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The CCL Chess School

Chess, Community and Learning

 

Chess lessons and more, for players of all strengths and ages.

Vincent and Jason rule at the Ohio Elementary School Championship

May 31, 2014

Elementary School Championship

(l-r) Jason, Vincent, Rusty, Ethan

 o   Vincent Baker and 2nd grader Jason ‘Mason’ Wang are the 2014 Ohio Elementary School Co-Champions

o   Things do not always go as planned but 1st seed Vincent and 2nd seed Jason left little doubt who was in charge in this tournament.  Both players sweep through the field and left everyone in their wake with perfect 5-0 scores.  Vincent won the 1st place trophy on tie-breaks.

o   CCL players with 3.5 or more were:

  • 1             Vincent Baker                    5
  • 2             Jason Wang                       5
  • 5             Ethan Ferkins                    4
  • 8             Viktor Mishkin                  3.5
  • 9             Justin ‘Rusty’ Wu              3.5
  • 11           Aditya Jambhale                3.5
  • 12           Lainie Massick                  3.5
  • 14           Duke Wang                        3.5
  • 15           Sneha Prabu                      3.5

o   Congrats to Alan Zhang for finishing 4-1 in the K-3 championship and coming in a 2 way tie for 2nd.

photo

 

Below is a slideshow of pictures from the tournament.

[royal cats=4]

 

Filed Under: News

Ohio Middle School Championship – Vikram Srivastava!

May 31, 2014

o

Middle School Championship

o   This tournament was a sweep for CCL, taking all of the top 6 spots as well as spots 8 – 13.

o   Congratulations to Vikram Srivastava for coming in clear 1st in this event.  In order to do this he had to beat the top 2 seeds in the last two round, Luke Xie and Abhi Ramaswamy.  There is an interesting story here, Vikram won the Ohio Elementary School Championship once, in his last try.  In the last round he was paired against Luke Xie, got a bad game but ended up winning.  In this, his last try at the State Middle School Championship, he won this event for the first time.  Again, he had to play Luke Xie in the last round.  Again, he got a bad game.   Again, he came back to win and win the championship.  When I was in middle school, I asked me teacher why we have to study history.  He said because history tends to repeat itself.  I have already put $100 down on Vikram to beat Luke in the last round of the 2018 Ohio High School Championship to become the State of Ohio High School Championship.

o   Vikram is going to represent Ohio at the Barber tournament while Stella represents Ohio at the All-Girls event, both during the US Open.  Too bad that no CCL player participated in the Ohio HS Championship and thus we do not have a representative at the Denker tournament.

o   Special congrats also go out to Shourjya Ghosh who came in clear 2nd place.  Without checking, Shourjya must be up for the more improved CCL players of the past year.

o   Top 10 CCL finishers were:

  • 1             Vikram Srivastava             5.5
  • 2             Shourjya Ghosh                 5.0
  • 3             Xie, Luke                            4.5
  • 4             Abhi Ramaswamy             4.5
  • 5             Vincent Baker                    4.5
  • 6             Kian Souayvixay                4.5
  • 8             Arvind Prasad                    4.0
  • 9             Nolan Song                         4.0
  • 10           Mark Malkin                       4.0

Filed Under: News

CCL sets a new record with 8 – 10 players qualifying for the 2014 World Youth Championships

May 17, 2014

Who qualified

o  Emma                 U-8  G

o  Jason                  U-8  O

o  Chris                   U-10 O

o  Lainie                  U-10 G

o  Luke                    U-12 O

o  Meghana             U-12 G

o  Emily                   U-12 G

o  Maggie                U-14 G

o  We are still awaiting to hear about our sister and brother from Wales, Aishwarya and Karanvir

Filed Under: News

A big weekend for the girls

April 17, 2014

20140412_165429In the Ohio All-Girls Championship, 4 CCL girls (Stella, Emma, Victoria, Sneha) where on the top 2 boards going into the last round.  When the dust settled Stella and Emma finished on top as co-champions with 4-1 scores, while Victoria finished in a tie for 3rd place with Abby (Abhirami).  Abby was our big point gainer at +57.  Tie-breaks, along with the 1st place trophy, $100 scholarship, and invitation to the National Girls Championship went to Stella.  I am pretty certain that Emma is the youngest All-Girls champion in the history of Ohio.  Don’t let the young age of these girls fool you, this is a K-12 event.  The CCL girls have now fully arrived as the dominate force in girls chess in Ohio.

Maggie and Lainie tried their luck at the Cinciphotonnati Open and the National All Girls (Chicago) respectively, being held the same weekend.  Maggie performed well in the Open section of the Cincinnati Open while Lainie came in 8th place in the U-10 division at the National All-Girls.

 

