12/15 The National K-12 Grade Championship was held in Lake Buena Vista, FL with 22 players from Connecticut are participating. Connecticut's #1 scholastic player IM Hans Niemann hit the trifecta scoring 29-0, winning the Bughouse and Blitz and the 11th-grade section with perfect scores. After the start of the event Hans' residence changed from Connecticut to New York state. Other top-scoring players from Connecticut were Jack Grills (3rd in 11th grade), Jack Klein (10th in 9th grade), Nathaniel Moor (10th in 9th grade), Jasmine Su (4th in 4th grade), Dean Colin (15th in 4th grade), Henry Buczkiewicz (20th in 4th grade) and Annie Ulmer (31st in 3rd grade).
12/10 Hayes Goodman has won the Holiday Party Open in Coventry with a score of 3-0. Crosstable.
12/10 FM Nelson Castaneda has won the Connecticut State Blitz Championship with a score of 6.5/8. This is Nelson's second state blitz title, almost twenty years after his first. NM Harris Appelman took 2nd place on tiebreaks over NM David Herscovici with a score of 6/8. The tournament was organized by the New Britain Chess Club. Crosstable
12/8 The CSCA-sanctioned National Nominations Grand Prix Northern Leg was hosted by Team DIG USA and held at the Wethersfield Community Center. The tournament saw a huge upset win by Miles Wolfe (1162) who went 4-0 beating top seeds Daniel Zhou (1996) and Nathan Chang (1981) along the way. Miles qualified to the Candidates' Tournament for Elementary School that will be held early spring. Beatrice Low qualified to the NNCT Middle School or Girls, Ethan Striff-Cave qualified to the NNCT High School and Peter Wolfe (Middle School) or Amithi Nair (Girls) qualified to NNCT pending Beatrice's decision which section to play at the NNCT as she can only participate in the Middle School or Girls NNCT. Eli Finn won the Unrated Section with 4-0.
11/23 The first West Hartford Scholastic Chess Camp and Tournament organized by Norman Burtness was a big success with 19 scholastic players attending the camp. Candidate Masters Joe Bihlmeyer and Suhas Kodali and NM Derek Meredith were the instructors. The tournament was by Carter Clayton; crosstable
11/17 Joe Bihlmeyer took first place for the 16th time at the monthly chess tournament organized by Rob Roy in Coventry; crosstable.
11/15 Simsbury & Friends played another match vs UConn in Storrs. This year the match was on 22 boards. UConn won 27.5 - 16.5
11/3 The 2019 Stamford Open was won by Connecticut's top 14-year-old FM Max Lu who tied for first with GM John Fedorowicz, IM Justin Sarkar, FM Jason Liang and Lev Paciorkowski, all from New York state. In the U2010 section Nathan Chang took (CT) clear first, the U1710 was won by Sinclair Kennedy-Nolle (NY) and the U1310 saw a tie for first by Nishant Jain (CT) and Kenneth Crump (NY). Final standings of the Major Section, Under 2010, Under 1710, Under 1310 and the US Chess Rating Report.
10/30/19 At the Annual Meeting held on October 20th at the Weston Public Library the CSCA welcomed two new Directors, Nevena Lanzo and Bryant Mercado, to the Board. IM Jan van de Mortel ran for re-election unopposed and will continue as President of the CSCA for the year 2019-2020. See the draft Meeting Minutes including Officer Reports; the Treasurer's Report is pending.
10/19 Daniel Zhou took clear first at the Connecticut Harvest Open in Coventry; crosstable.
10/4 Three scholastic players from Connecticut are representing the US at the 2019 World Youth Chess Championship held October 1-13 in Mumbai, India. IM Hans Niemann is the top seed in the Open 16 category. He started with 2,5 out of 3 and features in an interview here. In the Open 18 category twin brothers George and Jake Wang from Chess Haven are participating. After missing the first three rounds they will start the event in round 4. Update 10/7: Hans Niemann has taken the clear lead with 6/7; video footage and game analysis by Hans. Update 10/9: Hans Niemann leads with 7/8 after a spectacular mating attack; see annotated game Soto-Niemann. George and Jake Wang have a score of 2,5/8 in the Under 18 category. Update 10/10: Hans Niemann lost in round 9 and shares first place with two others; two more rounds to go. Update 10/11: Hans Niemann also lost in round 10 and is now out of contention for the gold medal. A last-round win should still put him in strong contention for silver or bronze. Update 10/12: Hans Niemann came very close to the silver medal in the Open 16 but also lost his last-round and finished 9th with a score of 7/11; See annotations to Cardoso Cardoso-Niemann. In the Open 18 Jake Wang took 53rd place with a score of 5/11 (after starting the event with three forfeit losses) while his brother George finished in 74th with a score of 3,5/11. Report after 10 rounds at US Chess - Report after 7 rounds at US Chess - Report after 4 rounds at US Chess Tournament website - Final standings Open 16 - Final standings Open 18.
9/29 Joe Bihlmeyer and Michael Uwakwe tied for first at the 2019 Charter Oak Open in Coventry. Crosstable.
9/22 IM Justin Sarkar of NYC took clear first with 4.5-0.5 at the 2019 Hartford Open. Best Connecticut player was H.S. Champion Zachary Tanenbaum who scored 3-2. The U2010 was won outright by Connecticut's K-8 representative Peter Wolfe with a 4.5-0.5 score. Scott Sheff and Justin Trey of NY state tied for first in the U1610, while Connecticut's Michael Boisselle took clear first in the U1210 with a perfect 5-0. Standings: Major, Under 2010, Under 1610, Under 1210 and Rating Report.
9/12 Now that summer is over, chess clubs in our state are starting up again. Here coach Dan Pelletier (left in last row) with some of his players. Check out the PLAY section of this site for a club or meet near you.
8/25 Chef Mario Guevara at the grill of the 54th NBCC Summer Open, held outdoors in Wickham Park in Manchester: Mark Bourque won the Open, CCSU student Kyle Triplett the U-1619, and the current CT K-3 State Champion Ethan Shemo from Avon the U- 919. Rating report.
8/25 Connecticut's FM Kapil Chandran achieved an IM norm at the US Masters held in Greenboro, NC. Kapil scored 5 out of 9 and beat GM Dragon (2614) in the process. The top scholastic player from the state, 16-year-old IM Hans Niemann, scored 5.5 out of 9 missing a GM norm on half a point. Hans beat GM Melkumyan (2661) and was in a third-place tie for the U2500 (fide) prize. Final Standings.
8/19 The 2019 Continental Open in Sturbridge, Mass. was won by Chinese Grandmaster Jianchao Zhou with a score of 7 out of 9. The Premier section had no less than 12 GM's and 7 IM's participating. Because it was a nine-round event title norms were attainable and Eugene Yanayt of Cali. achieved an IM norm. No players from Connecticut contended in the Premier, but in the U2100 Derek Meredith tied for first, Nathan Chang tied for first in the U1900, Colin Wheeler tied for third in the U1700 and Jack Clayton finished fourth in the U1250. Final standings and Rating report.
8/11 Connecticut's top player, Grandmaster Robert Hungaski, finished in a tie for 14th with a score of 6.5-2.5 at the 2019 US Open in Orlando, FL. He was in contention for top honors and best American player and qualification to the 2020 US Championship until the last round. Connecticut's 2019 Barber winner Peter Wolfe was in the money with a tie for 3rd and 4th in class B and a gain of more than 100 rating points. Final standings and Rating report.
8/10 Joe Bihlmeyer took clear first at the 2019 Nutmeg State Open and won the monthly event by Rob Roy in Coventry for the 15th time. Crosstable.
8/6 (Corrected) The 2019 National High School (Denker), K-8 (Barber), Girls (Haring) and Senior Tournaments of Champions took place August 3-5 in Orlando, Florida. Connecticut was represented by four players in these invitational tournaments where each state gets to send one player. In the Denker tournament Zachary Tanenbaum finished in 24th out of 48 with a score of 3-3. In the Barber tournament Peter Wolfe finished 28th out of 50 with a score of 3-3, facing much higher rated opponents in most of his games. In the Haring tournament Beatrice Low finished 27th out of 42 with a score of 2.5-3.5, facing much higher rated opponents in almost all of her games, which included a win over 2nd seed Julia Sevilla in round 1 (see game below). In the Senior Mikhail Koganov finished 5th out of 44 with a score of 4-2; Mikhail faced higher rated opponents in all but one game, did not lose a game and drew with top seed GM Sevillano (see game below) and IM's Burnett and Ginsburg.
7/28 Grandmasters Yaroslav Zherebukh and Alexander Ivanov have won the 24th Bradley Open. Best Connecticut player in the Major was Robert Newbold who tied for 3rd/1st U2300. The U2100 was won by Morris Clainer from Mass, Joe Bihlmeyer best Connecticut player with a tie for 2nd. Beatrice Low, CT State Girls Champion, tied for 1st with Jaron Bernard (New Jersey) in the U1800. Dennis Wigg (CT) took clear 1st in the U1500, while Punyavrat Upadhyay (CT) won all his games to win the U1200. Final Standings: Major, U2100, U1800, U1500, U1200 and US Chess rating crosstable.
