June 8th,

With many of our usual participants playing in the Northeast Open, this week’s quads were a bit slower than usual. Never-the-less, we hosted two highly competitive matches. The first match was between masters Daniel Lowinger and Dennis Prawira. Lowinger showed his strength and Prawira still seems to be a bit rusty after a year of no tournaments as Lowinger swept the match 3 – 0. The second match was between regular David Kniffin and CCFC Director Melvin Patrick.

Patrick was the favorite on paper, but Kniffin is always dangerous and has bested Patrick on occasion. Kniffin won the first game, but Patrick equalized in the second. In the final round showdown, Kniffin showed great stamina to win the final game! Congratulations to the winners! We look forward to the return of many of our regular players next week.

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May 26th,

A wide range of players participated in our Spring Quads, ranging from the Grant Wang (approximately 1000) up to National Master Ian Harris.  Even though Harris was by far the favorite, it would be no easy task to win the section as the super talented Jason Shi (already and expert at age 11) arrived at the last minute.  In round one, Harris faced R.J. Arnold and soon sacrificed an exchange in order to get play.  However, Arnold surprised Harris by defending very accurately and neutralizing his attack.  Low on time, Arnold was not able to convert his advantage and let the game slip further allowing Harris to win the game at the last second.  As fate would have it, Shi was nicked for a draw by Leo Bykhovsky in the second round and did not face Harris.  In the final round, Harris defeated Bykhovsky to finish with 2.5/3 points.  Shi rebounded with a nice win to tie for first! 

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May 11th,

Going into tonight’s action tournament, CCFC Director Melvin Patrick was the favorite on paper, but following close behind was new college graduate Garrett Browning.  Joining them was the always dangerous David Kniffin and the determined Al Pinto.  In round two Patrick fell to Kniffin, leaving Browning in the lead with 2/2.  This put the pressure on Patrick who needed to win in order to tie for first.  In the end, Patrick came through in the clutch, defeating Browning.  This win ensured a tie with Browning and also allowed Kniffin to catch up to complete the three way tie!  Congratulations to the winners!

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May 5th,

Last Saturday Grandmaster Mikheil Kekelidze as well as newcomer Arslan Otchiyev joined our Spring Quads to make the strongest quad we have held to date.  Demonstrating why he is a Grandmaster, Kekelidze was in form and won all three of his games to reach his new peak rating.   Arslan Otchiyev and NM Ian Harris tied with 1.5 points each.  

The second section was also quite strong with three players rated close to 2000.   CCFC Director Melvin Patrick was close to a nice upset against Ethan Segall, but agreed to a draw just a few moves away from the win.  The champion of this section was experienced expert Hanon Russell who won all three of his games!  In 2nd place was Jason Shi. 
Congratulations to all of the winners and we are looking forwards to the next Spring Quads! 

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March 28th,

After a busy few weeks, our Spring Quads returned.  Ten players competed in a quad and swiss sections.  The quad featured two Connecticut National Masters Ian Harris, Oliver Chernin, as well as Class A players Quentin Mason and William Torres.  Despite stiff resistance, Harris and Chernin made it through the first two rounds with victories.  The final round showdown came down to the last seconds of an endgame when Chernin lost a piece and the victory went to Harris. 

The swiss section was filled with fighting chess.  CCFC Director Melvin Patrick was the only player to emerge with a perfect score after the first two rounds.  Following close behind was rising star Matthew Chan with 1.5/2.  Their final round match was intense.  Chan won a pawn and maintained his advantage into the endgame.  Patrick defended well but ultimately was not able to stop Chan from breaking through.  With this win, Chan leapfrogged Patrick to win the tournament with 2.5/3!  Patrick finished in a tie for 2nd with CCFC regular Hubert Herring. 

Join us next week for another exciting day of matches!

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April 20th,

This Friday featured two sections.  The first was a three game match between strong masters Nelson Castaneda and Daniel Lowinger.  Castaneda travelled a long distance to play and Lowinger had just finished a long day of work, but both were determined to win at all costs!  Castaneda won the first game.  Lowinger nearly struck back in the second game but after a late inaccuracy had to settle for a draw.  Castaneda brought home the victory by winning the final round! 

The second section was a six player swiss.  With many young and new players, it was anyone’s guess who would win.  Would it be the top seeded Melvin Patrick, or the recently resurgent David Kniffin, or perhaps the unknown Richard Arnold?  After two rounds Patrick was the only player with two points and he looked poised to take home the sole victory, but a final round loss to Noah Arthurs created a three way tie at the top between Patrick, Arthurs and Kniffin!

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April 14th and 15th,

Some of America’s top collegians set their books aside this weekend, traveling to Norwalk to do battle for campus pride in the first-ever Ivy College Chess Championship. Eight four-player teams against one another in four grueling rounds of play. At the end of the two-day competition, Columbia University stood alone at the top, having won all four of its matches. Dartmouth College, with two wins and a tie to its credit, took second place; while Yale and Princeton ended in a tie for third.

Yale’s team, anchored by International Grandmaster Robert Hess (the fourth-strongest player in the U.S.) and International Master Bogdan Vioreanu, was the clear favorite heading into the tournament. But Columbia’s well-balanced team featured three master-level players, with the dangerous Victor Shen playing the top board. Dartmouth College, which fielded not a single master- or expert-rated player, was the dark horse of the event.

The excitement began in the very first round, with Columbia sweeping Princeton’s B-team and Dartmouth upsetting Hess’s Yale squad. Columbia, Dartmouth, and Yale coasted to easy victories in the second round; but Columbia cemented its front-runner status by winning all four games against Dartmouth in Sunday morning’s third round.

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April 13th,

This Friday’s action tournament was won by David Kniffin.  Recently Kniffin has become more active on the chess circuit and demonstrated tonight that he is a force to be reckoned with.  His rating has been improving with almost every tournament he plays.  Even CCFC Director Melvin Patrick was unable to stop his rampage as Kniffin won all of his games! 

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April 6th,

Sixteen brave participants came to the club to challenge our very own Grandmaster Instructor Mikheil Kekelidze in a simultaneous exhibition.  The players ranged widely in age and strength.  Although the Grandmaster proceeded to defeat his opponents seemingly with ease, there were many that put up tough resistance and forced the simul to continue into the evening, tiring the GM.  Finally, the effort paid off when CCFC student Henry Stratakis-Allen managed to draw!  This would be the only point the challengers would manage to get and the simul ended in favor of GM Kekelidze by a score of 15.5 – 0.5.  It was a truly fun and memorable event and we hope that you will join us next time!

April 3rd,

Our April Bughouse & Pizza tournament drew five highly competitive teams.  It was a round robin, so to every team would face each other at least once.  Team “The Destroyers”, comprised of Dominick McConnell and Jack Von Riesemann, dominated the field and won the tournament!  Don’t miss the action next month!

March 4th,

By Jeff Peterson

You’d imagine that any room filled with 50 school-aged children would be flooded with noise and chaos. Yet for hours this particular room is quiet, the silence broken only by the occasional click of a chess clock.

This past Sunday, fifty children from across the region converged on the CCFC to participate in a team match: the CCFC’s “Dream Team” versus the stars of the National Educational Chess Association (NECA). The atmosphere was cordial, but with a touch of tension--the CCFC’s group is the upstart in this rivalry, and pride was on the line. Yet after all the moves were made and the results reported, the Dream Teamers emerged victorious, besting their opponents by a combined score of 25-17.

The lopsided score was a surprise to everyone, with the notable exception of Daniel Lowinger, a master-strength chess player who serves as the Dream Team’s coach. “We’ve been blessed with a talented group of kids, but it’s more than that. The members of our Dream Team have a real thirst for improvement, a willingness to work at it, and parents who support them. You won’t find a much better formula for excellence.”

