CCL shines at Cardinal Open — Welcome to the CCL Chess School!

CCL shined at the Cardinal Open just like they seem to be doing at most major Ohio tournaments of late
- John Hughes and Coach Atanas finish in a two way tie for 1^st place in the Cardinal. John continues to amaze with this wonderful followup to winning the State Championship. Atanas, as I have told you in the past and now you can see for yourself, is a high quality chess player and person. We are so glad to have such an ideal chess coach as part of our program.
- The top CCL money makers were:
  - Open
    - John
      - 2 way tie for 1^st – 2^nd = 1000
      - Bonus on tiebreak = 100
      - Upset prize = 50
      - ( 2^nd place in speed tournament = 25 )
    - Atanas – 2 way tie for 1^st – 2^nd = 1000
    - Goran – tied for 3^rd = 225
    - Chris, Maggie, and Alan – tied for 2^nd U-2300 = 64.50
  - U-2100
    - Sam (with a bye in the last round!)
      - 2 way-tie for 1^st = 543.50
      - Upset prize = 50
    - Noah – 2 way-tie for 1^st = 543.50
  - U-1800
    - Shourjya – tied for 2^nd = 201.33
    - Ayush – upset prize = 50
  - U-1500
    - Kian = tied for 2^nd place = 126
    - Dakshin = tied for 2^nd place = 126
- Cardinal 25 club
  - Dakshin +160 1390
  - Ayush +132 1452
  - Sam +108 2067
  - Shourjya +98 1750
  - Kian +97 1509
  - Ganesh +95 1680
  - Ethan +92 1389
  - Tim +85 1862
  - Noah +59 2082
  - Alan Z +52 993
  - John +51 2300
  - Chris +49 2007
  - Lainie +47 1478
  - Joe +46 1556
  - Viktor +45 1314
  - Cody +41 1621
  - Stella +37 1418
  - Just missing ( Monish +24 = 1688, Anagh +24 = 2004)

We also have 2 more CCL graduates as a result of this tournament, the first time that this has happened at a single event.
- Congratulations to CCL graduates Sam Massick and Anagh Kulkarni, our 9^th and 10^th CCL graduates.
- What is a CCL graduate? It is an honorary degree that we give to any CCL player who has worked their way through the ranks while in CCL and has made a USCF experts rating (>= 2000). It entitles them to lifetime membership in CCL, based on good behavior, without the requirements of taking lessons. They are allowed to receive email spam from me for the rest of their lives!! Although graduates are no longer required to take lessons while in CCL, all of our previous graduates are still active students in CCL.
CCL graduates are (in order of obtainment):
- John Hughes
- Walker Griggs
- Maggie Feng
- Rahul Ramaswamy
- Annorjan Naguleswaran
- Luke Xie
- Chris Shen
- Noah Keating-Adams
- Sam Massick
- Anagh Kulkarni