7/27 Connecticut's Maximillian Lu has won the Gold Medal in the Under 16 section at the 2019 Pan American Youth Championship held July 21- 27 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In a field of 58 players Max remained undefeated and scored 7,5 out of 9 games. In the Girls Under 12 Serena Evans took 17th place with a score of 5 out of 9. Team USA was represented in Ecuador by 53 players. Final Standings: Under 16 - Girls Under 12.
7/20 Connecticut's top junior, 15-year-old Hans Niemann, finished in a tie for 6th place at the 2019 US Junior Championship held in St. Louis. The field was a ten-player Round Robin including, among others, four Grandmasters, four International Masters and the 2019 Women's Champion. Grandmaster Awonder Liang, 16, of Wisconsin won the event after beating Nicholas Checa from New York in a tiebreak. Event website and final standings: https://www.uschesschamps.com/2019-us-junior-championships.
7/13 Joe Bihlmeyer took clear first at the 2019 Connecticut Yankee Open. Crosstable. Joe
7/13 IM Yaacov Norowitz took clear first at the 2019 Fairfield County Masters and Class Championship. Crosstable.
6/22 Joe Bihlmeyer took clear first at the 2019 Coventry Summer Open. Crosstable.
6/9 The 2019 Northeast Open in Stamford was won by Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Belous with a score of 4,5-0,5. Tied for 2nd-4th with a score of 4-1 were GM Alexander Ivanov, IM Alexander Katz, IM Justin Sarkar and Andrew Alito, who also took top U2300. The best players from Connecticut in the Major Section were Maximillian Lu and Joseph Han (tied for 2nd for the U2300 prize). The U2100 was shared by Shawn Swindell and Frank Prestia, both from New York. Tying for 3rd were Connecticut's Joe Bihlmeyer and scholastic players Preston Deleo and Nathaniel Moor (top U1900). UConn's Isaiah Glessner took clear 1st in the U1800, and Sergei Zakharov from New York in the U1500. Ian Dailis from Connecticut and Phil Lee from Pennsylvania tied for 1st in the U1200, with Shan Kerr (top U1000), Nicholas Chong (top Unrated) and Landau Day (top U600) also winning prizes. Final Standings: Major, U2100 Section, U1800 Section, U1500 Section, U1200 Section and Rating Report
6/2 Nelson Castaneda edged out Daniel Pascetta on tiebreaks to win the 2019 State Rapid Championship held in New Britain. Norman Burtness and Joe Hricko shared the U2000 prize while Nakul Ramaswamy won the U1700 and the scholastic trophy. Crosstable.
5/18 Rick Bauer, Joe Bihlmeyer and Jonathan Smuckler tied for first at the 2019 Constitution State Open in Coventry. Crosstable.
5/11 A group of 18 players gathered for the Gaetano Bompastore Get Well Quick in Agawam, Mass. Gaetano, who is one of the most active players in the Springfield, Mass/Hartford, Conn area was involved in a serious car accident on his way home from the NBCC Summer Open on August 26, 2018. After a long recovery, players from Massachusetts and Connecticut gathered at his rehab facility to celebrate Gaetano's comeback to rated chess. Suhas Kodali won the event with a score of 4,5-0,5. Rating Report
5/4 Highschooler Yoon-Young Kim is the new 2019 Connecticut State Champion. He scored 3,5-0,5 finishing ahead of 2010 State Champ Nelson Castaneda in 2nd place and Maximillian Lu in 3rd. The U2100 prize was won by Hanon Russell. In the Under 2000 section Nakul Ramaswamy, the 2019 Middle School State Champion, took first with 4-0. The U1500 prize was won by Lisa Smith while Matthew Chin, Eric Newman and Pablo Ruiz split the U1100 prize. The event took place at the New Britain Chess Club and drew 32 participants. Additional cash, book and clock prizes were generously donated by Hanon Russell and DGT North America. Final Standings: Championship Section, U2000 Section, Rating Report and the round three game that decided the Championship Kim-Castaneda.
4/28 Maximillian Lu of Greenwich tied for 1st at the K-9 National Championship held over the weekend in Grapevine, TX and won the 3rd- place trophy on tiebreaks. Max also took 4th in the K-9 Blitz and won the Bughouse event together with Alexander Costello from California as his team mate. In the K-8 Championships Jack Klein, also of Greenwich, tied for 25th while the 15th-place team trophy in the K-8 Championship section was won by King Philip Middle School from West Hartford; King Philip also took 5th in the K-9 Blitz. Final Standings and Final Tournament Report.
4/21 The 2019 Foxwoods Open took place April 17-21 with many players from Connecticut participating. With 5,5/9 State High School Champion Zachary Tanenbaum was the best performing player from Connecticut in the Open, tying for 1st for the U2250 (FIDE-rating) prize playing higher rated opponents in all his games except one. Also in the money were high school student Daniel Zhou from Storrs, winning $3,000 for a first-place tie in the U2000, David Labriola tying for 10th also in the U2000, Craig Moffitt and Peter Wolfe tying for 6th in the U1800, Joshua Taht tying for 7th in the U1600, Mikhail Bilokin tying for 8th in the U1400, high school student Wyn Veiga from Hamden taking clear 1st and $1,100 in the U1100 and Hans Niemann winning the blitz with a perfect 10-0. 17-year-old John Burke from New Jersey won the Open and $7,650. Final Standings and US Chess crosstable.
4/14 Results of the CCFC K-12 Scholastic Championships held in Norwalk.
4/13 UConn student Roman Rychkov wins the 2019 Nathan Hale Open in Coventry; crosstable.
4/13 Results of the Brunswick tournament in Greenwich.
4/7 Numerous Connecticut players took top places at the 2019 Eastern Class Championships in Sturbridge, Mass. In the Open GM Sergey Kudrin and FM Yoon-Young Kim tied for 3rd after drawing each other in the last round. UConn student Roman Rychkov tied for 1st in the Expert section; fellow UConn student Benjamin Amar tied for 1st in Class A while Andrew Colwell tied for 3rd; Roger Bessette tied for 2nd in Class B; Terence Mooney tied for 1st in Class C while Shriniket Sivakumar tied for 3rd; Lisa Smith won Class D outright while also taking the Mixed Doubles Team together with NBCC club mate Joe Bilhmeyer; UConn student Matthew Chin took clear first in Class E while Heeja Needham tied for 2nd, also taking 2nd place in the Mixed Doubles with Jonathan Needham. Full results and US Chess crosstable.
3/30 The National Nominations Candidates Tournament took place at the Raymond Library in East Hartford. The Denker/High School section was won by Zachary Tanenbaum of Greenwich, his third win in four years. Peter Wolfe of North Milford was victorious in the Barber/K-8 and Beatrice Low of Westport won the Girls' for the fifth (!) consecutive time. They all scored 3-0 and will be this year's official representatives for Connecticut to the Denker Tournament of High School Champions, the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions and the National Girls Tournament of Champions to be held August 1-6 in Orlando, FL. For more information: Final Results & Rating Report.
3/30 The first Connecticut State Scholastic Speed Championship was attended by 64 players and took place at the Raymond Library in East Hartford. Alongside an open event, many scholastic state titles were at stake. The winners:
3/24 Crosstable of the 47th NECA in Stamford.
3/23 Crosstable of the Spring Fatima 2019 in Wilton.
3/17 Several players from Connecticut participated and two players placed in the 2019 National High School Championship in Schaumburg, Illinois. Kim Yoon-Young finished in 13th place after losing a critical game in the penultimate round. 2019 State High School Champion Zachary Tanenbaum finished in 25th place started with 4-0 including a spectacular win over a higher rated opponent. Article with Tanenbaum's game and picure (scroll down): https://new.uschess.org/news/saturday-night-in-schaumburg/ Results: http://www.uschess.org/results/2019/hs/
3/16 Peter Wolfe of North Milford wins Leg 3 of the National Nominations Grand Prix and clinches the top qualifying spot to the Barber NNCT to be held on March 30 in East Hartford. Unrated Gabriel Raffa of Massachusetts scores 5-0 to win the K-12 U1200. Daniel Zhou wins top qualifying spot for the Denker NNCT and Beatrice Low for the Girls' NNCT. Final results of the K-12 Open and K-12 U1000; rating report and Final Standings of the 2018-19 NNGP.
3/16 Joe Bihlmeyer wins the 2019 Greater Hartford Open in Coventry; crosstable.
3/10 Following a tie for first in the CT State Senior Open a week earlier, on Sunday March 10, Mikhail Koganov and Derek Meredith were hosted by the Chess Club of Fairfield County in Norwalk for a G/75 playoff to decide the winner and state representative to the 2019 National Senior Tournament of Champions August 1-6 in Orlando, FL. After both players each won one game, Derek could not continue the playoff with blitz games due to personal reasons. It was decided that Mikhail and Derek are the 2019 CT State Senior Open Co-Champions and that Mikhail will be the representative to the Nationals and Derek will be the alternate.