With team members hailing from nearly every town in the county, many communities have cause for pride. Among the undefeated Dream Teamers were Westport’s Julian Wang, Zachary Filler, and Dominick McConnell; Stamford’s Neev Suryawanshi and Sean Thomas; New Canaan’s Andrew Gray; and Norwalk’s Bilal Memon.

The win against NECA marks the midway point in the Dream Team’s season, and Lowinger is optimistic about the matches to come. “There’s a lot of strong competition out there,” he says, “But this victory is a sign that we are the team to beat in Fairfield County. And I couldn’t be prouder.”

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March 3rd,

Saturday's G30 featured a competitive 8-player Swiss. The eight players including Noah Arthurs, Hubert Herring, Melvin Patrick, Leo Bykhovsky, Lee Arthurs, Druha Karunakaran, Tyler Leite, and Matthew Chan.  The games were interesting right from the start; Round 2 saw Noah Arthurs beat Bykhovsky, who was about 80 rating points higher!  Then Chan and Leite also played against each other in a game which the severely underrated Leite emerged, victorious. Round 3 was the deciding factor in many of the player’s placements.   In the end there was a tie for 2nd place Herring, Bykhovsky, and Patrick for 2nd place. Noah Arthurs was the victor for the night with a perfect 3/3 score! Congratulations to all!

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March 2nd,

This Friday the “house”, made up of NM Ian Harris and Melvin Patrick, was challenged by Expert Alex Eydelman and Julio Maldonado. Things were looking good for the challengers as Maldonado split his match with Harris. Meanwhile, Eydelman defeated Patrick twice, setting up a crucial last round showdown. Harris, a full point behind Eydelman needed to win both games in order to clinch 1st place. However, Eydelman is an extremely dangerous player and has scored well against Harris over the past few weeks. Harris rose to the occasion and managed to recover from his loss to Maldonado by winning both games against Eydelman and thus winning the tournament!

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February 25th,

Saturday Winter Quads at CCFC included 3 sections and 14 players! Section 1 was a Quad, in which Joshua Colas, Leif Pressman, Daniel  Lowinger, and Sam Alex Barsky played.  After some intense struggles that came down to the last seconds, New Yorker Joshua Colas, took first place with 2.5 points while Pressman followed close behind with a 2.0.  

Section 2 involved Melvin Patrick, Guy Colas, Hubert Herring, Druha Karunakaran, Tom Dionne, and Leo Bykhovsky in a swiss.   This section was so competitive that after the first two rounds, the two top seeds had not managed to score any points!  Our very own, Melvin Patrick took first place honors with 3 points!  Colas made second with 2 points! Having 4 closely rated players in the Quad for the 3rd section made the outcome very tight. Matthew Chan and David Childs tied for first place with 2.5 points!  Congratulations to all!

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February 25th,

The Dream Team bonded together to face two teams, Westchester Chess School and the Stamford Youth All-Stars on this Saturday! The 7 Stamford Youth All-Stars players struggled against the Dream Team. In the first round, Benjamin Walker, Jason Lessing, Matthew Weinstock, Sean Thomas, and Emilie Wasserman all won their games!  2 points were given to Stamford by Bevy Rutledge and Brett Lubliner’s check mates, making the score for the round 5-2. In round 2 Samuel Forfang and Brett Lubliner won their games for Stamford. Weinstock, Thomas, Aalok Bhattacharya, and Vrishak Duriseti gained 4 points for the Dream Team! Emilie Wasserman and John Ryan-Dowling drew giving both teams half a point. The Dream Team ended up winning against the Stamford Youth All-Stars 9.5-4.5.

Meanwhile, the other half of the Dream Team had their work cut out for them against the strong Westchester Chess School.  In Round 1 Zachary Filler, Dominick McConnell, Bilal Memon, and Rhythm Satav won their games to give the Dream Team  4 points. However, Leo van Osdol, Ricky Major, Jack Gomez, and Karl Elmore won another 4 points for Westchester’s team!  The tie from the first round put a lot of pressure on the second round and everyone gave it their all. Karl Elmore and Ricky Major both won their games, while Jake Seidman and Jack Gomez tied against Dream Teamers Cyrus Pearson and Benjamin Walker giving Westchester Chess school 3 points. Along with those two ties, Filler, McConnell, Memon, and Dalton Brown all won their games leaving the Dream Team with 5 points winning the round and the match against Westchester with a final score of 9-7! Well done everyone!

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February 24th,

Friday Blitz was an intense contest between NM Ian Harris and Expert Alex Eydelman for 1st place and between CCFC Director Melvin Patrick and Michael Morin for the U1800 prize.  Besides some fireworks in the games, there were few surprises in the standings and Patrick defeated Morin twice to finish comfortably ahead of him.  Meanwhile, Harris and Eydelman split their all-important showdown with two draws and tied for 1st place. 

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February 19th,

Returning for battle at this week’s Shark-Free Championship were Ellen Rosenfeld, Patrick O’Brien Sr. and Patrick O’Brien Jr.  The most anticipated showdown was between Rosenfeld and O’Brien Sr.  As it happened, the rematch from the previous week took place in round 1.  It was a marathon one hour battle and this time however, O’Brien had the final say!  O’Brien then continued unbeaten to win the tournament with a perfect score!    

February 18th,

On Saturday, the CCFC was the scene of two sections of Quads in which ten players fought hard and well for each point.

In the first section, Nelson Castaneda emerged victorious with a perfect 3.0 after defeating National Masters Daniel Lowinger, Oliver Chernin and Ian Harris.  Lowinger had to settle for second place after a draw against Chernin, and a victory over Harris.  Chernin also managed a draw against Harris for third place leaving Harris to bring up the rear. 
 
In Section 2, Sam Barsky emerged victorious with a perfect 3.0 after defeating Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Arpie, and Ethan Segall.  Sharing second place were Segall and Arpie with 2 wins each to soothe their defeat by Barsky.  Peterson managed a victory over Justin Blum and Blum, in turn, defeated Leo Bykhovsky to round out the day.  Of note is the fact that both Arpie and Blum were unrated going into the day’s tournament and more than held their own.  Well done, gentlemen!

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February 17th,

Tonight, regulars NM Ian Harris, Alex Eydelman and Melvin Patrick were joined by Norwalk native Raffaello Piccoli for another exciting night of blitz chess.  On paper, Harris was the favorite, however Eydelman had defeated him twice the week before so he knew he would have his work cut out for him.  This much anticipated face-off came in the second round.  Harris won the first game but Eydelman struck back, winning the second game to level the score.   This wasn’t quite the revenge that Harris had been looking for, but it was enough to give him good chances to win the tournament.  Eydelman, Piccoli and Patrick all traded points.  Patrick managed to score one point against both Piccoli and Eydelman.  Although Piccoli out rated Eydelman by the slimmest of margins, he was unable to get the necessary point off of Harris and Eydelman won the U2100 prize.  View the crosstable below for the final standings. 

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February 11,

The return of our Winter Quads to Saturdays drew out some of the strongest local players. The top quad featured three masters and strong Expert Kapil Chandran, who no doubt will soon be in this category as well. Dan Lowinger, Ian Harris, and Oliver Chernin joined Kapil for the exciting three round showdown. After a miracle escape from Chernin in round 2, Lowinger recovered to take first place with a nearly perfect 2.5. Chandran put in a solid performance and finished in second place with 1.5. Harris and Chernin tied for third place with 1.

