Vikram were the clear pre-tournament favorites.  Abhi seemed a little more scared than Vikram and in this case, it may have worked the best for Abhi.  Vikram beat himself one round, having just come off of a super King’s Island tournament and being up a pawn and piece against a much lower rated player, Vikram might have turned on auto-pilot too soon and crashed into the side of the mountain.  Abhi methodically seem to take little chances and cranked out 5 wins.  Mark (a surprise to some but not me.  Both Mark and his partner-in-crime Kian have been really coming on of late) came in 2^nd place with a 4-1 score, only losing to Abhi.  Vikram finished in 4^th with his 4-1 score.

9^th – 11^th – No CCL players

12^th place – Our lone CCLian at 12^th grade was Rahul and he did not disappoint, going 4-0 before agreeing to a short last round draw and becoming part of a 2-way co-championship.  Rahul has finished his HS career strongly at the grade levels.  I believe that he has been his grade level champion now for 3 of the last 4 years.