3/2 On Saturday March 2, the New Britain Chess Club hosted the 1st CT Senior Open Championship. The 3-SS G/75;d5 tournament was open to players age 50 and older. Thirteen players plus a house player competed for the title. Derek Meredith and Mikhail Koganov tied for 1st with 3 points each. They will have at least a 2-game (G/75;d5) playoff next weekend to determine the champion. Norman Burtness won the U2000 prize. The complete crosstable of results can be found here, USCF Crosstable - 2019 CT Senior Open. The tournament was directed by NBCC President and CSCA director Norman Burtness.
3/2160 players compete at State K-12 Scholastic Championships The CSCA and Manchester High School were the hosts of the 2019 CT State High, Middle, Elementary and Primary School Championships. Due to the early morning snow storm the tournament was delayed by two hours. The High School section was won with a perfect 5-0 by Zachary Tanenbaum from Greenwich High School. This was Zachary's third H.S. state title and with his victory he qualified for the National Nominations Candidates' Tournament Denker section on March 30 in East Hartford. Simsbury High School won their third state title. The Middle School section was won with a perfect 5-0 by Nakul Ramaswamy from Henry James Middle School in Simsbury. Henry James also won the state title, their fifth! With his win Nakul qualified for the NNCT Barber.
3/1 15-year-old Hans Niemann of Weston made it into the March 2019 Top 100 Juniors of the World. Hans is ranked #88 with a FIDE rating of 2477; this makes him the 9th ranked Junior player (born in 1999 or later) in the country.
2/24 Results of the Weston DIG Scholastic Tournament held at the Weston Public Library.
2/24 Results of the CCFC K-12 Scholastic Championships held in Norwalk.
2/24 Results of the Greenwich Country Day Scholastic.
2/23 UConn student Roman Rychkov and Yelfry Torres of Enfield win the 2019 Eastern Connecticut Open in Coventry; crosstable.
2/18 The 75th Annual US Amateur Team East took place with 1,346 players in Parsippany, NJ over President's Day Weekend. As usual many teams and players from Connecticut participated. Top Connecticut Team was "Conneticuts Finest" with Arslan Otchiyev, Ian Harris, Joe Bihlmeyer and William Torres (see picture).
2/14 Manchester High School beat Simsbury High School 6-5 in a home game (more information here).
2/10 Roman Rychkov of New Jersey and Benjamin Amar of Maine, both students at UConn, tie for first at the Hartmayer Memorial. Daniel Zhou of EO Smith in Mansfield wins Leg 2 of the National Nominations Grand Prix and Jordan Lefkowitz, also from Mansfield, wins the K-12 U1000. Final results of the Open, K-12 Open and K-12 U1000; rating report and NNGP standings after Leg 2.
2/2 Results of the 46th NECA scholastic held in Stamford.
1/27 Results of the Nutmeg DIG Scholastic Tournament held at the Weston Public Library.
1/27 Results of the Greenwich City Scholastic Championship.
1/26 Beatrice Low of Greenwich Academy has won the 4th annual 2019 State Girls' Championships. This was the second time Beatrice won the title after claiming victory in the 1st annual Championships in 2016 and with her win Beatrice is the first qualifier to the 2019 National Nominations Candidates' Tournament to be held on March 30th. Jithu Saveejan of Bristol Central High School won leg 1 of the National Nominations Grand Prix. Both events took place at the Raymond Library in East Hartford and were organized by Connecticut Chess Organization. For more information see: results and rating report of the CT Girls', results and rating report of NNGP leg 1 and standings NNGP after Leg 1.
1/19 Landau Vincent Day (K), Nathan Mezheritskiy (1st), Anthony Low (2nd), Henry Buczkiewicz (3rd), Sahil Vora (4th), Max Ingargiola (5th), Carter Clayton (6th), Evan Dokko Stein (7th), Ethan Striff-Cave (8th), Daniel Zhou (9th), Dhanush Kalangi (10th), Jithu Saveejan (11th) and Benjamin Foxman (12th) are the 2019 Connecticut Grade Champions. For more information see: Full results, US Chess rating report and many more photos. A record breaking 145 players found their way to Hopkins School in New Haven for the 2nd annual State Grade Championship. After the conclusion of the event Chess Haven brothers and tournament organizers George and Jake Wang each gave a simul.
1/13 Report and photos of the CCFC K-12 Scholastic Championship can be found at the CCFC website.
1/12 Derek Meredith, Joe Bihlmeyer and Daniel Smith win the 2019 Coventry Open. Look for the 887 rating points upset by Gabe Watson.
1/6 Connecticut players placed in four out of six sections at the 2019 Boston Chess Congress. Maximillian Lu tied for first in the Premier, Sharvil Trifale tied for second in the Under 2100, Peter Josiah Wolfe took clear first in the Under 1500 and Shawn Parker tied for first in the Under 1250.
1/4 In the January 2019 issue of US Chess Life Magazine there is a portrait of Glenn Budzinski from Newtown. Glenn is the founder of the non-profit Connecticut Kids Play Chess, Inc. whose mission it is to provide high quality after-school chess lessons to elementary and secondary school students in Connecticut. Used with permission of US Chess.
1/2 The Connecticut State Blitz Championship was won by Ted McHugh III from Simsbury with a score of 8-0. This is the 10th time Ted has won this event. Suhas Kodali finished in 2nd place on tie-breaks over Nelson Castaneda. Evan Patchen won the U2000 Trophy on tiebreaks ahead of Michael Smith. The event was held at the New Britain Chess Club. Ted McHugh III (blue hat) vs Rick Bauer in the background, Joe Mansigian vs Immad Sadiq in front.
1/1 Best wishes for 2019 from the CSCA! With a great show of support from the chess community, the Connecticut State Chess Association held its annual meeting at the Meriden Library on November 3, 2018. The assembly of about fifty voted to elect a whole new Board of Directors. The Directors were given a term length based on number of votes received: Alex Palvinski and Suhas Kodali for a five-year term, Erin Striff and Jennifer Hogrefe for four years, Alexander Lumelsky and Rick Cheung for three years, Fred Townsend and Norman Burtness for two years, and Rick Bauer for one year. There was a three-way tie among Aashish Chopra, Derek Mansfield, and Derek Meredith for the tenth Board seat. The Board was consequently expanded to twelve seats and all three were elected to serve one-year terms. The newly elected Board is comprised of a diverse group of individuals, including chess players of different generations and scholastic chess parents, representing much of the Connecticut chess community. Read on
12/31 CSCA Board approves State Championship events for 2018-19. The National Nominations Grand Prix (NNGP) is renewed with three legs and a guaranteed prize fund of $1,275 for the National Nominations Candidates' Tournament (NNCT) on March 30, 2019. Added to the calendar is the first ever State Senior Open Championships on March 2, 2019. Please find all tournaments under Events.
12/16 Several players from Connecticut placed near the top at the 2018 K-12 Grade Championships held December 14-16 in Orlando, FL. Eitan Genger of Stamford finished tenth in 11th Grade, Hans Niemann of Weston finished third and Jack Grills of Westport finished tenth in 10th Grade, Jack Klein of Greenwich finished tenth in 8th Grade, Max Ingargiola of Fairfield finished twentieth in 5th Grade , Dean Colin of Greenwich finished twentieth in 3rd Grade and Annie Ulmer of Greenwich finished in fifteenth in 2nd Grade.
12/15 Derek Meredith wins the Holiday Party Open in Coventry.
12/13 Hans Niemann goes undefeated with 12-0 and wins the National K-12 Blitz Championship at the 2018 National K-12 Grade Championships in Orlando, FL.
12/9 Results of 45th NECA in Stamford (83 players).
12/8 Jan van de Mortel is the new President of the CSCA. Results of the CSCA Annual Meeting election of Directors and Officers (meeting minutes).
12/8 27 players participated in the CCO Scholastic Speed Championship held ahead of the CSCA Annual Meeting in Newington: results and US Chess rating report.
12/5 45 players at DIG 2018 Fall in Weston.
12/3 Punyavrat Upadhyay wins the Mouja Studio 3rd Scholastic in Manchester.
11/18102 players participated in the Greenwich Country Day Scholastic in Greenwich.
11/17 Derek Meredith and Joe Bihlmeyer tied for first place at the Yankee Peddler Open in Coventry.
11/10 Jithu Sajeevan won the Greater Hartford Scholastic Championships at Hall in West Hartford (results). NBCC President Norman Burtness reports. Photo provided by Bob Cyr, TD of the event
11/9 Storrs: in their Chess & Go match on 11 boards UConn beat Simsbury 17 - 5. CSCA Historian Bob Cyr reports. Left Simsbury, right UConn Group photo
11/4 GM Alexander Ivanov wins 4th Stamford Open.
11/3 Ahead of the CSCA Annual Meeting in Meriden the first State Scholastic Bullet Championship was won by Avery Hogrefe.
10/27 Joe Bihlmeyer wins 2018 Connecticut Harvest Open in Coventry.