Meanwhile six players: Daniel Nussbaum, Ethan Segall, Matthew Chan, Alexandra Wiener, Raffaello Piccoli, and Maurice Rosado played in a Swiss. Rosado's recent streak ended against this tough field. Nussbaum won the section with 2.5 points, but it was Matthew Chan who stole the show. Chan went undefeated, drawing with both Nussbaum and Segall, and winning against Rosado to pick up over 40 points and cross the 1600 mark! Wow!

The club will be hosting another quads this Saturday. Join us!

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February 10th,

This Friday, our blitz regulars were joined by CT National Master Harris Appelman.  Appelman has been inactive in tournament chess for quite some time, but don’t let that fool you.  According to him, he has been playing blitz exclusively, even winning the CT Blitz Championship several times.  Would he be able to prove his skills at the CCFC?  Indeed he did, as he only gave up one draw to Expert Alex Eydelman and defeated NM Ian Harris twice to claim clear first!  In second place was Eydelman who also had a good night, defeating Ian Harris twice as well!  Join us next week to find out what excitement is in store!

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February 3rd,

It would prove to be a very interesting night at the Chess Club last Friday! Six experienced and high rated players faced off in a glorious double round robin. The tournament started off with a bang when Arthur Xanthos (who recently returned to the chess scene) took out top seed Ian Harris by scoring 1.5/2. However, Harris was able to shake off this defeat and won all of his remaining games to take home the first prize! The U2100 prize went to Alex Eydelman and the U1800 went to Alexander Reis! Congratulations to all of the winners!

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January 29t,

On Sunday our Dream Team had its 2nd match of the season against the NECA Greenwich Chess Club, coached by Alex Eydelman.  Although the Dream Team held significant rating advantages on most boards, this talented group of students turned out to be quite a challenge for the Dream Team. 

The Dream Team won the first round with a convincing 10-5 score.  However the NECA players did not make it easy.  Their board one Eric Wang downed our first board Zachary Filler who was rated almost 800 points higher than Eric!  This was an unexpected and truly impressive result!  Perhaps sensing weakness, the NECA team was out for blood in the 2nd round.  This time the games were much closer.   In the end thanks to the great effort put in by all of the Dream Teamers, we managed to win the 2nd round by a much closer score of 8-7!  Congratulations to the Dream Team on their 2nd victory in a row!

The final score was 18-12.  

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January 27th,

Eight participants battled it out for top honors on Friday’s blitz tournament.   The field was strong as usual, with three highly experienced experts and one master making up the top half of the table.  The bottom half was also competitive with four players ranging from 1100 – 1700.   The excitement began in the first round with Jeff Peterson drawing twice with local Expert Raffaello Piccoli.  In the 2nd round the top seeds all split while Alexander Reis and Melvin Patrick both won their matches with 2-0 scores.   The game Reis Patrick in the following round had enormous implications for the winner of the U1800 prize.  After two hard fought games, it was Reis who emerged with two points, almost guaranteeing him for the U1800 prize. 

In the final round, Reis fell twice to Harris, giving Patrick a chance to catch up if he could manage to upset Piccoli.  Patrick almost pulled off the impossible comeback by beating Piccoli in the first game.  However, he was unable to win again in the second game.  Congratulations to Reis for winning the U1800!  Meanwhile, Ian Harris and Alex Eydelman tied for first with 7/8.  To break the tie an impromptu two game blitz playoff was held to determine the absolute winner.  Fueled by determination, Harris defeated Eydelman in back to back games. Congratulations to him and all the winners!

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January 21st,

Our very own CCFC Instructor GM Mikheil Kekelidze is the 2012 CCFC Club Champion! Congratulations to him on his fine clear 1st place performance, topping a field that included 1 other GM, 2 IMs, and a host of masters, experts, and class A players! Finishing in joint 2-3 were GM Eugene Perelshteyn and Alexander Ostrovskiy.

Clear 1st place in the U1800 section went to CCFC regular Noah Arthurs who finished with an incredible perfect 5/5 score! Games coming soon!

Crosstable

January 20th,

On the surface Friday's Blitz results were expected with all participants scoring in rating order. But a little peak under the surface reveals that occasionally a B player takes a bite out of a master. That's what happened when CCFC's club director Melvin Patrick and club manager Ian Harris squared off. Unfortunately for Patrick this was his last win of the night. For the second week in a row, young New York phenom Ben Gershenov took the gold. CCFC's Blitz ironman Oswaldo Fernandez took third.

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January 15,

With the holiday weekend, it was anyone’s guess how many players would show up for this month’s K-5 Scholastic Championship.  Despite many of our regulars being out of town, we still managed a respectable turnout of 18 young, enthusiastic chess players.   As always there were many impressive games being played.  Perhaps more impressive were the attitudes of the players themselves.  Everyone demonstrated exceptional sportsmanship whether they won or lost.  The K-2 and 3-5 sections were won by Dream Teamer Jason Lessing and Terrence McGrath respectively.  Each put in an impressive performance and won all four of their games!  Keep an eye on these two, as we expect great things from them in the future!

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January 13,

Top seed at this week’s Friday Blitz was incredibly strong as Alex Reis returned along with his friend NM Ben Gershenov who was visiting the club for the first time.  Gershenov edged out NM Ian Harris for the top seed.  As fate would have it, the two masters faced off in the first round.  In the first game Gershenov held a strong advantage for most of the game.  Harris put up strong resistance and was able to reach a theoretically drawn endgame, but with only a few seconds remaining on his clock.  The first game went to Gershenov.  The second game was the opposite as it was Harris who got an early advantage and then never let go.  The match was level at 1-1.  

The remaining games were fierce as experts Oswaldo Fernandez and Alex Eydelman, as well as Club Director Melvin Patrick and Alex Reis were eager to have their say.  Indeed, there were many tough battles to come with both Harris and Gershenov getting upset multiple times.  Patrick nicked Gershenov for a draw in round 4.  Perhaps the most impressive result was by Reis who defeated Harris in an extremely unbalanced game and who also managed to draw with Gershenov in the final round.  Harris also gave up a half point to Fernandez which gave Gershenov the overall win by the narrowest of margins!

Crosstable

January 7,

The penultimate event in our CCFC Championship Series lived up to its hype with 23 players representing a wide rating spread from newly minted "Sharks" and CCFC regulars Alan Pinto and Carl Scovens, all the way up to chess legend and International Master, Jay Bonin. The games were heated and intense, and contained many nasty surprises, causing friends to become rivals and feelings to run amok! Long-time friends and co-staff members NM Ian Harris and NM Harry Wheeler crossed swords in the final round in a high-drama battle to the death. One of Ian's final moves placed his knight en prise to no less than four enemy pieces in his blood-thirst for mate!

Lowinger-Pressman, in a battle for first on board 2 was equally tense. Leif had prepared deeply against Lowinger's pet Scandinavian system and secured a significant advantage not long after the opening. Then the miracles began: the sky opened, the waters gushed forth, and Lowinger, suffering on the clock and the board, seeking desperately for a draw, managed miraculously to find a path to victory and a perfect 3-0 to tie for first. On board 1, top-seed IM Jay Bonin faced CCFC newcomer NM Michael Thaler who played aggressively against Bonin's pet line in a strange Caro-modern-gurgenidze hybrid (beginning with 1...c6, 2...a6!?!?!?). Thaler maintained a space advantage throughout the game and converted in the end for a perfect 3-0 finish and a rating of over 2300. Near experts Ethan Segall, Nicolas Checa and (name) shared U2100, Kevin Zimmerman won clear 1st U1800, and Al Pinto won U1300. Congratulations to all participants.

With such an event as an omen, the Club Championship on the 21st promises to be a tournament for the ages. See you there!

