chess lessons, for players of all strengths and ages

ChessPiano, like ChessMath, is CCL’s attempt to provide free prodigious development activities to our students, other than chess.  CCL believes in putting the kids first and this is another attempt to help develop the more complete person.

This session was run by CCL member Harvey Friedman.  Harvey is not only one of the top scholars of our time but he is also very talented at the piano.  His piano skills are largely self-taught.  In this session, the interested CCL students played a slow piece to the group and then Harvey worked with them on ways to improve the creative and dynamic nature of the piece. Here are Harvey’s notes on his piano background.

I took piano lessons from age 7 till just before 16, when I went to MIT – where I got my math Ph.D. just before 19. I worked little on the piano before college, and much less after college, until about age 30 when I acquired my present piano. I made slow moderate progress nearly entirely on my own for about 30 years until age 60. Around that age, I got much more serious, as I found it remarkably easy to readily improve in many aspects of performance. This has continued through this day, at age 65.

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The Ohio Scholastic Invitational invited the top 25 rated K-12 players to compete in a 5 round FIDE rated tournament.  The average rating for this tournament was over 1900 and there were 3 beautiful trophies for the top 3 finishers.  CCL players took home all of the hardware.  Rahul Ramaswamy and Luke Xie tied for 1^st place with 4-1 scores, Rahul taking home the 1^st place trophy on tie breaks.  Finishing in clear 3^rd with 3.5 points was Maggie Feng.  Complete results for this tournament can be seen at https://cclchess.com/ohioscholasticinvitational/ .

The CCL IM Norm Tournament had many of the top rated players from the Midwest, where for the first time in 30 years international norms could be earned in Ohio!  The average rating for this 10 man round robin was over 2400!  Finishing in the top 2 places where CCL coaches IM Goran Vojinovic and IM Atanas Kizov.  CCL student/coach Walker Griggs came in clear 4^th place and CCL student/coach John Hughes came in clear 6^th place.  The results can be seen at https://cclchess.com/imnorm/ and all of the games can be seen at https://cclchess.com/games-from-the-ccl-im-norm-tournament/ .

These were two great events for Ohio and two great showings for CCL.  A huuuuge thanks goes out to the Hughes family for organizing these two events.  Both event seemed to go flawlessly.  It is wonderful to see families giving back to chess in Ohio.

Below are pictures from the event.

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• 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

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