9/30 Abhijit Mondal wins 2018 Charter Oak Open. Abhijit (left) with organizer Rob Roy (right)
9/24 Hans Niemann wins 9th Annual Hartford Open
9/3 Best CT results at New York State Championship in Albany: - U-2100, 1st: Derek Meredith $600 - U-1500, 1st: Xing Zhou $650, 3rd: Yikuan Zhou $250 Best CT player in the Championship section was Zachary Tanenbaum who scored 3.5/6
8/27 Hans Niemann took his good form from the US Masters to the Summer IM Norm Invitational held in Cambridge, MA where he tied for second place with 6/9 and achieved his third International Master Norm. More information on the event at the Boylston Chess Club blog. Hans facing Qibiao Wang in round 2
8/26 On his birthday, Rick Bauer wins the out-doors 53rd New Britain Summer Open. Click for section details for Open, Under 1618, Under 918. Bryant Mercado (UConn chess club) enjoying his burger from the NBCC grill.
8/21 Connecticut's 15-year-old Hans Niemann has scored a Grandmaster Norm at the US Masters held in Greensboro, NC. Hans faced 9 GM's in a row and scored 5 points and had a performance rating over 2600 (FIDE). For more information see the tournament report, detailed results and games and MSA crosstable.
8/20 Best CT results at Continental Open in Sturbridge: - Premier Section, 8th: Arslan Otchiyev, $671 - U-2100, 3rd: Mark Bourque (Stafford Springs chess club and NBCC), $500 - U-1700, 5th: Matthew Shirvell (UConn chess club), $350
8/11 Fairfield 7th Grader Aaryan Chitnis won the Western CT K~8 Scholastic played on Saturday, 8/11, in Wilton with a perfect 4-0 score. Henry Buczkiewicz from New Canaan 2nd, Arnav Kamineni from Glastonbury 3rd.
8/11 Nathan Chang wins Nutmeg State Open in Coventry.
8/4 US Chess Delegates vote against the RCSCA: The unofficial news from Madison, Wisconsin is that "President Hoffpauir outlined the EB recommendation for the delegates to appoint a committee to study the situation, attempt to get the parties to mediate, and, failing that, the committee to bring a recommendation on the matter to the 2019 Delegates meeting (...) The board recommendation passed without dissent."
7/31 The results are in from the National Championship events in Madison, Wisconsin. Connecticut's junior representatives finished in 22nd place in the team standings and each received a $50 gift certificate for best U1900 state team. Yoon-Young Kim scored 4/6 in the Denker (High School) finishing in 6th place, defeating top seed IM Patel (2570) along the way. Daniel Zhou finished in 24th place in the Barber (K-8) with a score of 3/6. Beatrice Low finished in 32nd place in the Girls' with a score of 2.5/6. In the National Senior Tournament of Champions Mikhail Koganov finished in 9th place with a score of 4/6. US Chess MSA crosstables: Denker, Barber, Girls' and Senior. Yoon-Young and Daniel, and, Daniel, Beatrice and Mikhail
7/30 Hans Niemann, with 4th place, best CT player in 23rd Bradley Open CT players Dennis Wigg wins Under 1500, Suma Dendi wins Under 1200.
7/29 Connecticut's Maximillian Lu has won the Gold Medal for players under 16 at the Pan-Am Youth Chess Championships held July 21-29 in Santiago, Chile. Despite losing his first round game, Max took sole first with a score of 7,5/9 and achieved an IM norm. Follow the links to visit the tournament website with round bulletins and games, thecomplete results and USCF report.
7/25 The Reformed CSCA has issued two statements to address the Executive Board's recommendation regarding the governance of chess in Connecticut, statements made by the Chair of the US Chess States Committee, and to substantiate the RCSCA's claims against Jim Celone/CSCA. The statements also address multiple false statements made by Celone in his petition to the Executive Board, the most egregious of which relate to fraud involving the election of Connecticut's Delegates to US Chess. The RCSCA's statements can be found at www.rcsca.org.
7/14 GM Aleksandr Lenderman wins CCFC Masters and Class Championships in Norwalk.
7/14 Nelson Castañeda Alvarez wins Connecticut Yankee Open in Conventry.
7/7 2018 US Champion GM Sam Shankland gave a simul in Newtown organized by Glenn Budzinski. The only draw was for Adeethyia Shankar, the GM won against the 28 other players. Adeethyia
6/24 39 players at 43rd NECA in Stamford.
6/23 Results of 2018 Coventry Summer Open.
6/16 Nelson Castañeda Alvarez wins NBCC Saturday Swiss.
6/11 David Brodsky (NY) wins 24th Annual Northeast Open in Stamford.
6/10 State High School Champion Yoon-Young Kim achieves an International Master norm at the CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational in Charlotte, NC winning his section with 7/9.
6/9 On May 24, 2018, six Board members of the CSCA combined their efforts to create the Reformed Connecticut State Chess Association, a new organization to represent and support the Connecticut chess community. Ahead of the June 1 deadline, the RCSCA submitted its credentials to the US Chess Executive Board for recommendation to the US Chess Board of Delegates to become Connecticut's State Affiliate in place of the CSCA. The Board of Delegates will vote on RCSCA's application in August 2018. Find out more about the RCSCA's founders, its background and the reasons for forming the new organization by visiting the RCSCA website at www.rcsca.org
6/2 Results of 2018 Planet Earth Championship. Winner was Rajesh Coimbatore Shanmugasundaram on 2nd tiebreaker over Nelson Castañeda Alvarez. from left: Nelson, Rajesh and tournament organizer Norman Burtness.
5/19 Daniel Smith (RI) wins Constitution State Open in Coventry.
5/19 Team "Ponies of Death" (ranked 7th of 14 teams of four players) wins Fairfield County Team Championships in Norwalk. Team members are Furqan Tanwir, Derek Chen, Liam Kaufman, Noah Aylesworth (all NY). Individual results are here.
4/29 Results of 42nd NECA.
4/29 Mark Bourque won class A and Nathan Chang won class B at the Eastern Class Championships in Sturbridge (all results).
4/21 Suhas Kodali and Jithu Saajevan co-winners with 3/3 at 2018 Nathan Hale Open.
4/14 Results of Brunswick Scholastic in Greenwich.
4/8 Derek Meredith wins the State Rapid Championship and William Torres wins the State Quick Championship held in West Haven.
3/31 Yoon-Young Kim, Daniel Zhou and Beatrice Low have won the nomination to represent Connecticut at the Denker, Barber and Girls National Championships in Madison, WI this summer. Final results and ratings. a game from the Denker qualifier: Jithu vs Evan
3/31 Emmanuel Hernandez, Avery Hogrefe and Audrey Zhou won State Titles at the Scholastic Quick State Championship in New Haven. Results of the Elementary, Middle and High School and Rating report.
3/25 Results of 41st NECA.
3/24 Yoon-young Kim wins 2018 New Haven Championships.
3/17 Results of Greater Hartford Open in Coventry.
3/10 Carter Clayton wins 2018 West Hartford Scholastic Chess Championship (directed by Norman Burtness & Bob Cyr): 1st Carter Clayton (5-0, in red-and-white shirt), 2nd Kunde Sudarsan (4-1), 3rd Jack Clayton (4-1) U900 Peter Wolfe (4-1), U600 Michael Kowalski (4-1) Team 1st Webster Hill Elementary School, West Hartford Team 2nd Wolfe (home school) Team 3rd West Woods Upper Elementary School, Farmington Ratings.
3/10 Arslan Otchiyev wins 2018 CT State Championship in West Hartford: (Arslan is in the blue sweater at the far right playing against Andrew Colwell in round #1) Results with tie-breaker and Ratings.
3/7 FM Nelson Castañeda wins New Britain Chess Club Championship, a six-week tournament, for the 10th time.
3/4 National Nominations Grand Prix Final Points Standings.
3/3 K-12 State Championships at Bartels Hall in New Haven: 2018 Scholastic State Champions are Yoon-Young Kim (9-12), Sadie Edelman (4-9), Robert Ulmer (K-6) and Erik Nebylovych (K-3). 2018 Team State Champions are Ludlow Middle School (Fairfield), West Woods Upper Elementary School (Farmington) and Riverfield Elemenntary School (Fairfield). Full results of the High, Middle, Elementary, Primary School and Unrated sections. Rating report of the event.
2/24 Results of Eastern Connecticut Open.
2/23 An image from the Friday Night Pop-Up Blitz tournament in Glastonbury
2/11 National Nominations Grand Prix Points Standings after leg 4.
2/10 Results and Ratings of Tom Hartmayer Memorial / round 4 NNGP. from left: Eva Lucia, Tessel, Luca, Sanjana, Haneesh, and, Jake, Sam, Joshua, Daniel and Raghav
2/8 Results 2018 Greater New Haven Winter Open.
2/4 94 rated players at 40th NECA in Stamford.
1/31 New Chess Club in Milford, CT! A new chess club, "Breakout", located in Milford, CT and lead by a National Master Arslan Otchiyev, offers up to 9 hours of group classes a week (eventually will go up to 13 hours) for only $100 a month. During the classes we will cover: chess basics, openings, middlegames, endgames and play practice games. The membership will also give you 20% off discount on private lessons, tournaments, lectures, seminars. Hurry up the classes have limited spots. The club also will hold regular adults as well as kids tournaments. For more information please contact us. Phone number: (203) 918-8553 Arslan. The address is: 217 PEPES FARM RD., MILFORD, CT 06460. Email: arslan.90@mail.ru, https://www.facebook.com/breakoutchess/.