Filed Under: News

CCL does well at the Queen City Classic

March 28, 2014

  • CCL does well at Queen City Classic, winning the team championship in top section, where many of our students ‘played up’ into.  We also won the team championship in 4-6 and took 2nd place in both 7-9 and K-3.
  • The winner in the open section is a master from W.V. (Advait Patel) who is the same age as Luke and a friend of Luke.  Both of them were the lone 4-0 scores going into the last round but Advait got the better of Luke and won the tournament.  Both of the boys are planning to return next year to again fight for the championship.  Actually Luke plans on playing in the Queen City Classic for until he graduates.
    • As you all know by now, Luke is one of my heroes.  While everyone else is worrying about their ratings, Luke plays in whatever tournament he wants to play in.  Yes, he is concerned about his rating but he does not put that before the enjoyment and value of the experience that he will gain.  As a benefit of this he keeps gaining more and more valuable experiences and in the long run he is becoming a stronger player which is reflected in his rating.  He is not letting the short sightedness of ‘protecting his rating’ get in his way of enjoying his chess.  And in the long run, he is coming out the winner.
  • Listed are the top 10 and 3.5 CCL finishers in each section.
    • K-12 Open – 1st place team
    • K-12
      • 2 Luke Xie
      • 3 Vikram Srivastava
      • 4 Vincent Baker
      • 5 Sujan Rachuri
      • 8 Arvind Sai Prasad
      • 9 Jason Wang
      • 10 Tim Goldenberg
      • 11 Divyesh Balamurali
    • 7-9 Open – 2nd place team
      • 7-9
      • 4 Jacob Eismann
      • 6 Victor Lim
    • 4-6 Open – 1st place team
    • 4-6
      • 2 Om Borkar
      • 3 Ethan Ferkins
      • 4 Justin Huang
      • 5 Soham Joshi
      • 7 Yutong (Elton) Cao
      • 9 Alvin Anand
    • K-3 Open – 2nd place team
      • 4 Kellan Ren
      • 9 Emma Cheng
    • Blindfold Exhibition with Jason
  • Jason
    • This is an interesting story.  Usually on Friday night, one of their events would be Gregory Kaidanov and Irena Krush playing a blindfold game.   This year they put a twist on the game with each blindfold player being paired up with a random 1600+ player.  They played in a turn, like double-player in ping-pong (not tennis).  Jason was picked up because of his 1600+ rating. GM Ashley was surprised about his rating/height and wanted the parents to verify.  There is a video of this game at http://youtu.be/7xchVa2TH-w

Filed Under: News

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Introduction to Our Community Chess Instructional Program

Welcome to CCL, a community-driven chess instructional initiative designed to bring timeless chess to learners of all ages and skill levels. Whether you’re a beginner taking your first steps on the board or an experienced player seeking to sharpen your strategies, our program offers something for everyone.

Chess is more than just a game—it fosters critical thinking, patience, and problem-solving skills. Our program is built around the belief that chess can unite people, challenge minds, and create opportunities for personal growth and community connection. To supplement the chess side of individual enrichment, we recently opened a prodigious activities wing to CCL, managed by renowned mathematician and prodigy Dr. Harvey Friedman.

Why Join Us?

Our program is driven by a passionate community of chess lovers dedicated to creating an inclusive, supportive, and educational environment. For details on how the community fosters the program, please go to the menu option The Community. By participating, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Learn at your own pace with flexible instruction formats.
  • Join a vibrant chess community and make new friends who share your interests.
  • Enhance your cognitive skills, such as strategic thinking and decision-making.
  • Compete in local tournaments and represent our community.
  • Work with renowned mathematician and prodigy Dr. Harvey Friedman in other prodigious activities.

Let’s make chess an engaging and enriching part of our community. Join us today and start your chess journey! Together, we can grow our community and inspire a love for this incredible game.

The Coaches

  • alancasden2
    National Master Alan Casden
  • International Master Atanas Kizov -- CCL Head Coach --
  • Walker
    Life Master Walker Griggs
  • GM VLATKO BOGDANOVSKI
    Grand Master Vlatko Bogdanovski
  • Zoran
    International Master Zoran Arsovic
  • NM Vladimir Kizov
    National Master Vladimir Kizov
    Head of Pre-CCL
  • Jacob Eismann
    Jacob Eismann

The Rest of the Team

  • Jeff
    Jeff Shen
    Business Manager
  • Adai
    Adai Adaikappan
    Community Laison
  • Courtenay
    Courtenay James
    Organizer
  • Shiv
    Shivkumar Kurulekar
    IT System Admin
  • Jagdish Patel
    Jagdish Patel
    Newsletter Editor
  • Harvey
    Dr. Harvey Friedman - Head of Prodigious Activites

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  • Vikrant’s Art September 15, 2025
  • Student Spotlight August 25, 2025
  • CCL Students on the US Chess July Top 100 List by Age and Gender August 5, 2025
  • Arjun Sai’s Hot Streak on the Board! July 30, 2025
  • Student Spotlight: Dae San Kim July 13, 2025
  • CCL Chess Stars Score Big at the Cleveland Open! June 16, 2025
  • CCL Chess Students Shine on the Podium at SuperNationals VIII in Orlando, FL May 12, 2025
  • NEWSLETTER OF THE MOTCF April 15, 2025
  • CCL March Chess Camps February 25, 2025
  • CCL Graduates February 2, 2025
  • Making our 2025 MOTCF Teams January 23, 2025
  • Welcome Jacob ! January 21, 2025
  • Jeff Shen is taking over the lead role at CCL December 26, 2024
  • Simul Stuff December 23, 2024
  • CCL Alumni/Student Chess GetTogether December 13, 2024
  • 2024 State Grade Levels November 27, 2024
  • Life Master Walker Griggs is giving lessons! October 29, 2024
  • Chess Math is here! October 27, 2024
  • An Evening with Atanas October 23, 2024
  • March CCL Chess Camps October 17, 2024
  • Maxwell again! Good Gosh September 16, 2024
  • Louis Zhang becomes the 36th CCL Graduate July 30, 2024
  • Major Changes in CCL June 6, 2024
  • Catch Up Time May 17, 2024
  • Cole Braun wins Ohio Middle School Championship February 27, 2024
  • CCL Chess Camp 4/20-21/2024 February 17, 2024
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  • Mehmet is a National Champion December 19, 2023
  • CCL wins most of the grades at the Ohio Grade Levels November 25, 2023

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