Welcome to the CCL Chess School!

chess lessons, for players of all strengths and ages

THE CCL CHESS SCHOOL
Private Chess Lessons … with group activities
… for students of all ages and strengths

Alan Casden – CEO – (614) 561-2718
Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/cclchess

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Jason Wang wins Ohio HS Championship while Rohan Padhye takes MS Championship

May 9, 2022

CCL graduates Jason Wang and Rohan Padhye took sole 1st place to win the Ohio High School and Ohio Middle School championships, respectively.  This means that Jason and Rohan will be representing Ohio and CCL at the Championship of Champions tournaments.  Jason will meet the other state High School Championships at the Denker while Rohan will meet the other state Middle School Champions at the Barber.  These tournaments are held at the beginning of the US Championship.  Both of these young men represent the best of Ohio, both in chess as well as class.  There is much to be proud of with these fine young chess players.

Filed Under: News

Where are they now?

February 4, 2022

     CCL started 14.5 years ago when I retired.  The time has gone quickly and many of my little elementary students are now adults, attending colleges or having strong careers.  I have lost track of many of them but these are the students that I know where they landed.  If you were in CCL and I didn't list you, please let me know and I will update this blog.  Good luck to all of you. When you look at this list, it is easy to believe that chess is good for your development.  I have many fond memories of all of you.    'Alan
  • Chris Shen got admitted to the Harvard class of 2026 and he will study Economics and Math this coming fall.
  • Walker Griggs graduated from Oberlin College and is a graduate student in Russian Literature at USC.
  • John Hughes graduated from Cornell University and lives near the East Village in NYC working in IT at Google.
  • Forest Chen is in the Vanderbilt class of 2024.
  • Vincent Baker is attending The Ohio State University, majoring in Finance.
  • Maggie Feng is attending The Ohio State University.
  • Aristo Liu is planning to study mathematics and computer science at Columbia University in New York.
  • Justin Storn is currently at Case Western in Cleveland, studying Biomedical Engineering.
  • Luke Xie is currently studying applied math in computation at UCLA.
  • Sam Massick is at Princeton.
  • Noah Keating-Adams graduated the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor's degree in finance and earned a master's degree in finance there as well. He now works as a financial analyst in the insurance industry.
  • Aryan Balyan is going to the University of Cincinnati next year and will be studying computer science.
  • Abhi Ramaswamy will graduate from Georgetown University with a political science degree this spring.  He plans on going to graduate school in political science.
  • Anagh Kulkarni is a Bio-Medical student at OSU currently in his 3rd year. He is studying to be a medical doctor.
  • Emily Hu went to the Pennsylvania State University last year.
  • Rahul Ramaswamy is graduating with a medical degree from Vanderbilt University this spring.  He is working toward being a doctor in Hematology / Oncology.
  • Stanley Cao is currently at Stanford.
  • Matthew Yuan is in his sophomore year at Duke.
  • Shourjya Ghosh is a sophomore at Vanderbilt, with a double major in computer science and economics.
  • Meghana Bhanuprasad now lives in India where she is pursuing Electronics and Communications Engineering at the National Institute of Technology.  She plans to return to the United States in a couple of years for graduate school.
  • Vincent Chen went to Duke last year.
  • Joe Kleban also goes to Georgetown and sees Abhi at their chess club.
  • Sneha Prabu will probably be going to The Ohio State University next year.
  • Dakshin Pisini will probably be going to The Ohio State University next year.
  • Tim Goldenberg graduated from the University of Cincinnati (as did Alan Casden).
  • Justin Wu will go to Stanford.
  • Victoria Baker is attending Butler University. She is currently in Germany as an exchange student at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management for Spring 2022.
  • Sanjay Medicherla is currently going to the University of Cincinnati.
  • Jacob Eismann accepted a swimming scholarship to attend the University of Kentucky and is a Junior majoring in Finance.
  • Hemma Bagley graduated early from high school
    and is doing her premed/biology at the University of Akron.
  • Uku Hughes is studying cyber security at Tallinn Technical University, in Estonia.

Filed Under: News

CCL wins Ohio Grade Levels in grades 6, 8, 9, 10

November 8, 2021

Last Saturday, 11/6/2021, The Ohio Grade Level Championships were held.  CCL finished clear first in 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grades.  Listed with the below pictures are the players name and which grade they won.  A complete rating report on this event is at  http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202111061172.0-16280602.

Siddarth Kunapuli - 6th grade
Siddarth Kunapuli - 6th grade
Rohan Padhye - 8th grade
Rohan Padhye - 8th grade
Dae San Kim - 9th grade
Dae San Kim - 9th grade
Michael Lin - 10 grade
Michael Lin - 10 grade

Filed Under: News

Three New CCL Graduates

September 11, 2021

We have always had the honor of becoming 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).    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 any of these requirement unless you notify me.