1/27 Sean Henderson from Simsbury wins K-12 section of 2nd Annual Hopkins Chess Haven tournament. Vendata Bhargava and Vincent Zhu win K-8, Angus Pittenger wins K-4. Bros. Wang ran the event with over 80 participants.
< 1/22 National Nominations Grand Prix Points Standings after leg 3.
1/21 Jared Schwartz wins Greenwich City Scholastic Championships.
1/20 Shesh Budhabhatti wins 2018 CT State Girls Championship held in Farmington: details and ratings. Shesh
1/20 Yoon-Young Kim wins Northern CT Scholasic / Leg 3 of National Nominations Grand Prix: details and ratings.
1/20 Nicolas Checa wins 2018 CCFC Club Championship.
1/13 Results of the CT Scholastic Grade Championships at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.
1/13 National Nominations Grand Prix Points Standings after leg 2.
1/13 Results of Coventry Open
1/7 CT Superior Court hearing regarding lawsuit by Connecticut Chess Organization (CCO) against Jim Celone (doing business as Educational Technologies) is moved from 1/8 to 1/16 and later to Milford 1/29(?).
12/16 National Nominations Grand Prix Leg 2 at University of New Haven Bartels Hall has two rooms for games, separate room for parents, cafeteria downstairs, ...., a nice place to play at! Detailed results: Open, U1000, Unrated and new ratings.
12/13 More news from the K-12 National Grade Chess Championship held in Orlando: Jewish High School of Connecticut (JHSC, located in Stamford) won the 4th place team trophy. JHSC chess team has been represented by Bryan Weisz, Gavriel Genger and Leo Koganov who competed in 9th grade section of the tournament. JHSC is an independent, pluralistic Jewish high school - one that offers a rigorous, comprehensive curricular and co-curricular program in general and Jewish studies, athletics and the arts.
12/12 IM Jan van de Mortel won the CSCA CT State Blitz (G5 d5) Championship organized by NBCC. Jan (left of the Christmas tree) playing against dr. Colwell (formerly known as Andrew Colwell) Jan scored 8/9 (only Nelson beat him), second was Suhas Kodali 7/9, third Nelson Castañeda Alvarez 6/9. Detailed results and new ratings are here.
12/11 Connecticut Chess Organization (CCO) files lawsuit against Jim Celone (doing business as Educational Technologies) at CT Superior Court. CCO used this filing to also formally inform CSCA and USCF.
12/10 Connecticut's Maximillian Lu won the 6th Grade and K-6 Blitz Titles at the K-12 National Grade Championships held in Orlando, Florida over the weekend. Max conceded only two draws and took clear first in both events. Follow the links for the final report and the complete results.
12/09 Farmington Scholastic Chess Tournament was organized by David Aldi David (center) plus the winner Nakul Ramaswamy (left) and Akshita Ashokkumar
12/02 CT Scholastic Blitz State Championships was held in Farmington. New Champions are:
11/19 Greater New Haven Fall Open won by GM Lenderman. Detailed results are here.
11/07 National Nominations Grand Prix Points Standings after leg 1.
11/02 CSCA Meeting 10/31: press release.
10/30 Results from first leg of the 2017/18 National Nominations Grand Prix are here. at Hall High School
10/17 Details for the 2017/18 National Nominations Grand Prix, a CSCA sanctioned tournament series, are here.
10/15 CSCA Approves Adult and Scholastic Tournaments for 2017-18, New Events and Format Changes.
8/8 Results by CT representatives at the national tournaments for state scholastic champions in Norfolk, VA:
4/30 Finals of the NNGP to determine CT Representatives for nationals were played at University of New Haven. Here are the final three tables, with 4 players each, for Denker, Barber and Girls nominations: Winners Zachary Tanenbaum (Denker), Bryan Weisz (Barber) and Beatrice Low (Girls)
4/30 CT Scholastic Quick Chess State Championship was played in New Haven. Winners are:
4/28 Recently, Kevin Zimmerman started chess activities at the South Windsor Public Library. Here a picture from the 1st South Windsor Public Library Chess League Tournament: You can contact Kevin via e-mail at chefkez@aol.com
4/5 Press release for CCO Statewide Championships held in West Hartford and New Haven.
4/2 CT Rapid State Championships Mike Lei Wang (Quick 1876), a high school student at The Franklin Academy in East Haddam, CT swept a very strong field at the first ever CSCA CT Rapids State Championships, held in West Haven. He won all 7 games, in the process beating 2 National Masters and a FIDE Master. Congratulations Mike! (for details see the RESULTS section of this site)
3/19 Press release for Thomas Hartmayer Memorial. Final standings of NNGP are here.
3/9 Match Simsbury High School versus UConn was played in Storrs. UConn won 9.5 - 6.5 Team Simsbury with the UConn Husky in front of Gampel Pavilion.
3/4 Ted McHugh III from Simsbury won the 2017 CT State Championship, 2nd/3rd place tie-break went to Nelson Castaneda over Gary Shure. In the Candidates section, the top two finishers qualify for automatic seeding in the championship section next year. Taking first on tie-breaks was Manav Ramprasad with 3.5/4.0 pts, 2nd place was Pranav Jayaganesh. The Class prize winners were: Class B, William Adamson, Class C, Harold Blanchard and Class D, Dhanush Kalandi. Overall, 20 scholastic players competed in the tournament. Above Ted with black during his game in the last round against Gary Shure.
3/4 The first CT Scholastic Team State Championship was held at Hall High School in West Hartford - 25 teams (of 4 players each) participated. Winners were:
2/12 Scholastic State Championship at CREC Two Rivers Middle School in East Hartford On a snowy day many still participated. TD IM Jan van de Mortel in the middle. Winners individual: 9-12 Zachary Tanenbaum, 4-9 Bryan Weisz, K-6 Robert Ulmer, K-3 Max Ingargiola Winners team: 9-12 Simsbury High School, 4-9 King Philip West Hartford, K-6 Brunswick Greenwich More details at the RESULTS section of this site and in the CCO press release Standings of National Nominations Grand Prix are here.
2/12 Scholastic State High School team trophy winners: Simsbury High School (outside in the snow storm).
1/26 UConn scholarships UConn announced $14,000 in UConn scholarships to be awarded at the CT State K-12 Championships Feb 12th. See the amended flyer in the EVENTS section of this site.
1/25 Hebron club in Hartford Courant A picture of Rob Roy at the Hebron Library. Click here to read the article. (image by Melanie Savage/Hartford Courant)
1/21 Beatrice Low wins CT Girls State Championship Press release by CCO is here Latest standings in National Nominations Grand Prix are here
1/5 Press releases by CCO regarding NNGO round 2 and the CT Blitz Championship
12/13 CT State Blitz Championships Congratulations to Ian Harris (2356) for winning the 2016 CT State Blitz Championship, hosted by the New Britain Chess Club (NBCC), making him the only player in CT history to have now earned the prestigious honor of winning all three championship events (regular, quick, blitz) in the same year. Congratulations Master Harris! Complete standings are in the RESULTS section of this site.
12/11 The 16/17 CT Scholastic Blitz State Championship was held at Kingswood Oxford school in West Hartford Alex Lumelsky congratulates the High School section winner: Jithu Sajeevan from Bristol Central High School Other winners: Middle School: Sam Lumelsky, Elementary: Jack Clayton School winners: Simsbury High School, King Philip Middle School, Bugbee Elementary School
11/29 Click here to read a story by Bob Cyr on three CT chess organizers.
11/1 There are two active high school team chess leagues in the state. Here a picture from today's match Glastonbury High School at Simsbury High School: Result: 10 - 11 (OT) For more info go to PLAY and LEAGUES on this site.
10/16 Results from the 5SS G/25 d5 National Chess Day event at Hall High School: - Open: Evan Wood (4½/5), Daniel Zhou (4), Suma Dendi (4) - U-900 Niteesh Kalangi (4/5), Dhanush Kalangi (3) - K5-U600: Owen Tait (4½/5), Jordan Lefkowitz (4½), Jack Clayton (4) - K2: Subhang Prabhala (3/5), Adrian Paez (3) Crosstable
10/15 Proposed Grand Prix Selection Format for Scholastic National Nominations by CCO was accepted by the CSCA board. The idea is to award the Denker, Barber and USGT (Girls) CT-nominations in a series of "Grand Prix" tournament. Details of the NNGP are here.
10/3 Click here for an article in the Hartford Courant about the new chess club in Stafford Springs.
10/1Queen of Katwe Is the Best Kind of Feel-Good Chess Story! A new Disney film starring Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo follows the rise of Phiona Mutesi, a poor girl from Uganda who becomes a chess prodigy. Currently in theaters near you.
9/26New chess program at Hartford Public Library: The Connecticut Chess Organization is starting a new chess program at Hartford Public Library, Albany Brach. They donated material and pledged $1000. Click here for press release.