Crosstable

January 5th,

This Thursday’s Winter Quads was filled with drama as CCFC instructors Ian Harris and David Childs participated in a quad with college student Garrett Browning and expert Alex Eydelman.  The fireworks began as early as round one when Browning upset Eydelman in a fantastically complicated game!  Browning next faced NM Ian Harris but mixed up his opening moves.  This allowed Harris to seize material and the initiative early on and Browning was unable to recover. 

In the final round Childs looked to get his first win of the tournament against Browning.  Although down a piece he created some very threatening challenges for his opponent to figure out and nearly created a successful attack.  However, Browning defended well and converted the win.  Meanwhile, Harris was out for revenge against Eydelman after losing to him during their previous encounter.  Eydelman managed to net a pawn after some opening complications but Harris was able to create some long term positional weaknesses which eventually cost Eydelman the game.   Thus Harris squeaked by and won the tournament with 3/3!

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December 30th,

Hanon Russell joined our blitz night regulars to make this blitz tournament one of our stronger ones to date with one master and three formidable experts.  This meant that the battle for the U2100 prize was going to be intense.  Expert Alex Eydelman lost both games in the first round to Ian Harris, allowing Russell to take an early lead.  In the fourth round Russell and Eydelman split their match and going into the final round held scores of 5.5 and 5.0 respectively.  Just behind was Oswaldo Fernandez with 4.0.

In the exciting finale Fernandez nearly pulled a remarkable comeback by defeating Russell 2-0 and jumping up to 6 points.  Despite this strong finish, it was Eydelman that did just enough against CCFC Director Melvin Patrick to clinch the U2100 prize by half a point!  Don’t miss the action next Friday!

Crosstable

Decmeber 29th,

The first edition of our Winter Quads saw eight people compete in two highly competitive quads.  The top quad was won by our own NM Daniel Lowinger with a perfect 3/3 score.  Local expert Alex Eydelman had a strong showing, defeating NM Ian Harris in a tough second round battle that came down to the last seconds.  The second quad was also very competitive with three players ranked from 1400 – 1700.  Things were going as expected until the top seeded Melvin Patrick fell to Garrett Browning in the final round.  Thus Browning won the section, also with a perfect 3/3 score!   Thanks to everyone who attended and we look forward to seeing you all again soon. 

Crosstable

December 9th,

Friday Night is Blitz Night at the Chess Club of Fairfield County.  Playing in his first Friday blitz tournament at CCFC was Alexander Reis.  He joined CCFC regulars Oswaldo Fernandez, Al Pinto, Melvin Patrick and Ian Harris.  Having a nice rating advantage, Harris cruised to victory with little difficulty.  With almost identical ratings, the U1800 prize was going to be hotly contested between Reis and Patrick.  Reis managed to pick up a crucial win against Fernandez earlier in the tournament to put himself ahead of Patrick by a point.  The final round was the Reis – Patrick showdown that would determine the winner of the U1800 prize.  Patrick needed to win both games as Reis had a one point advantage going into the match.  Patrick succeeded in winning the first game to level the score, but Reis struck back in the second game to clinch the victory!  Congratulations to all of the winners and we look forward to another successful blitz tournament next Friday!

Crosstable

December 3rd,

This weekend’s 5th Annual Fairfield County Open brought us back to our roots. The tournament, which CCFC Director Melvin Patrick launched back in 2007, has grown from a local affair to become one of the strongest blitz tournaments in the Northeast, if not the country. As a measure of how far we’ve come, the inaugural tournament (see the crosstable here) attracted four players of master strength. The 2011 edition featured six GMs and three IMs, not to mention such CCFC stalwarts as FM Leif Pressman and NM Oliver Chernin.

Foreground: GM Robert Hess (W) vs. GM Mikheil Kekelidze (B) Background: GM Eugene Perelshteyn (W) vs. GM Ian Rogers (B)

The action was sharp from the outset, with visiting Australian GM Ian Rogers storming to a 4.0 lead after four rounds. This brash play seems to have fired up GMs Kudrin, Perelshteyn, and Stripunsky, who all posted wins in rounds 5 and 6 to pull ahead of Rogers.

The seventh and final round saw some real action. The duel on board 1 was anticlimactic, with Kudrin and Perelshteyn taking a “GM draw” and splitting the top prize. But the real drama was down below. GMs Kekelidze and Stripunsky, each of whom could have shared in first with a win, engaged in a furious battle; Stripunsky showed remarkable resilience in hanging onto a draw. But the real surprise came from our own Kapil Chandran, who defeated GM Robert Hess (rated #4 in the US!) to finish with 5.0/7 and a share of the prize money! And we would be remiss if we failed to mention the accomplishments of Dream Teamer Rohan Suryawanshi, who scored a stunning upset of Hanon Russell in the final round to take a piece of the U18 prize.

First round action in the main playing room.

But above and beyond the competitive element, it was a great afternoon at the club. We sent several participants home with free t-shirts and other prizes (such as a bag for “most supportive spouse,” awarded to GM Roger’s lovely wife Cathy). There was even a bit of a chuckle, as GMs Perelshteyn and Stripunsky originally headed over to our old haunt at the Norwalk Public Library.

Congratulations to all our winners, and our thanks to all our participants. We look forward to seeing you at our next Championship Series events!

Games

Crosstable

November 20th,

With 21 players, the turnout at November’s K-5 Scholastic Championship bested October’s by one player!  This tournament also bested last month’s in terms of fighting chess and spectacular results.  There were several new faces in the K-2 section and they were all ready to do battle for the glory!  Although there were many tremendous efforts by all, none could quite out do the unstoppable Jason Lessing who won all of his games to take clear first place by a full point!  Things were not so clear in the 3-5 section.  In the very first round top seed Terry McGrath fell to CCFC Dream Teamer Bryan Weisz.  A sign of a good player is how they recover from defeat and Terry turned it around and won all of his remaining three games! 

This amazing comeback was enough for him to tie for first with Alex Huggins.  Alex had been showing good form and never lost a game.  He gave up only two hard fought draws.  Special mention should also be given to Bryan Weisz and Leo Koganov who also had great performances and finished just half a point away from also tying for first place!  Thanks to everyone who came and congratulations to the winners!  We hope to see you all for the December K-5 Championship!

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November 13th,

The excitement at CCFC continued Sunday with our Shark-Free Challenge.  Again, 7 competitors arrived to do battle.  Among them were the three Lessing brothers who were thirsty for chess victims.  After a several month hiatus from chess, Carl Scovens joined the tournament and came in as the top seed by more than a 200 point margin.  Looking like the clear favorite to win the tournament, Carl stumbled in round two against Ellen Rosenfeld who was then alone at the top of the table with a perfect 2/2 score.  She then faced off against the most experience Lessing brother, Jason. 

Rosenfeld built up a large advantage but Jason never gave up and managed to pull off a last ditch checkmate!  This gave Gabe Salvi (who was only participating in his 2nd CCFC tournament) an opportunity to win the tournament if he were to win his game! And win he did!  Congratulations to Gabe for a clear first place victory!  Thank you to everyone who played and we look forward to another exciting affair next week! 

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November 12th,

What a day of thrilling chess it was!! 7 players, including junior super-talents Michael Ainsworth, who at 13 years old is rated 2065 and is the 20th highest-ranked 13 year old in the US, and Jason Shi, age 11, rating 1989 (national rank by age, 8th and by State, #1!), descended upon CCFC with the aim of producing some fighting, thrilling chess and taking down the house! And take down the house they did, as Michael and Jason tied for 1st in the top quad with 2/3, both nicking house master Ian Harris, fresh off an undefeated, 1st place team finish at the CCA Team Tournament in Stamford - Ainsworth with a win and Jason with a draw. Not to be outdone for tension-creating chess, Quad #2 produced the same result spread with a tie between CCFC member Michael Morin and CCFC staff member David Childs, who once again showed his stuff! Rating favorite Aman Karunakaran, a bit rusty with his chess, managed a respectable 1.5/3 and bottom-ranked Carl Scovens put in a great effort to draw first-place finisher Michael in a fantastic game.

