Below in a picture of IM Goran Vojinovic (1963 – 2016) as a teenager.  Goran was the previous head coach of the CCL Chess School, before his untimely death. He will always be missed by the many people that he had a positive influence on.  RIP.

One of the biggest accomplishments that many chess players hope to achieve is to become a USCF Chess Master. Recently one more CCL member climbed to the top of this huge mountain, which takes an exceptional amount of hard work and commitment. CCL is very proud of:

 Forest Chen

Forest is now the youngest master in Tennessee and the 10th National Master out of the CCL chess school.   Pictured to the right is Forest giving a simul in a Tennessee fund raising event. All of the CCL masters were active members of CCL from the early parts of their chess development through getting the title.  This amazing group also includes: Walker Griggs, John Hughes, Maggie Feng, Chris Shen, Luke Xie, Noah Keating-Adams, Annorjan Naguleswaran,  Aristo Liu, and Vincent Baker.

The support group for the CCL Chess School has been formed.  This group will help to provide direction for CCL as well as possibly organizing some CCL Chess School activities.  The 1st members of this group represent a cross section of CCL, with parents of students of different strength, gender, and location.  If you would like to join this group, please sign-up by going to https://cclchess.com/support-group-signup/ .

Congratulations to our latest and 22nd CCL graduate, Stanley Cao.

• Stanley became our 22nd graduate by having a strong performance at the recent Ohio Chess Congress.
  
• I have been impressed with Stanley’s tenacity of late and his fine endgame play.
• See a a game that Stanley played at the recent Ohio Chess Congress by CLICKING HERE.
• This Who’s Who chess list has been growing with great talent which is clearly characterized by a high value on perseverance, hard work, and passion.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).   This group is becoming a who’s who of the top young talent around. It entitles them to lifetime membership in CCL, based on good behavior, without the requirement of taking lessons (although most still do).  They are allowed to receive email spam from me for the rest of their lives!!
• Who will be next?

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
• Vikram Srivastava
• Aristo Liu
• Abhi Ramaswamy
• Jason Wang
• Ricky Wang
• Vincent Baker
• Forest Chen
• Neo Zhu
• Alex Kolay
• Xavier Paganini
• Justin Storn
• Stanley Cao

Vincent Baker…

is not slowing down and has just become a USCF Master.  CCL now has had 9 players earn their USCF Masters rating, with many more knocking at the door. All of these players were active members of CCL from the early parts of their chess development through getting the title.  This amazing group also includes: Walker Griggs, John Hughes, Maggie Feng, Chis Shen, Luke Xie, Noah Keating-Adams, Annorjan Naguleswaran, and Aristo Liu.