8/24: from Bob Cyr, CSCA historian: Continuing with my historical work for chess, I figured that I would share some of the founding dates of chess clubs in Connecticut. It appears that many chess clubs during the 19th century did not hold meetings as often and were not as structured as they were in the 20th century. I not sure how much farther that I can go back in time, but here are the dates that I found on Connecticut Chess library website. I would also like to make note that there were many matches between cities and towns and clubs during the late 19th century, where chess really started to expand.
6/14 Former World Champion visits Connecticut The 2012 Girls Under-10 World Champion, Priyanka Nutakki from India, visited NBCC for a G/1 d1 tournament. Priyanka, now 13 years old, won the event convincingly. Results: 1) Priyanka 30½ 2) Nelson Castaneda 27½ 3) Rick Bauer 23½ 4) Joe Bihlmeyer 23 etc.
5/14/16 CT Scholastic Quick Championship in Farmington Winners: High school: Max Holman, Middle School: Daniel Zhou, Elementary: Richard Zhu For results see the RESULTS section of the site. Click here for more
5/6 - 5/8 Bugbee School (West Hartford) takes 13th place at the Nationals Bugbee team from left to right: Caitlin Striff-Cave, Jake Lumelsky, Sam Lumelsky and Ethan Striff-Cave at the K-6 National Elementary Championship in Nashville TN (2260 participants) Click here for more.
5/1/16 CHESS CENTER GRAND OPENING CHESS TOURNAMENT COVENTRY CONNECTICUT NEW BRITAIN MAN WINS GRAND OPENING CHESS TOURNAMENT Allen Mo of New Britain won first place, and $240, of the first chess tournament held at the new chess center in Coventry Connecticut. Mo scored two wins and a draw in the three-round tournament. Mo's draw was with Chess Master Rick Bauer of Wolcott in round two. Bauer ended up in the three-way tie (each won $30) for second place with Chess Expert Mark Bourque of Stafford Springs and Andrew Colwell. Six chess players were from the New Britain Chess Club. We wish to thank this chess club very much for supporting our event. Jashwanth Balaji, age 8, ties for first place of the second section with Kevin Zimmerman of Hartford. Each won $100. The tournament introduced USCF-rated chess to three new players. The time control was switched to G/60 d10 by full agreement by all the players. In all, two dozen people were in attendance and enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs at lunchtime. We also sincerely thank Elizabeth and Rob of the new chess center. Thanks to Kevin Zimmerman for volunteering to be the grill cook. Thanks to volunteers Mark Denihan and Rob Roy for playing 10-minute chess with our junior players between their rounds. Mark also donated to the beverage bar. Andrew Colwell donated some snacks. Daniel Wolk donated a box of books that belonged to his father; Elliot Wolk, a UConn math professor and well-known chessplayer 1950's thru 1990's. Dr Wolk passed away a year ago at age 95. Rick Bauer, many-time Connecticut State Chess Champion, donated a box of his books to our new chess center. A giant Peace Lily houseplant was delivered with "from Gary on your opening day" on the tag. This new plant is beautiful with three white blooms. We really love the gift. Gary did not reveal his last name, so I am not sure who Gary is ? Anybody want to guess ?
4/10 West Hartford Scholastic Tournament Update On Saturday, April 9, NBCC Vice President Norman Burtness held the inaugural West Hartford Scholastic Chess Championship at William H. Hall High School in West Hartford. It gives me great pleasure to inform you that this tournament was a resounding success, with seventy-one young men and ladies from the region competing. Norman, who is a physics instructor and a chess director at this school, spent a tremendous amount of time and energy advertising this tournament. I assisted Norman by making the pairings for and supervising the K-8 Under 900 Section, which drew an incredible thirty-seven players, while Norman managed the upper sections. One of the reasons for the success of this tournament was the very low advanced entry free of $20, which included a pizza lunch with chips, ice cream, and beverages. On site registrations were only $10 more, which was still an incredible deal. Another reason for this tournament's success was the effort on the part of Alexander Lumelsky, whose amazing contributions for promoting this event through his numerous contacts in the scholastic chess community aided in boosting the turnout to higher-than-expected levels. In addition, there were a few parents who assisted Norman and me as floor directors. They made certain that all of the students were sitting at the right table prior to the start of each round and that any of their questions, or those asked by the parents, were timely answered. Suffice it to say, this tournament was directed with extreme efficiency, with the event starting only about ten minutes late but ending exactly on time. We started late because of the overflow of last-minute registrations, which is always a good problem. I do also want to thank CSCA President Jim Celone and Rob Roy for helping out with promoting this event on their respective chess websites. In the eighteen years that I have been involved in directing chess tournaments, I have never seen so many of the participants, and even the parents, commend the director for the extraordinary work that he did in organizing an event. Norman did a phenomenal job with all aspects of coordinating this fun event, and his efforts definitely paid off! I eagerly look forward to working on other scholastic projects with Norman, whose significant contributions have been instrumental in enriching the lives of the today's inspiring superstar chess players. All of the winners below received beautiful crystallized, glow-in-the-dark trophies, and all of the participants received pawn key chains. For the complete crosstable, please visit http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201604091612-12489098 K-12 Open Section: 1st Place: Eric Hilhorst 2nd Place: Benjamin Foxman 3rd Place: Evan Daniel Wood K-8 Under 900 Section 1st Place: Hari Patchigolla 2nd Place: Samuel Hol Foxman 3rd Place: Lucas Bran Kollen K-5 Under 600 Section 1st Place: Caitl Striff-Cave 2nd Place: Jack Kenn Clayton 3rd Place: Joshua Schumacher Top K-2: Deven Godha With warm regards, Bob Cyr CSCA Historian
4/2: CT Scholastic Blitz Championships Farmington Public Library Andrew Rogozinski from Greenwich (picture above) won the High School section of the 2016 CT Scholastic Blitz Championship with a perfect 14/14 score. Nithin Joshy won Middle School, Sam Lumelsky Elementary School. Click here for more.
3/19: CT State Championships Congratulations to Ian Harris for winning the 2016 CT State Championship, hosted by the New Britain Chess Club (NBCC). Yoon-Young Kim finished 2nd on tie-breaks ahead of Hans Nieman. In the Candidates section, Andrew Colwell took 1st place. Gaetano Bompastore finished 2nd on tie-breaks ahead of Jack Kochansky.Many thanks to the Chess Club of Fairfield County for their hospitality in allowing us to use their facilities.Complete standings are in the RESULTS section of this site.
2/28: CT Scholastic State Championships Two Rivers Magnet School in East Hartford The TD, IM Jan van de Mortel, in the background. 159 participants Winners: K-12: Zachary Tanenbaum, K-8: Vincent Xu, K-6: Samuel Lumelsky, K-3: Mateus Zalewski, K-1: Averey Ku, Barber: Maximillian Lu. For details click here. See also RESULTS section of this site.
2/16: Parisippany, New Jersey - February 16 Chess Club of Fairfield County team led by Daniel Copper wins Top Connecticut title at the 46th - 2016 World/U.S. Amateur Team East Chess Ch Championship - going 4-2. Congratulations! After the annual three-day exhilaring USATE competition, one of the largest chess events in America and one of the largest team events in sports history, where new friendships were formed and where old friendships were rekindled, the CCFC team - Trumps Manuever: Send Capture - earned the prestigious title of Top Connecticut Team by one-half point over the historic chess club team of New Britain - Trumposky Attack: We Win, You Lose - who, like the CCFC team, played exceptionally well throughout the tournament. The NBCC team stormed the competition early on, bringing their A game to the table every round. Because of their exceptional performance, this team (comprised of Danny Pascetta, Mike Pascetta, Norman Burtness, and Bob Cyr) played in played in the grand ballroom in all rounds, including behind the ropes in Round 4 - (Board 8!). I am very pleased that our wonderful community fielded four teams this year, including the UConn Chess team led by USCF NM Alex Fikiet, who r recruited players from his college club to give them excellent real-world experiences to compete with players of all levels. The fourth Connecticut team, who I am not quite familiar w with, was the AQR Chess Team, who also did well. Overall, I am proud to see that the Connecticut chess community continues to be so vibrant. The NBCC has been very proud to have held the glorious honor of Top Connecticut Team for nine consecutive years (2007-2015) at USATE. You m might recall that, in 2010, our club fielded six teams - almost a USATE record! This year, unfortunately, because of scheduling conflicts and difficulties forming more NBCC t teams, our organization regrettably was unable to send only one team to USATE. There were other players from our organization who did play on other teams, though, including the Jenner Gambit: King-to-Queen Four? team, with legendary masters - FM Nelson Castaneda, USCF NM James Nitz, and FM Richard Bauer, who won four matches. NBCC President USCF NM Derek M Meredith played on a team with prominent chess book author, Hanon Russell. In total, there were between twenty to twenty-five Connecticut participants at USATE 2016. The organizers, tournament directors, and volunteers do a surperb with all aspects of coordinating this impressive event. Mr. E. Steven Doyle and his exceptionally devoted, hard- working crew do a phenomal job to make everyone feel at home. I hope that next year, more players from across Connecticut can get to feel the rich experience at USATE - a event like none other in the annals of this historic game. With best regards, Robert Cyr CSCA Chess Historian
2/7/2016 2016 Greater New Haven Winter Open Trophy Winners. For details check Results
1/23/2016 CT State Girls Championship in Farmington. Winners: - individual: K-6 Beatrice Low, 6-8 Sadie Edelman, 7-8 Jade Logan, 9-12 Samantha Aiyathurai, - schools: K-6 Bugbee School West Hartford, 7-8 Avon Middle School, 9-12 Simsbury High School. Beatrice, as overall winner, qualified for the National Girls Tournament (NGTOC). For details go here, for pictures here
1/13/2016 Today, UCONN committed to sponsor the 2016 CT State Scholastic Championship in East Hartford with $14,000 in scholarships. See the amended flyer is the EVENTS section of this site for details.