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Thanks to all the participants and we look forward to seeing you Thursday and/or next Saturday for the first in our CCFC Championship Series. The pre-registration list continues to grow with a beautiful and competitive rating spread from near 1000 to GM. With $460 in guaranteed prizes including numerous class prizes, you'll not want to miss it !!

November 6th,

Today International Grandmaster Mikheil Kekelidze played a simultaneous exhibition against 11 challengers.  The challengers ranged from unrated through 1700.  Despite many heroic efforts and many long battles, the GM calmly traversed the room and defeated each player.  As the field whittled down, Kekelidze arrived faster and faster to each board and the pressure continuously mounted on the remaining contenders. 

Once the last game finished the GM had successfully demolished the field with a perfect 11-0 score!  The simul was a lot of fun for everyone.  If you were not able to make it this time, make sure you check our emails and website as GM Kekelidze may be visiting the club more often.  His next appearance will be at our November G/30 Open where you could play him one on one!

November 5th,

Today's quad was an exciting affair as twin dangers Childs and Chernin stormed the barricades here at CCFC. While Childs couldn't put a dent in the 2200 opposition, he left his mark with his highest-rated win to-date, against Club Director Melvin Patrick. Congratulations, David! After dispatching of his lower-rated opposition, Chernin, known for his deep preparation, once again essayed the quirky and hostile Alekhine's defense against Scholastic Director Daniel Lowinger.

In their last game, Lowinger sacrificed pawns and pieces for a full-out assault on the king, but Chernin defended with cyborg-like precision, and the game ultimately concluded in a draw. Today Lowinger was the first to deviate, steering the game to positional waters where he finally overcame Chernin's heroic defense. Our Autumn quads are proving quite the excitement: don't miss it every Thursday and Saturday!

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October 29th,

Mother Nature seemed determined to prevent our Halloween party from happening. However, despite the weather we did not lose power and the party went on as planned! Although the storm did hurt our turnout, those that did come had a great time with candy, games, music and more candy!

Congratulations to Jack Von Riesemann and Julian Wang who were the winners of the costume/dance competition! We hope everyone enjoyed the party and we definitely plan to have it again next year with far less snow!

October 14th,

This week’s blitz was remarkable because of the many new faces.  Dave Russo and Johnny Recinos visited the club for the first time and bravely entered the field not knowing what dangers lay ahead.  This week also marked the return of Zachary and his father Rich Tanenbaum.  The rest of the field was rounded out by some of our regulars, including CCFC instructor NM Ian Harris, experts Alex Eydelman and Oswaldo Fernandez, as well as CCFC Director Melvin Patrick.  One would expect the regular weekly blitz participants to crush the new unsuspecting guests, but there were some unexpected spectacular results. 

Zachary Tanenbaum put in an impressive performance.  He won his first three games, hit a minor speed bump with a loss to Eydelman, before recovering with another win against Patrick.  Next up for Zachary was the top seeded Harris who held a tenuous half point lead over him.  After Harris blundered his queen early on in the game, Zachary proceeded to play accurately for the entire game until in time pressure he let up on the pressure for one move which allowed Harris to play a surprising forced mating sequence.  Clearly there is a bright future for this youngster who came close to winning the tournament against CCFC’s seasoned veterans.

Another inspiring story was that of Dave Russo who lost his first two games but then had a remarkable streak, defeating both Fernandez and up-and-coming star Zachary Tanenbaum.  This effort was enough to clinch a tie for the U1800 prize with Patrick.  However, Russo was not satisfied!  At the end of the tournament he demanded an impromptu blitz playoff to determine the absolute winner.  Patrick is not one to turn down a challenge and he duly accepted the offer.  The playoff was a tense struggle for much of the game until Patrick managed to capitalize on a few inaccuracies by Russo and won the game. 

It was an exciting night as usual at the Chess Club of Fairfield County and we welcome you to join us for another thrilling affair next week!

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September 25th,

Evan Helman was the conquering hero of the Shark-Free Challenge this week.  Evan scored a perfect 3/3, recovering from his final round loss at last week’s shark free.  Evan managed to defeat Sharon Grace, James Grace and in the last round his strongest threat Ellen Rosenfeld.  He managed to avoid facing Rory Dougall, who missed the first round, but could well become a force to be reckoned with at our Shark-Free Challenges.  Every week seems to be a different winner, so stay tuned for next week to see if someone can establish him/herself as the one to beat!

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September 18th,

With 8 players and an average Elo over 2050, September 2011's Cash Showdown promised to be action-packed ! Of the 8 players, 4 were masters, one was a high-expert and our lowest-rated participant was nearly 1700 ! The drama kicked into high gear as early as Round 2 with Master-Master match-ups !

Top seed FM Nelson Castaneda

House Master Ian Harris fell to Castaneda in an endgame where Ian had K+3pawns+N vs. K+4pawns. In theory it should have been a fairly straightforward win for Mr. Harris, but...time-pressure, nerves and the high stakes colluded to drop Ian's flag right at the moment when he had secured a theoretical draw. Not to be outdone for Most Shocking Result, the very next round produced an incredible reversal of fortunes with Castaneda's flag falling to Leif Pressman. This time it was Castaneda who was up a full piece but Leif managed to muddy the waters move after move until, once again in a theoretically drawn position, Castaneda's flag fell.

CCFC Directors Daniel Lowinger and Melvin Patrick face off in rd. 1

With so many masters there was bound to be an upset and this time it came at the hands of CCFC regular Hubert Herring who held Harris to a draw in the final round and secured himself a class prize. Congratulations, Hubert ! Club Director Melvin Patrick made a clean sweep of the class players bringing his rating to a new high and netting himself the U2000 prize. Congratulations, Melvin ! Tied for first place were Leif Pressman (who will now be rated nearly 2400 !) and yours truly who also managed a new rating high of 2316. Thanks to everyone for a great tournament full of exciting chess. The action continues every month - don't miss it !!

See GAMES here

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September 10th,

Saturday at the club was a busy day as we hosted a Grandmaster lecture along with our usual events.  GM Mikhail Kekelidze visited and gave a fascinating hour and a half lecture on the games of Botvinnik (per the request of some of our members).  The lecture was held in our downstairs lounge which provided a nice private atmosphere for discussion. 

GM Kekelidze (2nd from left) with VIP guests

Look for more opportunities to hear from the knowledgeable GM on our website as he will be returning soon! 

September 3rd,

CCFC's first Bughouse Club Championships was a roaring success and tremendous fun for the 6 teams that competed. Topping the K-12 section, the "Burgundy Buggers", comprised of CCFC member Kurt Rubin and Aman Karunakaran. Why burgundy? Why, for their matching burgundy outfits, of course! The rest of the teams competed in the K-6 section; here we had the "Teenie Tiny Titans" in 4th. These two newcomers to the game showed a lot of spunk and have a bright buggin' future. Tied for third were the "Bro and Sis Shuffle" and the "Chess Masters". It just goes to show that being a chess master won't guarantee you anything in Bughouse!

Coming in a close second, the "Bug Boys", who ultimately yielded first place to none other than the "Soul Demons". Well, it's tough to take down Soul Demons, that's all I'll say on that score. Congratulations to all our participants, all of whom earned medals, trophies and/or gift certificates! As Fall comes 'round the corner look no further than CCFC for a host of fun activities ahead! We can't wait to see you!!

