CCL — Page 5 — chess lessons, for players of all strengths and ages

Jason Wang wins the North American Open

January 3, 2023

GM Victor Matviishen vs FM Jason Wang

Jason Wang took clear first place in the North American Open. This is an amazing result in many ways:

In his uncompromising style, Jason defeated a Ukrainian and Russian grandmaster in the last two rounds. The above picture is at the beginning of the pre-ultimate round.
This result brought his rating over 2500, a new record for a CCL graduate. Even more amazing when you realize that Jason is only an 11th grader in high school.
He fell a little short of a GM norm but he did get his second IM norm.
He won $10,300 for his efforts.

I couldn't be happier for this humble young gentleman. Talent, hard work, and great parental support are all there, as you should expect. Complete tournament results are at https://chessevents.com/event/northamerican/2022/standings/open.

2022 National Grade Level Championships

December 31, 2022

There were a number of CCL members making the trip to Maryland for the National Grade Level Championships. Our top finisher was Rohan Padhye who became a National Champion by tieing for first in the 9th grade. He scored 6-1. We had 3 other players finishing 5-2. That includes: Mehmet Yilanli who finished tied for 6th place in the Kindergarten section, Levi Brinton who tied for 15th place in the 4th grade section, and Siddarth Kunapuli who tied for 18th place in the 7th grade section. (click on picture for a larger image)

Rohan Padhye

Mehmet Yilanli

Levi Brinton

For real?

December 6, 2022

Kindergartener Mehmet Yilanli just swept the U-1000 K-12 field of the Clinton Elementary Tournament with a perfect 5-0 score. This result drove his rating from 668 to 980. A remarkable fact is that in his school system, Mehmet was not allowed into Kindergarten because he was a little too young for the birthday cutoff, so he has to attend Kindergarten in another school district. Wish him luck, as well as the many CCL players, that are heading to Maryland for the National Grade Level Championships this weekend.

2022 Ohio Grade Level Championships

November 15, 2022

CCL won 5 of the individual Ohio Grade Level Championships this year. My comments will go down the 1st column and then the 2nd column.

Michael Lin - 11th-grade sole champion - 5-0
Minghao Gu - 8th grade co-champion - 4.5 - .5
Ethan Liu, Maxwell Chung - 1st place team, 4th grade. Our 4th grade class is very strong.
Rohan Padye - 9th grade - sole champion - 5-0
Colin Park, Siddarth Kunapuli (first on tie-breaks), Jack Hamilton - 7th grade co-champions - 4-1 - a strong 7th grade group.
Mehmet Yilanli - Sole Kindergarten champion - 5-0 - Mehmet looks like the real deal. I watched him put a beating on a number of older kids in speed chess.

For complete results go to https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202211057502-15268735

Click on pictures to see a larger version.

(l-r) Colin Park, Siddarth Kunapuli, Jack Hamilton 7th grade Co-Champions 4-1

(l-r) Ethan Liu, Maxwell Chung 4th grade team champions

Michael Lin becomes the 33rd CCL Graduate

September 14, 2022

Congratulations to our latest and 33rd CCL graduate, Michael Lin. Michael has been a steady and hard worker in chess, participating in many tournaments. Michael recently attended Arkon Open VI; he drew two NM and won the other 2 games, and tied for 1st place. The skills that are developed in becoming a CCL graduate transfer to a successful future. I am amazed at all of the accomplishments of CCL graduates in their future endeavors, which I am sure that I will see in Michael's future as well.

It is a hard-earned honor to become a CCL graduate, which includes a lifetime membership to CCL, based on good behavior, without the need to take lessons from CCL. Anything that CCL has to offer (newsletter, library, team participation, etc. will always be available to you). To become a CCL graduate, you need to meet any of the following requirements:

- 1 year in CCL and earning a rating of 2000
- 4 years in CCL and earning a rating of 1900
- 5 years in CCL and earning a rating of 1800

I will probably not know if you meet one of these requirements unless you notify me.

CCL Graduates
from first to most recent