1/13/2016 Best Video in Hamden will screen "Pawn Sacrifice" Monday, January 18, 7 PM as part of an Oscar Race series. 1842 Whitney Avenue. 203-287- 9286. Movie is about the Bobby Fischer/Boris Spassky match in Iceland, staring Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, and Peter Skasgaard. Great film. Make your move!
1/8/2016 from Derek Meredith: A gathering in memory of Tom "Herr Director" Hartmayer will be held tomorrow at 1 P.M. at 162 Mimosa Circle, in Ridgefield, the home of his brother John. All those who would like to attend are welcome to come at this time. He was one of the most generous people I've ever met, both with his time and his money. He leaves no children, but a large chess "family" n nevertheless. Please pass this on to anyone you think would like to attend.
REST-IN-PEACE Thomas Hartmayer Connecticut and UConn chess advocate and legend extraordinaire
Dear friends of the chess community throughout Connecticut and New England and beyond:
It is with a sad and somber heart to inform you about the sudden passing of Connecticut chess advocate, legend, and dear friend, Thomas “Tom” Hartmayer. Tom left this world on January 1, 2016, at the age of sixty-four.
For over forty years, Tom was integrally involved as a steadfast and staunch supporter, tournament director, organizer, and coordinator of adult and scholastic chess tournaments in Connecticut, especially at the University of Connecticut Chess Club, where he was the chief TD for decades. His vital role in these capacities significantly enriched the game for players of all ages and levels throughout our community for generations. He really loved the game and displayed his passion for it by being a mentor and coach to many scholastic chess players in our community.
Mr. Hartmayer was a close friend of the New Britain Chess Club. He frequently competed in matches with our club and attended the annual New Britain Summer Open Chess Championships and the annual NBCC Christmas parties, where I had the pleasure of chatting with him about Connecticut chess history just a few weeks ago.
Known warm-heartedly as “Herr Direktor” by many in the chess community, Mr. Hartmayer was also a very close friend of the New Britain Chess Club family since the early 1970s. Tom frequently competed in matches between the UConn CC and ours, played as a teammate with NBCC members, and often attended NBCC tournaments and the annual NBCC Christmas party, where many had the pleasure of chatting with him about chess just a few weeks ago.
On a state-wide level, Tom served on the Connecticut State Chess Association Board of Directors for years and worked feverishly and tirelessly as a strong advocate and ambassador for chess in our state, promoting the game in every way possible. He also possessed an incredible wealth of knowledge about the rich and diversity history of Connecticut chess, and he would often share the amazing stories that shaped and defined Connecticut chess from the 1970s to today.
Tom was a very gracious person to every chess player, and he was always welcoming to everyone in the UConn Chess Club family. Tom had a very amiable personality and disposition, a delicious sense of humor, and such zeal for life. He truly was a wonderful man all-around, and it was a privilege and an honor to have known him.
Rest-in-peace, Tom. You have touched the lives of many, and you will be greatly missed.
Robert Cyr CSCA Historian
1/4/2016 from Mark Bourque, Information for those who wish to attend Tom's service: There will be no calling hours, and the funeral service will be held in Storrs CT, on the Uconn Campus at St Thomas Aquinas Chapel, 46 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT.
Burial will be at 3:00 PM at the Swedish Cemetery, 82 Fairway Drive, Portland, CT. Arrangements are being handled by Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson Street, Willimantic, CT (860/423-2211) on Friday at 10:00 am.
The obituary will be listed online at CT.now, but there will be no printed copy. The online obituary should be out on Wednesday. Please notify anyone you may think of who would like to attend the service. There is no wake. Please notify anyone you may think of who would like to attend the service, as Tom had many more friends that are not on list which was taken from various emails.
William Torres (playing outdoors at the NBCC Summer Open)
Jun 1 - Chess Instructor David Aldi speaks about chess at TEDx conference See VIDEO
Eric Hilhorst wins K-12 HS Championship and is crowned CT State High School Champion!
Apr 26 - Leo Koganov wins K-6 CT Scholastic Championship. Thomas Ewald goes 5-0 to sweep the K-3 Section. Arjun Arora wins 1st Grade Championship. Full K-6 results at RESULTS
Mar 8 - The CT State Chess Championships, hosted by The New Britain Chess Club was held 3/7/2015 at The Chess Club of Fairfield County with 35 players in attendance, including 10 masters and 3 previous winners. NM IAN HARRIS was the clear winner. Derek Meredith (2nd place) edged out James "Kram"Nitz (3rd place) on tie-breaks. In the Candidates Section, Thomas Ewald was the top Connecticut finisher, obtaining an automatic bid to the Upper section next year. A complete list of prizes is given in Wall Chart under RESULTS. Many thanks to CCFC for allowing the NBCC to host this event at their beautiful location in Norwalk, and to Tom Hartmayer for helping to direct the tournament.
Mar 1 - The CSCA will meet Sat Mar 14 at the West Have Police Department, 12:00 noon. This meeting has been rescheduled from the original Jan date, which was cancelled due to snow. All are welcome to attend. For an agenda, please email jcel@aol.com
Feb 12 - Congratulations to Ted McHugh for winning the 1st ever CT State Quick Championship, hosted by the New Britain Chess Club. 2nd Place went to Nelson Castaneda and Harris Appelman won 3rd place. Top class A player was Norman Burtness, Top Class B player was John Sentilles and top Class D went to Nakul Ramaswamy. RESULTS.
Dec 28 - The 2014 Blitz G5 State Championship was held Dec 16; won by Life Master Ted McHugh. Congratulations Ted! For more info see NBCC site
Sep 19 - The CSCA Board will meet Sat Sep 20 at the West Haven Police Department, 12:00 noon. All are welcome to attend. For an agenda, please email jcel@aol.com
Mar 29 - M Gary Shure regains his title as CT Open Champion at the NBCC, where the tournament was hosted with a new format. CT Top 16 battled for t battled for the title. Check out 2014 CT Open
Jan 9 - In the strongest Blitz Championship in recent history, Dennis Prawira (Quick 2121) bested a field containing 6 Masters to become the 2013 CT State Blitz Champion. Nelson Castaneda and Ted McHugh tied for 2nd place with 7 pts. First in Class A was Marcus Komons with 6 pts. Tying for 1st in Class B was Joseph Mansigian and Manuel Teixeira. Thanks to NBCC for running a great event!
Sep 8 - Kapil Chandran, 2349, winner of the 2013 CT High School Championship, bested a field of 48 state champions to become co-champion of the 2013 Denker Tournament of High School Champions, along with Safal Bora and Michael Brown with 5 points; and Kapil won the Univ of Texas scholarship based on tie-breaks. This is the best performance a CT representative has ever had at the Denker! Congratulations Kapil! You've made us all very proud!
Mar 17 - Master Ian Harris going undefeated, bested a field of 14 which included an International Master and 2 Masters to become the 2013 CT State Champion. Amity High School crowned CT High School Champions! Full Results at USCF site or EDUTECH site
Apr 6 - Master Gary Shure going undefeated, bested a field of 22 which included 2 International Masters and 4 Masters to become the 2012 CT State Champion. Hopkins School retains title for CT High School Champions. Check Full Results under Results Section of this website or see EDUTECH site
Dec 16 - On December 14 at the New Britain Chess Club, Harris Appelman won the 2011 Connecticut State Blitz Championship with a score of 8.5 - 0.5. 21 players competed in this year's event. Ted McHugh was second and Danny Rozovsky was third. There was a 5-way tie for the Under 1900 prize among Marcus Komons, Norman Burtness, Jozef Madej, Bob Kozlowski and Matt Faille.