September 4th,

Friday was a night of nail biting finishes.  Each place was hotly contested and nobody won a more than a half point.  Despite the absence of NM Daniel Lowinger from this week’s blitz tournament, the field was one of our strongest ever with two masters and three strong experts competing for the top two prizes.  Top seed NM Ian Harris put in a solid performance and managed to win the tournament despite being nicked for points from both NM Josh Colas and Expert Alex Eydelman.  In the end he finished a fraction of a point ahead of near master Mikhail Koganov. 

Our new U2100 prize went to expert Oswaldo Fernandez.  His draw against Koganov was crucial to his success as it allowed him to win the prize by a mere half point over Eydelman.  Three players competed for the U1800 prize and the final result was as close as it gets.  CCFC Director Melvin Patrick looked on track to secure a resounding victory after defeating NM Josh Colas in the first round!  However, it was Josh’s father Guy Colas who managed to catch Patrick securing a tie for the U1800 prize. 

Congratulations to all of the winners and we hope to see everyone at next week’s blitz for some more exciting action!

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July 30th,

You're never quite sure what you'll get at CCFC, but you're sure that whatever you get it's the highest quality. Spontaneously discarding the Quad format at the behest of all present, CCFC instituted two 3-game matches - prominent International Master Justin Sarkar faced Scholastic Director Daniel Lowinger while Danbury A-player Noel Scheinwald matched minds with Club Director Melvin Patrick. The House collapsed in flames this day with both mini-matches ending with the same dismal 2.5-.5 score against the House.

As usual, the 3 possible results (win, loss and draw) conceal the closeness and excitement of the games; game 1 of the Sarkar-Lowinger match was a thrill to witness with Sarkar shocking his opponent and spectators alike winning a Q+K vs. R+B+N ending by masterfully setting his passed pawns in motion whilst safeguarding his king, all with 2 seconds remaining on his clock to Mr. Lowinger's 2+ minutes!!

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July 29th,

Friday's Blitz is like a box of chocolates, you never kow what you're going to get. The top section went pretty much according to plan with CCFC's Scholastic Director NM Daniel Lowinger tying for first with CCFC Instructor NM Ian Harris. The always dangerous experts Oswaldo Fernandez and Alex Eydelman fought valiantly but fell short.

The U1800 prize was hotly contested. Further evidence that kids' ratings cannot be trusted! Matthew Chan won 3 out of four games against the Karunakaran brothers despite being a 400 point underdog. This catapulted him to split the prize with CCFC Club Director Melvin Patrick who had to recover after being nicked by Victor Urvantsev. Guy Colas and Patrick seemed relieved to be facing each other in the final round...finally an opponent that can drive a car!

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July 28th,

Thursday's Quads produced one of our strongest Quads to date with 2350 rated NY Master Leif Pressman jumping into the mix to celebrate his birthday! In spite of the excellent karma and being the rating favorite, Leif had to settle for joint second with 1.5/3 as CCFC Instructor and NM Ian Harris was having his way with everyone, crossing the finish with a perfect 3-0 to take the tournament and a whopping 28 rating points!

Our second Quad was headed by CCFC Club Director Melvin Patrick. In spite of an over 600 rating point difference (!!!!!!!), CCFC member Brian Bongiovanni managed to finish in a joint 3-way tie for first along with another CCFC regular, Aman Karunakaran. The man-with-a-target-on-his-back during our Sunday afternoon Shark-Frees, Mr. Al Pinto finished according to rating expectations, but his games say more: with just a couple minutes left on his clock, Mr. Pinto pressed 1600-rated Aman in a better endgame to the brink of flagging and defeat but Aman was able to keep his cool and take home the full point. One can surmise that this result and the way it was achieved has left a lasting imprint on Mr. Pinto, one that will propel him to many future successes!

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July 23rd,

Saturday’s Quads was a close-knit affair filled with CCFC regulars.  The games were hard fought and exciting.  The only major upset was Alex Eydelman’s draw in the second round with top seed NM Dan Lowinger.  This allowed NM Oliver Chernin the opportunity to win the tournament.  Going into the last round he was half a point ahead of Lowinger who was in a must win situation.  From the outset of the game he aggressively attacked Chernin, even sacrificing a piece to get to his king.  However, Chernin played well, parrying his threats with incredible accuracy.  Despite massive complications, the game ended in a draw giving Chernin the win!  Congratulations to him and thanks for everyone who participated!

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July 19th,

The only weekly bughouse tournament in the world returned again with 6 teams competing for top honors! Experienced bug veterans Jack Von Riesemann and Kai Aronson gave house team Red and Black a run for their money, losing only in the thrilling finale after winning all but one of their other matches!! As always, a fantastic time was had by all as the spirit of friendship and fun prevailed over frequent laughter and delicious pizza. See everyone again next week !!

July 17th,

Our Shark-Free's are unique and beautiful tournaments truly showing that over the chessboard, all differences of age and background fall away as everyone comes together over a shared passion. This week's Shark-Free featured 2 children, a teenager and an adult! Tyrell Staples took top honors in his first tournament at our new club! Although Tyrell is no stranger to our events, this was his first tournament in the new building and his first CCFC tournament where he had to compete against adults! A special congratulations to Rory Dougall as well, a new member and participant in our camps who bravely entered Shark-Free as his first tournament!! Although he played relatively grizzled veterans, he produced commendable fighting chess and the experience will no doubt pay big dividends for his chess in the future!! Congratulations also to Jack Von Riesemann who braved his first Shark-Free, and Ellen Rosenfeld who came in clear second place.

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July 17th,

This month's K-5 Scholastic saw the triumphant return of the McGraths as both Terrence and Olivia won first place in their respective sections! Congratulations to the McGraths on this phenomenal achievement!! Also tying for first in the K-3 section was CCFC regular Aalok Bhattacharya whose hard-earned experience from playing in last Sunday afternoon's Shark-Free paid off!! All of our participants showed the wonderful sportsmanship and camaraderie that characterizes all of our K-5 tournaments and I'd like to congratulate all of them specially for this and urge the parents to deliver my congratulations to their children.

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July 16th,

This month's Cash Showdown was a Grand Slam for the home team as CCFC Directors Melvin Patrick and Daniel Lowinger joined CCFC Instructor Ian Harris in a 3-way tie for first place! Special congratulations to Melvin whose pre-tournament rating of 1591 was the second-lowest in this extremely strong event. Besting 3 of 4 higher rated players, including high expert Alex Eydelman, Melvin gained a whopping 118 rating points to tie with 2 masters for 1st place!! Such an accomplishment is rare to say the least, and frankly this writer cannot remember another such instance in his twenty plus years of tournament experience. U2200 went to strong experts Alex Eydelman and Mikhail Koganov who beat Daniel Lowinger with a shocking middle-game combination. Also picking up class prizes were Michael Bogaty (top U2000) and Mathew Chan (top U1600).

July 15th,

The strongest blitz tournament in Connecticut continued this Friday with strong players from all over the rating spectrum. They came for the U1800 guaranteed $100 prize, and they came for 1st place! Leading the charge was the Colas team of father and son, both dangerous chess killers! In the end it was Guy Colas who walked away with the U1800 prize and a clean $100 while Josh had to settle for third place as top honors went to CCFC Director Daniel Lowinger.

July 14th,

This Thursday produced a 6 players Swiss, perfect for the A-C class player as 4 of the 6 players fell in this rating range. The outliers were chess master Daniel Lowinger, who won the event, and CCFC regular David Childs with a pre-tournament rating of 1166. David has been focusing more attention on his chess lately and we commend him for entering this challenging tournament. Although losing can be discouraging, it is only through challenging yourself by playing stronger players that you will improve, and indeed David's determination paid off as he nicked a draw from CCFC Director Melvin Patrick. Many fighting games took place with Joel Wald taking clear second place, his only loss to the winner.

