The winners of the State Scholastic Championship/Spiegel Cup Qualifier #3, held Dec. 9, 2006 at the Lynch Middle School in Holyoke are:

Primary Open (Age 8 & under): Nelson Pang (958) of Westborough
Elementary Open (Age 11 & under): Darwin Ding (1386) of Lexington
Junior High Open (Age 14 & under): Daniel Leach (1721) of Lexington
High School Open: Reilly Nathans (1803) of Newton Centre

The tournament drew 46 players: 4 in the High School section; 8 in the Junior High section; 21 in the Elementary section; and 13 in the Primary section. Here's how many players there were from the various towns:

8 - Lexington (17.4 percent)
6 - Newton (12.2 percent)
4 - Amherst (8.7 percent)
3 - Beverly
3 - Westborough
2 - Andover
2 - Holyoke
2 - Marblehead
2 - Medfield
2 - Sharon
2 - Wellesley
1 - Belchertown
1 - Carlisle
1 - Chestnut Hill
1 - Chicopee
1 - Ludlow
1 - Monson
1 - South Grafton
1 - Swampscott
1 - Westford
1 - Winchester

Chief TD: Ed Kostreba of Ware. Assistant TDs: John Dould of Barre, Frank Kolasinski of South Hadley and George Mirijanian of Fitchburg

Details of the 2007 State Championship and the four Qualifiers can be found here.

Nominations for president, vice president, treasurer, clerk, and directors of the MACA executive board for the term of office 2007-2008 shall be submitted by Feb. 15, 2007, to the chairman of the MACA Elections Commission: Ken Ballou, 27 Fenway Drive, Framingham, MA 01701-4012, ballou@crab.mv.com.

Nominees must be paid-up MACA members for the term of office through June 15, 2008 or later.

Primary Open (Age 8 & Under): Nicholas A. Plotkin (1051) of Sharon
Elementary Open (Age 11 & Under): Nicholas L. Trieu (1398) of Somerville
Junior High Open (Age 14 & Under): Charliam S. He (1593) of Acton
High School Open: Benjamin H. Smith (1506) of Melrose

Details of the 2007 State Championship and the four Qualifiers can be found here.

USCF is looking for parents or coaches who will be attending the 2006 National K12/C Grades Championship in Orlando and would like to help out during one or more rounds on Friday, Saturday or Sunday (December 8-10). These are non-paid volunteer positions; however,USCF will be offering meal coupons to those volunteers who help for at least half a day.

Please contact Tom Nelson, USCF Volunteer Coordinator, at csca-scholastic-chess@comcast.net directly if you are interested.

Due to his health condition, Gus can no longer lift things weight more than 5 pound. He has decided to let go of his book business. Gus will have a book stand at the NE Open and all books will go at 50% discount.

June 18, 2006 - MACA endorses candidacy of Ernie Schlich for the USCF Executive Board:

On Saturday, June 17, the MACA board of directors at its executive board meeting in Reading, unanimously endorsed the candidacy of Ernie Schlich for the USCF Executive Board. MACA urges all USCF members in Massachusetts as well as all USCF members in other states to cast their vote for Mr. Schlich.

Ernie Schlich served New England chess players very well when he lived in Nashua, NH. He was not only president and vice president of the New Hampshire Chess Association but also a member of the New England Chess Association board of directors. He was invaluable to the Massachusetts Chess Association during that time, serving as MACA's data processor. He performed his duties exceptionally well.

Mr. Schlich's knowledge of USCF affairs is excellent. He is well-versed in how the federation functions and would be an ideal member of the USCF Executive Board. A vote for Ernie Schlich would be not only in the best interests of chess players in New England but also for the country.

Please read his campaign statement and resume, and cast your vote for Ernie Schlich.

Yours for chess,
George Mirijanian
President
Massachusetts Chess Association

A ceremony honoring the 100th anniversary of the death of Harry Nelson Pillsbury will be held Saturday, June 17, at 1 p.m. in Laurel Hill Cemetery, opposite Reading Town Hall, 16 Lowell St., Reading. A memorial marker, created by Roessler & Sons Inc. of Woburn - a company established in the same year that Pillsbury won the Hastings International Tournament (1895) - will be unveiled at that time. Guests of honor at the ceremony will be Pillsbury's great-grandniece, Deborah Hart of South Hadley, and her son, Christopher Logan Hart, a resident of Hastings, England, who will greet the attendees. Among those scheduled to speak at the ceremony are MACA President George Mirijanian of Fitchburg, Worcester Telegram & Gazette chess columnist and former MACA President Stephen Dann of Worcester, Boston Globe chess columnist and former Massachusetts State Chess Association President Harold Dondis of Belmont, and MACA member Paul MacInnis of Andover.

All chess players, families and friends are invited to attend this ceremony.

George Mirijanian

The Pillsbury Prizes for Most Interesting Games at 75th Mass Open was announced by judge Hal Terrie today. The winners are as followed:

Open Section: Isaac Saidel-Goley and John Curdo (Prize - 60% to Curdo)
U2000 Section: Andrew Wang
U1750 Section: Avery Chen
U1500 Section: Jenshiang Hong

Their games will be published in the next issue of Chess Horizons.

The results of the 2006 MACA election were tabulated at the 75th Massachusetts Open Saturday, May 28, 2006.

There were 875 ballots mailed the first week of April. There were 129 ballots properly cast and returned. There were two (2) ballots returned improperly. Specifically, these ballots were not returned in the provided envelope. Because these envelopes could not be identified as containing ballots, they were opened before the ballot count began. These ballots are not included in the tabulated results.