Nov 18 - The Yale/Harvard Chess Match closed tonight with Yale winning a close victory with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. GM Robert Hess (2717, ES '15) and IM Bogdan Vioreanu (2453, GSAS '12) handily won on boards 1 and 2 versus Jake Miller (2121) and Bram Louis (2208P). Patrick O'Keefe (2140, CC '13) and Adam Weser (2147, SY '13) secured draws against Josh Bakker (2151) and Naor Brown (2023) in tough games. Gordon Moseley (1840, SM '12), the wildcard of the Yale College Chess Club, who brought wins to Yale in years when no one else could do so, lost in a tragic and unclear endgame (KQN a-pawn, c-pawn vs. KQ a-pawn, g-pawn, h-pawn) after his knight proved unable to stop the passed g and h pawns after a queen trade. Both players had under one minute, and both played well--kudos to Tony Blum (2099), the only Harvard player to secure a win. Both Bogdan and Gordon also get honorable mentions, as this is their last year playing at Yale. Both of them have played hard matches the last four years, and both leave with great results--3/4 for Bogdan and 2/4 for Gordon. Bogdan plans to graduate with a PhD from the applied math department and Gordon with a bachelor's degree in the neuroscience track of psychology. Good luck gentlemen. Stay Hungry! Check Full Results under Results Section of this website or see EDUTECH site
Nov 14 - GM Mikheil Kekelidze (NY 2524), took first place in the 2011 Greater New Haven Open Chess Championship held Saturday Nov 12 at Hopkins School in New Haven. In a tight contest with 20 players, Master Derek Meredith (2184) had a great showing, taking second with 3 wins on tiebreaks, ahead of IM Justin Sarkar (NY 2489), last year's winner Yale math grad student IM Bogdan Vioreanu (2453) and Yale Chess Club president David Steinberg (1864). First Place U1600 went to Daniel Motoc (1313) of Ezra Academy; First Place U1200 was Daniel Frndjibachian (1079) of Hopkins with a perfect 5-0; First Place U1000 went to Jordon Groff (783) of Bear Path School, and First Place U800 went to Hawon Lee (698) of Eastern Middle School with a perfect 5-0. Top 3 school teams were Hopkins School (1st), Foote School (2nd) and Cold Spring School (3rd). 86 chessplayers participated in the event, with all scholastic chessplayers receiving a Hopkins School commemorative chess set. Check Full Results under Results Section of this website or see EDUTECH site
Oct 26 - The New Britain Chess Club defeated the UCONN CC Tuesday night, October 25th, by a score of 8 - 7. The match hung in the balance until the very last game between Tom Hartmayer and Dennis Himes, ( whose son, George, played for UCONN ). Trailing New Britain by a point and needing a win in the last game to draw the match, Mr. Hartmayer missed a winning shot in the waning minutes, allowing Mr. Himes to draw by perpetual check and secure the match win for New Britain. The match involved a total of 30 players, 15 from each club, and featured exciting games from top to bottom. For those who have not yet visited the NBCC at their quarters at the Assyrian Club in New Briatin, the venue is immaculate, well lit and well worth the trip. Parking is easy. The excellence of the site parallels the hospitable bonhomie exuded from the club members and especially their gracious, spiritual leader, Derek Meredith. Detailed and individual results may be viewed at NBCC site .
May 16 - In the strongest CT Open field in the state's history, 25 players including 5 GMs, 2 IMs, 2 Life Masters, and 4 National Masters battled this past weekend at Hopkins School in New Haven for the CT State Champion title. The winners were GM GIORGI KACHEISHVILI of NY, who took sole possession of 1st Place, and IM BOGDAN VIOREANU, Yale graduate student in Mathematics who as top CT resident, became the new 2011 CT State Champion! In a field of 16, Arslan Otchiyev won the U1600 Section. Congratulations to all participants in what proved to be an exciting day of chess in CT. For Results: EDUTECH site or Results page at this website.
Jan 3 - Tuesday, December 21, the New Britain Chess Club held the 2010 Connecticut State Open Blitz Chess Championship. The format of the event was a single-section, ten Round Robin with a time control of 5, 3. Results follow: 1st Place – USCF NM Edward “Ted” McHugh – 9 points; 2nd Place – FM Nelson Castaneda - 8.5 points; 3rd Place – NM Alex Fikiet - 7.5 points; Top U2005 – Ilya Gofman – 6.5 points; Top U1805 – Julio Echevarria – 6 points; Top U1605 – Bob Kozlowski – 4 points. 35 chessplayer participated in the event. Congratulations to Ted, once again the CT Blitz Champion!
Dec 7 - IM Bogdan Vioreanu, (2494) took first place, the 2010 Greater New Haven Open Chess Championship held Saturday Dec. 4 at Hopkins School in New Haven. IM Vioreanu, a graduate student in mathematics at Yale University, took top honors in a very strong field of 20 players, 7 of whom were above 2000 strength. First Place U1600 went to Peter DeGroot (1289) of Hopkins; First Place U1200 was shared by Alexander Siegenfeld (Unr) of Hopkins, and Christopher Lomeli (1194) of Gideon Welles School; First Place U1000 went to Mike Javier (Unr) from the Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science, and First Place U800 went to Franz Garay (Unr), also from the Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science. Top 3 school teams were Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science (1st), Hopkins School (2nd) and Foote School (3rd). 68 chessplayers participated in the event, with all chessplayers receiving a Hopkins School commemorative chess set. Check Full Results under Results Section of this website or see www.edutechchess.com.
Sep 18 - GM Alexander Ivanov of Newton , MA swept past a strong field (average USCF rating 2071!) to win the Open section of the 2010 UCONN Connecticut State Championships, held during the 19th and 20th days of June. With his perfect score of 4.0-0.0, Ivanov took clear first and with it the $700 prize. However, since Grandmaster Ivanov lives in Massachusetts, he did not receive the title of Connecticut State Champion. That distinction went to FM Nelson Castaneda of West Hartford, CT, who tied for 2nd-4th with Sivasankar Balakumar of East Hartford, CT and NM Max Enkin of Peabody, MA with 3.0-1.0. He received the title of State Champion based on his superior tie-breaks. All three players won $333.33. The U2200 prize also went to Sivasankar Balakumar and the U2000 prize went to Mark Bourque of Stafford Springs, CT, who won $200 for his 2.5 points scored. The winner of the U1800 section and $250 was 8th grader Noah Arthurs of Weston, CT, who defeated Max Krall of West Hartford, CT in the last round for a perfect 4.0-0.0 score. Tied for 2nd-3rd and splitting $100 were Max Krall and David Gaston of South Windsor, CT, who both scored 3.0-1.0. Tied for 1st-2nd for the U1600 prize and sharing $250 were Eric Nechayev of Winsted, CT and Kevin Zimmerman of East Hartford, CT. The UCONN Chess Club would also like to recognize and thank TD Tim Hartley of Storrs, who ran this event in a very efficient and professional manner assisted by the ever ubiquitous and effervescent John Fikiet ! Congratulations to all the players and thanks for coming to this event!
Sep 18 - Michael Finneran, a sophomore at Roger Ludlow HS in Fairfield, CT scored a perfect 4.0 - 0.0 to take clear 1st in the Connecticut State Chess Association K-12 Open Championship and UCONN School of Engineering $14,000 Scholarship Tournament. Mr. Finneran won the 2009 K - 12 State Championship and the Denker Award as well as the top UCONN SoE scholarship prize of $8000 last year. He was not eligible to win another scholarship again but still returned successfully to the winner's circle in 2010. He will again represent the state of Connecticut in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Indianapolis, IN in August. The Denker Award comes with a $300 stipend to help defray expenses to this national event. Finishing 2nd at 3.5 - 0.5 after a mutually agreed upon blitz play-off against Jake Miller was Alex Fikiet, a sophomore at E. O. Smith HS. in Storrs, CT. Mr. Fikiet also took home the top UCONN SoE scholarship prize worth $8000. Jake Miller from Sleepy Hollow, NY, and a junior at Rockland Country Day School in Congers, NY took 3rd overall but earned the 2nd place UCONN SoE scholarship worth $4000. Alexandra Wiener, a sophomore at Staples HS in Westport, CT took 4th place overall also at 3.0 - 1.0. Ms. Wiener also finished as the top female scorer and won both the 2010 National Girls Open Award, ( formerly known as the Polgar Award ), and its $300 stipend, as well as the 3rd place UCONN SoE scholarship award worth $2000. Danny Pascetta, a 5th grader at Nayaug Elementary School, ( !!?? ), and a veteran New Britain CC member finished 5th overall. In the team division West Haven HS of West Haven, CT returned to the top spot after ceding it to Southington HS last year. West Haven was led by Danyal Sumra, Eddie Ozanne,Jeremy Turpin and Jeff McDonald. These fine stalwarts were supported by Cheetiri Smith, Jakes Adei, Brendan Morr, Zandy and Tony Nugyen and Rashid Ramadan. Taking 2nd in the team competition was Roosevelt Middle School, ( !!?? ), of Bridgeport, CT. Team members included Alfonzo Reid, Joseph Pettway, Danisha Thomas and Angel Rosado. Finishing 3rd was Amity HS of Woodbridge, CT whose 2, ( !!?? ), high scoring members, Avery Chen and Ryan Young, propelled Amity to the third position in the team division. Jeff McDonald of West Haven HS took the Top Upset prize, while Danyal Sumra also of West Haven HS took the 2nd Upset Prize. Matthew Stoddard of Smith Elementary in South Windsor, CT took 3rd Upset, while Jake Miller of Rockland Country Day School in Congers, NY and Ryan Young of Amity HS in Woodbridge, CT took the 4th and 5th Upset prizes respectively. We'd like to thank Chief TD David Aldi for another well run event ! He was ably supported by assistant TD's Jim Dunion, IM Jan van de Mortel, IM Robert Hungaski and John Fikiet, all from the UCONN CC..