July 12th,

16 buggers showed up for Tuesday's popular Bughouse and Pizza competition including a couple ringers: Team Segall, consisting of 1900 rated Ethan Segall and Michael Bogaty tied with house team Red and Gray to split top honors.

The picture says it all: Tuesday nights CCFC is the place to be for fun, food and friends!

July 10th,

The man with the target on his back for our Sunday Shark-Free this week was Mr. Al Pinto, whose pre-tournament rating of 929 could look quite intimidating to the other players, two of whom sported u500 ratings. And indeed, Mr. Pinto more than met rating expectations with a perfect score including a nice win over Ms. Ellen Rosenfeld whose pre-tournament rating of 883 promised that the match would be an exciting one. Nevertheless it was Al's round 2 opponent, Jake Seidman, who gave Al the biggest run for his money in a highly dramatic game! Jake created several surprising mating threats despite his material deficit and would have gotten the point had it not been for Al's exceedingly cautious play. Finally, a special mention to our fourth place finisher, Aalok Bhattacharya, a regular of our monthly Scholastic K-5 tournaments who showed wonderfully commendable courage and determination by entering our Shark-Free challenge. We encourage all scholastic players to follow his example !!

January 23

The CCFC held its first scholastic event on Sunday, and we were happy to
welcome five young competitors for this K-2 Swiss. First place belonged
to Rishabh Vuthamaraju, who saw his rating skyrocket after going
3-for-3! We'd also like to welcome Siddharth Siva Kumar, who scored 1.5
out of 4 in his first USCF-rated tournament. Thanks to all our rising
chess stars, and we look forward to seeing you at our next scholastic
event.

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After months of preparation and anticipation, November 7th finally arrived and with it CCFC's inaugural scholastic event: the Fairfield County K-8 Chess Championships!  Held at Tracey Elementary School in Norwalk, the event drew 90 participants and was our largest tournament to date, drawing kids from as close as Norwalk and as far as Rhode Island! All in all, teams and individuals competed in 5 sections.  See the results below!  Congratulations to all of our school and individual winners, and to everyone who took part for making this a memorable event full of good competition and good sportsmanship.  If you thought this event was fun, hold your breath for our next one which will take place in our very own dedicated chess facility!  We can't wait to see you there!!

Rated Section Results

Unrated Section Results

The 2010 Ryan Park Human Chess Game, held October 10th, drew a large crowd of people to a very exciting event. This was the first time that such an event has taken place in in Norwalk. The event was sponsored by the John M. Glover Agency and Friends of Ryan Park. The playing field was very diverse in almost every way imaginable, including the participants' knowledge of how to play the game of chess. Despite one young pawn missing at the beginning of the game, (Perhaps hoping to have time to get a treat from the ice cream truck before the game) he was quickly ushered back onto the board and the match began!

Famous boxers Tarvis and Travis Simms announced the moves for each side. Thanks to the flawless organizing skills of local chess teacher and match referee Christopher Potts, the rest of the game went off without a hitch!

Although the players followed a script during the game which showed them where to go, many of them were quite knowledgeable about how to play, as NM Daniel Lowinger and myself would soon find out!

Once the human chess game had concluded many of the players ventured over for the "Master Challenge". Lowinger and I took on all comers, with anyone taking a point from us getting a medal. After what seemed like several hours and many games, with a few close calls, we remained undefeated.

The challenge continued until the sun went down. If you missed the event, never fear, for it is likely that this will become an annual tradition! I am certainly looking forward to 2011's edition of a human chess game and next year's "Master Challenge"!

Local media Coverage

In spite of extremely short notice (less than a week!), 10 fierce fighters descended upon Norwalk's police station to do battle.  The story of the tournament must be newcomer Ben Gershenov who, although ranked 3rd with a 2100+ rating, finished with a perfect 3-0 score to take clear first.  Congratulations to him !!  Yours truly was taken out of contention in a highly complex struggle with Ian Harris.  While I hate losing, I take consolation from the creative tribute Ian paid to recently deceased Chess legend Bent Larsen; Ian played Larsen's opening, 1. b3, and the game was probably out of theory by the 4th move.  I soon took over the initiative, but in true Larsen style, Ian defended tenaciously and creatively and took home the full point.  I think Bent would have been proud. 

View Games Here

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FCC's first bughouse tournament produced four highly competitive teams. Once the smoke cleared, three of them had tied for first! See the crosstable here.

Special thanks to Koji Takasumi for providing pizza for everyone!

Congratulations to Melvin Patrick who won the following spontaneous blitz tournament with a perfect 8-0 score!!

Our G/60 Quads produced some close contests and telling drama, as usual.  16 players comprised the field in 4 quads:  in Quad 4, emerging victorious after his hiatus in Latin America (what secret strategies did they teach him there?!) was FCC regular Frank Rivera, who also took his rating over the 1k mark.  Congratulations to him!  In Quad 3 it was the absolutely terrifying Druha Karunakaran, who has taken his rating from 1200 to 1500 in a single month!!!!  Sibling rivalries abound at FCC, but this one must take the cake: immediately after Druha's younger brother Aman made his appearance on our Congratulations page for his stellar performance at the Bradley Open, Druha has been on an absolute tear with, as mentioned, 300 rating points from his last 5 events.  Druha finished with a perfect 3-0.  Congratulations to him on his exceptional feats of late! 

In Quad 2 it was the Bykhovsky brothers seeking to continue their rampage...with success!  This time it was younger brother Andrew who defeated his brother and took the quad with a perfect 3-0, though it should be mentioned that FCC regular Hubert Herring stepped in at clear 2nd with 2/3!  Finally in Quad 1 it was a battle of hungry upstarts vs. grizzled veterans as high A-players (and high schoolers) Max Steinberg and Avery Chen took on expert Hanon Russell and yours truly.  The tension began early in Quad 1 with Max clipping me for a draw with a beautiful tactic to save a difficult position (see below).  Hanon powered to a 2-0 start setting up a decisive battle for first in the last round with me having to win "to order" with black. 

View Games

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22 players participated in this year’s FCC edition of Summer Speed!
Of the 22, two were active top International Grandmasters, one was one of the strongest International Masters in the nation, and nine(!) were rated over 2000 (an achievement in the top 5% of competitive chess players nationwide).  As FCC regular, all-around friendly guy and class A player Al Lasser remarked as he pulled up his seat to begin our game: “I’ve certainly got my money’s worth!”  Indeed, Fairfield County Chess’ speed tournament is quickly becoming the strongest speed tournament in the nation!

Part of the excitement of speed chess is that anything can happen!  With no increment added to the original ten minutes, even top players show their nerves.  As early as round 2 Fairfield County Chess instructor Ian Harris had top seeded GM Alexander Stripunsky on the ropes.  Down an entire rook and pawn with no appreciable time advantage or other compensation, GM Stripunsky was forced to sweat but ultimately showed his incredible toughness and resolve, holding on and distracting Ian with consistent tactical shots to bring home the full point.  National Life Master, Fairfield County Chess regular and frequent titled player killer Oliver Chernin -- who ultimately finished clear 3rd: Congratulations to him!! -- took down nationally renowned International Master Robert Hungaski in a deeply prepared line that the two had discussed previously (formerly with Hungaski the victor).  As the triumphant Chernin remarked with a bit of a wry grin after the game: “Never repeat an opening variation against me!”  I, for one, will be heeding this advice! See the game below!

