Welcome to the CCL Chess School!
CCLian Aryan Balyan, who is only in 8th grade, came in sole 1st place in the State of Ohio G/45 championship held last December 26th. It is very unusual for such a young player to win an open/adult state championship.
Sneha Prabu and Matt Wang came in a 2-way tie for 1st place in the U-1600 section while Naga Sankula came in 2nd place in the U-1200 section.
Despite many students from the CCL School not showing up for this event, we managed to win 7 or the 13 sections. The ‘I can’t believe it’ of the tournament was when Joe Kleban, who only played in 2 tournament games in the last 2 years, came in clear 1st in the 10th grade division. Although we had many top 5 finishes, I am only going to list our Grade Level Champions below. Complete results are at http://www.neilley.com/chess/results/2017glresults.pdf.
The pictures below can be viewed as large images by clicking on a picture.
The CCL attack was lead by Ethan Ferkins’ clear 1st place in the U-1700 section and Hemma Bagley’s clear 1st place in the U-1250 section and the Mixed Doubles! What I was the most impressed with where the number of CCL dads (about 6) that played, two of which won some money. Complete results are posted HERE. Below are our money winners:
We had a sell-out crowd at our last CCL Chess Camp. Everyone seem to have a great time with a mix of hard core learning and fun. Isaac Partee won the A section camp tournament and Uku Hughes won the B section. In April we are planning on having two separate camps, with IM Atanas Kizov teaching the A camp and NM Vladimir Kizov teaching the B camp. The pictures taken below were at the end of the camp (click on a picture to see a large view of it).
Congratulations to our latest and 26th CCL graduate, Aryan Balyan. Aryan became our 26th graduate by having a couple of strong performance at a couple of recent tornados.
I’ve been playing chess for about 4 years now.. I made an incredible jump from 1100 to 1800. I was stuck at 1900 for about a year.
After hitting 2000, I felt more relief than excitement. I owe most of my success to Coach Goran, Coach Vlatko and Coach Alan. They have played a key role in my time playing chess. Outside from school and apart from chess, I enjoy playing sports such as basketball, participating in school math olympiad teams, and hanging with friends. If I’m not doing anything productive, I’m usually on my phone or gaming. Although it may seem I spend a lot of time apart from chess, I spend a majority of the time following chess.
What Aryan has reported above happens often to serious chess players. They hit a long period where their rating does not increase, especially after a previous large increase in their rating. At this point CCL either loses the student or they stick it out and head to very high levels of chess. Please do not give up on yourself too quickly. The return on your investment of hard work will always pay off, there are just going to be delays and bumps in the road. I am positive that we will see this in Aryan as we have in many others. Aryan is a huge talent and I expect exceptional performances in his future.
See a game that Aryan recently played to earn his CCL graduation 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 is little surprise that the top 13 rated scholastic chess players in Ohio are all CCL graduates!!! Being a CCL graduate entitles them to lifetime membership in CCL, based on good behavior, without the requirement of taking lessons. 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):