Our 3 new graduates:

Dae San Kim = 4+/1900+

Adeti Mohanselvan = 5+/1800+

Joe Kleban = 5+/1800+

Dae San
Dae San
Joe
Joe
Adeti
Adeti

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

Filed Under: News

CCL Chess Camp 9/11-12/2021

July 4, 2021

Cancelled due to Delta varient!

A weekend chess camp by International Master Atanas Kizov

    • Date:  Saturday/Sunday   September 11-12, 2021

    • 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 and members of a Mulligan Chess Club.
      Lectures, game reviews, camp review book, tournament, and many prizes.
      Draw or beat Atanas in a 5-1 game or Alan in a 5-2 game and win a $1 coin, tournament trophies, free 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 fto 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, first 3 on Saturday and the second 3 on Sunday
Bobby Fischer and the Square d5.. Expand

 

- 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 Expand

- Playing without castling

Sometimes in chess there is a situation when castling is impossible or not good. The king ends up being delayed in the center and your play is in a not a very comfortable position and we always think what of what to do with the king. We will look at typical examples.

Backward pawn on c7 Expand
- 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 Expand
- 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 Expand

 

- 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? Expand

 

- 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 - $179 by 8/31 - $199 after 8/31
      • one day - $99 by 8/31 - $109 after 8/31
      • free to a parents of a student in 2nd grade or below
      • 40% discount to 2nd student from the same family, students greater than 45 minutes from Columbus, and retired students.

Filed Under: News

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The Coaches

  • alancasden2
    National Master Alan Casden
    -- CEO --
  • International Master Atanas Kizov -- CCL Head Coach --
  • GM VLATKO BOGDANOVSKI
    Grand Master Vlatko Bogdanovski
  • Zoran
    International Master Zoran Arsovic
  • FM_Sasa_Jevtic
    FIDE Master Sasa Jevtic
  • NM Vladimir Kizov
    National Master Vladimir Kizov
    Head of Pre-CCL
  • Jelena
    Woman FIDE Master Jelena Arsovic

The Best in Chess Instruction

How can we say that?
- read our blogs, our results speak for themselves

Why are we so successful?
- we use the top chess coaches from around the world
- we develop a chess community
- we use a team approach with experts in both chess and psychology
- over 1900 free chess book library
- we always put the student first

Who are our customers?
- we started in Ohio but now reach out to all of North America, currently with students in 20 states and 8 countries
- we address the needs of students of all ages and strengths (a CCL and Pre-CCL program)

Let us help you to live up to your potential.

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Recent Posts

  • CCL wins most of the grades at the Ohio Grade Levels November 25, 2023
  • Justin Storn wins State Championship while CCL soars September 5, 2023
  • Matt Wang becomes the 35th CCL Graduate May 23, 2023
  • 2023 MOTCF March 29, 2023
  • 2023 Queen City Classic March 29, 2023
  • Kevin Xu February 25, 2023
  • Minghao Gu becomes the 34th CCL Graduate February 6, 2023
  • Jason Wang wins the North American Open January 3, 2023
  • 2022 National Grade Level Championships December 31, 2022
  • For real? December 6, 2022
  • 2022 Ohio Grade Level Championships November 15, 2022
  • Michael Lin becomes the 33rd CCL Graduate September 14, 2022
  • Sneha becomes a TD while she, Jack, and Joshua each win a quad. August 14, 2022
  • Rohan Padhye wins Joe Yun Memorial and becomes a Chess Master July 20, 2022
  • CCL at the National Elementary School Championship May 20, 2022
  • Jason Wang wins Ohio HS Championship while Rohan Padhye takes MS Championship May 9, 2022
  • Where are they now? February 4, 2022
  • CCL wins Ohio Grade Levels in grades 6, 8, 9, 10 November 8, 2021
  • Three New CCL Graduates September 11, 2021
  • CCL Chess Camp 9/11-12/2021 July 4, 2021
  • CCL takes top 4 spots in the Ohio High School Championship April 24, 2021
  • CCL Youth wins Ohio Championships April 3, 2021
  • The sleeping giant awakens April 3, 2021
  • Dae San Kim with the 2020 CCL Chess Championship August 22, 2020
  • 2020 CCL Chess Championship August 12, 2020
  • US vs Canada Online Youth Chess Match August 4, 2020
  • CCL USCF rated online chess tournaments June 9, 2020
  • 2020 Queen City Classic March 3, 2020
  • Some Holiday Results December 28, 2019
  • CCL wins most of the grades at the 2019 Ohio Grade Level Championships November 11, 2019

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