Ultimately it all ended in a tie for first between our two Alexander Grandmasters: Alexander Lenderman and Alexander Stripunsky who took home $400 apiece.  Congratulations to them!  Clear third place, worth a nice $200 went, as mentioned, went to Oliver Chernin!  Trophies were also awarded to our top scholastic participants.  The results for these were as follows: 1st, Avery Chen, 2nd, Zachary Tanenbaun (who nearly achieved a stalemate against IM Hungaski!), 3rd, Richie Takasumi, 4th, Kurt Rubin, and 5th, Druha Karunakaran.  Class prizes went to Avery Chen for the U2000, Leo Bykhovsky and Zachary Tanenbaum for the U1800 and Richie Takasumi and Koji Takasume for the U1600/UNR.  

As for yours truly, I anticipated a sluggish event, predicting this publicly at Friday night’s Barnes and Noble meeting, and did not disappoint!  Although I managed to play to rating expectations (defeating all lower rated opponents), the wins were scrappy affairs and I not infrequently blundered outright.  As for my games against the Grandmasters, well, I managed to recreate enough of them for you to judge for yourselves. 

Click Here to see games with analysis.

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With Thanks from Fairfield County Chess to the Weston Public Library and Friends of the Weston Public Library, in particular our liaison Mary Welsch-Lehmann for hosting the event!

On August 21, 2010, intrigued by the challenge, novelty, serene location and virtually unlimited free pizza, children from all corners of Connecticut put down their toys, video games and summer reading and flocked to the Weston public library to participate in Fairfield County Chess’ first scholastic chess tournament of the summer, the “Brain Games” challenge!  The children came in all shapes and sizes - experienced chess tournament veterans up to 16 years old and 7 year old household champions looking to test their skills for the first time in the wider chess world.  They came from as close as Weston and as far as Monroe and Trumbull; in total 10 Connecticut towns were represented. 

Of the 42 participants, 15 walked away with trophies but everyone left with a smile as the staff of Fairfield County Chess ensured that every participant was a winner by focusing the children’s attention on the mission of chess as described in our mission statement: to have fun, to meet new friends, and, well, to eat pizza!

To maximize the quality of the challenge, participants were divided into 3 categories: an unrated section (primarily for first-timers), a K-5 rated section and a 6-12 rated section.  Rated sections were officially recognized by the United States Chess Federation and count toward each child’s national standing.   At the end of a taxing day of mental gymnastics (the first round began at 10:30 am and the last round concluded near 4 pm) the silhouette of 6 champions could be made out as the smoke cleared: in the unrated section, 1st and 2nd (on tie breaks) went to Will Carron of Southport and Dalton Yu of Trumbull, both with a perfect 4-0 score; in the K-5 rated it was Daniel Lu of Stamford and Henry Stratakis-Allen of Westport who split the top two prizes with 3/4; finally, in the 6-12 rated section it was Druha Karunakaran of Norwalk and Patrick Stots of Stamford who split the top two prizes with a near perfect 3.5/4.  A hearty congratulations to everyone! Click below for crosstables.

Rated Section

Unrated Section

Fairfield County Chess kids were back with a vengeance in August as we pursued possibly our most complex theme yet: the sacrifice of material and the coordinated initiative.  For a better understanding of our focus, the annotated consultation game below is worth a thousand words: borrowing a highly controversial position from the riveting encounter Kasparov-Andersson 1981, our two teams of students produced FCC’s most dramatic consultation game to date! 

Check it out here!

A harrowing journey to the hinterlands of...New Britain!

See the games Here!

FCC’s Saturday Quads was what you’d expect at FCC: we had a national master, a national scholastic star, and some serious drama!

The Bykhovsky brothers were back for more after their joint rampage in our previous event (see our recap of the U1500 swiss).  Little brother Andrew made good on the Bykhovsky promise by winning his quad clear first with a perfect score (!), but older brother Leo was stopped in his tracks by the onslaught of Guy Colas who, although rated the lowest in his quad went for a perfect 3-0!!!  What a feat!!!  Congratulations to him!!!

Perhaps he has been learning a few tricks from his incredible son Josh, who is one of the highest ranked juniors in the country!  But for Mr. Derek Meredith, who seems to win at FCC events with consistent ease, Josh might very well have won clear first in the quad as he defeated yours truly and Mr. Potts for a score of 2/3.  In our individual encounter he employed a brilliant “scorched earth” strategy to send me to my doom (see the game with annotations below). 

We encourage everyone who comes to our events to submit their games (with or without annotations) for publication on the website.  We’re proud of the chess we play at FCC and want to share it with you!

View Games

It all started with an enigmatic e-mail from Meriden chess club leader Bryant Keith: a cohort of hardcore chess amateurs, outside the reach of USCF land and law, was challenging the premier chess club in the tri-state to a match!  Although none of its players has participated in a USCF tournament, the Meriden club was confident of respectable results against our top line-up of tournament seasoned veterans and talented juniors.  Although those of us at FCC doubted the likelihood of a group of provincial, recluse chess geniuses, the possibility of chess history being made never escaped us: would this alien group of chess players produce new strategies and tactics never before seen in the professional chess arena?  Would they pull off the impossible and defeat a group of nationally ranked tournament players?

There is a legend that during the 1927 World Championship match between Alexander Alekhine and Jose Raul Casablanca a hooded stranger approached the hotel where the two players were staying with an incredible claim: he had solved the game of chess and could defeat any player in 10 moves.  Naturally he was scorned by both Alekhine and Capablanca at first but after prolonged insistence he was finally granted admission to Capablanca’s room for a game.  He promptly defeated Capablanca in 10 moves, as advertised.  The pieces were reset, and the feat was performed again.  After several such games, Capablanca took him to Alekhine’s room to see if the solution would work against Alekhine’s play, which it did.  What were the players to do?  Such a discovery, if widely known, would end all public intrigue for chess forever after!  Well, the only thing to do: they killed the stranger!

Back to our match with Meriden: you can be confident that we had no intention to kill anyone (especially as our match was held in a police station!).  We did, however, post strong results in our first few rounds (averaging 1 defeat, 1 draw, and 6 wins).  In spite of the results, many of the games were closer than they first appeared.  My first opponent, after blundering early in our official game, took me deep into an endgame in our second, unofficial one. Click Here to view the game. 

After 3 rounds the score stood strongly in favor of FCC and we suggested to finish the afternoon with some blitz.  The Meriden group strongly favored playing the final round - they were out for blood!  Incredibly, they finished with an even score in this round, taking down 1850 level and strong FCC regular Daniel Cooper with a nice double threat!  One of these threats was checkmate: needless to say, Cooper did not prioritize the right threat!  In any event, the Meriden group certainly earned our complete respect, both as players and people.  They were friendly and classy, and we sincerely hope to see them at some future FCC events! 

Crosstable

Final Score

Meriden 7.5 - FCC 24.5

The May 2010 Masters won’t soon be forgotten. The tournament site (the Norwalk Public Library) lost power. The library staff was forced to evacuate the building before the start of the first round. An organizer’s nightmare.

But chess players are a hearty bunch. They came from all over to play chess and would not be denied. At the suggestion of one our favorites Derek Meredith, we investigated the availability of the community room at the Norwalk police station, one of the sites that we use for our quads. The room was available but the police did not know if it was reserved later in the day. We took a chance and 42 of the 50+ players trekked across town…and they played happily ever after.

Once again the masters section was stacked. Despite the fact the some of our regulars (GMs Lenderman, Stripunsky, Kacheishvili, and Kudrin) were at the US Championships, the field sparkled with chess luminaries.

The class section was chock-full of piranha including 10 experts.

Masters

1st -  NM Leif Pressman, GM Ildar Ibragimov, IM Robert Hungaski - $333 each

Crosstable