–        There were two big tournaments last weekend, the Gem City Open and the Chicago Open.  Although most of you went to Gem City, we did have about 4 people head up to Chicago for the weekend.  From the responses that I got back from my previous email, the big money winners from Gem City were:

• Goran – $1200 – clear 1^st place in the open – 4.5/5 – Goran is without a peer in Ohio chess, winning almost every event that he competes in.
• Rusty – $501 – 4.5/5 – clear 1^st place in the U-1400 section
• Kunal and Elton tied for the 1^st and 2^nd U-1200 class prize – 4-1 – getting $400 each.
• Matthew and Miles got $266 each, ending in a 3-way tie for the U-1600 prize in the U-1800 section – 3.5/5
• Abhi got $100 for tying with two other people for the 2^nd place U-2000 class prize 3/5 in the Open section.
• Between rounds some CCL players found a way to relax

–        CCL students are starting to raise the bar by scoring well against internationally titled players.  Walker drew two grandmasters and beat an IM at the Chicago Open, popping up to 2323.  Annorjan drew a grandmaster at Gem City in a game that he came very close to winning.

–        World Youth Championships

• I believe that the cut offs for tournaments for the World Youth qualifications is upon us.  We ended up with 4 CCL players qualifying for the 2013 World Championships and although I am not certain, I believe that all 4 of them are planning on attending.  They are:
  • Open U-12
    • Luke
    • Annorjan
  • Open U-10
    • Chris
  • Girls U-12
    • Maggie

Luke, Annorjan, and Maggie will also be competing in the 2nd Annual Online National Invitational Chess Championship will be held from June 14th-17th, 2013 on Chess.com.  Luke will be in China during this tournament but still chose to compete since it is online.  However, his games will be very late at night.  Interestingly, 25% of the U-12 section is from CCL.

Founded and organized in June of 2012, last year’s event was the first ever online National Chess Championship approved by the United States Chess Federation.

This year’s event looks to surpass the first in both participation and prizes. Thirty-two of the nation’s best and brightest youth players have already accepted their invitations to play and thousands of dollars in prizes, designed to go specifically towards private instruction / lessons for the kids, are being donated by Chess.com LLC.

Click here for the full press release regarding this exciting event.

• Coach Goran finished in clear 1^st place with 4 straight wins followed by a charity draw in the last round.  In his limited time here, Goran has won all of the major open tournaments in Ohio (Cincinnati Open, Gem City, King’s Island, Columbus Open, Cardinal Open (2x) except for the Cleveland Open.
• I don’t know how much money was won but the players finishing in the top 5 were:
  • Goran                   Open     1
  • Maggie                Open     tied 5
  • Luke                      U-2100  tied 3
  • Monish                 U-1800  tied 2
  • Arvi K                    U-1500  tied 1
  • Timothy               U-1500 tied 4

• All Girls Championship – Maggie sweeps the field and the CCL girls train keeps rolling
  • It is amazing how good Maggie has become and how we can start to take her accomplishments for granted.  When I saw that she won the All-Girls championship with a perfect 5-0 score, my first thought was of course, what else, she had far out rated the rest of the field.  But how great is that, when a 6^th grade girl is so expected to dominate, as she did, the K-12 girls championship of Ohio.  What an amazing young chess player.
  • I was a little afraid that since the CCL Ohio girls train just lost its 2^nd and 3^rd cars (Emily and Meghana) due to moving out of town that the train would slow down.  It actually is acting like it is gaining speed.  The CCL girls finished (without Lainie, Stella, Michelle, and Emma playing):
    • 1^st = Maggie
    • 2^nd = Victoria
      • This was the biggest surprise of the tournament.  Well not to me as I have recently noticed how well Victoria has been playing so this is no fluke.  Victoria beat all of her competition, except for her lose to Maggie, and gained 219 points.
    • 4^th = Ellison
      • Fresh from her win in New Orleans which earned her an invitation to the National Susan Polgar All-Girls
    • 7^th = Lisa
    • 10^th = Lily

https://cclchess.com/3822/