PRESIDENT:

George M. Mirijanian 108
Robert E. King 15
Maryanne C. Reilly 2
Steven J. Frymer 1

VICE PRESIDENT:

Steven J. Frymer 110
Christopher Chase 1
Tim Hanke 1
Joseph W. Sparks 1
Dan Sullivan 1

TREASURER:

Robert D. Messenger 116 (no write-in votes)

CLERK:

Stephen A. Dann 104
Kenneth R. Ballou 1
Mark Kaprielian 1
William Kelleher 1
Joseph W. Sparks 1
"anyone but" 1

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Gilbert F. Gosselin 115
Kenneth R. Ballou 108
Maryanne C. Reilly 102
Joseph W. Sparks 95
Kenneth P. Belt 94
Robert E. King 7
Severine Wamala 5
Natasha Christiansen 4
Paul MacIntyre 4
Larry Eldridge 3
William Kelleher 3
Tim Hanke 2
Mark Kaprielian 2
Rolf Wetzell 2
Eric Berkey 1
Matt Brooks 1
Vincent Cammarano 1
Christopher Chase 1
Todd Chase 1
Larry Christiansen 1
Frank Delbonis 1
Bruce Denis 1
Vesna Dimitrijevic 1
Max Enkin 1
Edward Epp 1
Paris Finley 1
Valery Frenklakh 1
Steven Frymer 1
Michael Griffin 1
Alexander Ivanov 1
Ilya Krasik 1
Kent Leung 1
Arthur Nugent 1
Mikhail Perelshteyn 1
Joseph Perl 1
Matthew Phelps 1
Brad Ryan 1
Frank Sisto 1
Peter Sherwood 1
Dan Sullivan 1
Lawyer Times 1
Tiffany Wang 1
Carl Yastrzemski 1

To amend the MACA By-Laws to change the quorum required for a meeting of the Board of Directors to five (5):

Yes 99
No 22

Respectfully submitted,

Kenneth R. Ballou
MACA Election Commissioner

The auction will take place on Saturday, May 27, 2006, 2:30-4:30 p.m. at The Hotel Marlborough, 75 Felton St., Marlborough, MA. Preview of items will be from noon to 2:30 p.m Auction will start promptly at 2:30 p.m. Payment for auction items will be either by cash or check; no credit cards accepted. "In absentia" bids will be accepted only from those persons who are present for the preview but unable to attend the 2:30-4:30 auction; they may leave sealed bids with the chief auctioneer, George Mirijanian.

* Bids will be accepted at whole-dollar increments.

Preview of the auction list available here.

Burt Hochberg was editor of Chess Life from 1966 to 1979. In November 1969, the magazine became known as Chess Life & Review and remained that way until Hochberg retired. His early efforts were directed toward more serious chess, with well-edited pieces by top grandmasters and writers. Among the distinguished names were Paul Keres (five times a semifinalist for the world championship), Svetozar Gligoric (Yugoslavia's greatest player), endgame experts Edmar Mednis and Pal Benko, and leading competitor Lubomir Kavalek. It was Hochberg's team that had the opportunity to cover the most publicized chess event of all time: the Fischer-Spassky world championship match of 1972. The exhaustive analysis and on-the-spot coverage provided by the magazine were top drawer. During his last few years as pilot, Hochberg introduced a number of important changes still in effect as of this writing. He brought in Andy Soltis, whose "Chess to Enjoy" column has been widely admired. Hochberg also created an innovative beginners' column that set standards for chess instruction. The original writers - Julio Kaplan, Larry Evans, and Bruce Pandolfini - were chosen by Hochberg for their experience as chess teachers. Other changes enacted by Hochberg still exert enormous influence. Hochberg left as Chess Life & Review editor in November 1979 and was replaced by Fairfield W. Hoban, an editor for the prestigious literary magazine Saturday Review. In January 1980, Hoban changed the name of the magazine back to its original name: Chess Life.

George Mirijanian

Larry Parr reports that Burt Hochberg, a former Chess Life editor, has died in a New York hospital.

Sympathy cards for former Chess Life editor Burt Hochberg, who died Saturday, May 13, in a New York hospital may be sent to his widow:

Carol Hochberg
315 W. 70th St. #K
New York, NY 10023

Burt, who would have turned 73 on October 22 of this year, was a friend of MACA. He was very supportive of our organization all through his tenure as editor of Chess Life from the mid-1960s through the end of the 70s. He was the longest-serving Chess Life editor in USCF history. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him and respected him as chess journalist - one of the best this country has ever had.

You can read more about Burt Hochberg here.

Harrington school won the k-5 National Elementary School Championship over 5 NY schools. They scored 20-8 [james lung and zaroug jaleel 5.5, mika brattain 5 and timothy lung 4]. Max Wiegand scored an excellent 5-2 in the k-1 division. Yusup Buxamusa also played in k-1, scoring 2-5. Mustafa Buxamusa competed in the k-6 and scored 3.5-3.5.

Steve Frymer

Spiegel Cup/State Championship

HIGH SCHOOL SECTION 1st-3rd place (all state co-champions): Joshua Bakker of Orleans, Jacob Wamala of Lowell and Jared Turkewitz of Winchester - all with 3-1 scores. In the subsequent Game/10 playoff to see who gets to go to the Denker Tournament of High School Champions this August in Oak Brook, IL, Bakker defeated both Turkewitz and Wamala to gain that right.

14 & UNDER SECTION
1st: (state champion) Reilly Nathans of Newton Centre, 3-1.
2nd (on tiebreak): Andrew Wang of Sharon, 2.5-1.5
3rd (on tiebreak): Lior Rozhansky of Newton, 2.5-1.5
Also scoring 2.5-1.5 and winning a medal was Felix Yang of Norwell

11 & UNDER SECTION
1st-3rd (all state co-champions): Winber Xu of Newton, James Lung of Lexington and Stasik Popov of Wayland, all 3-1

8 & UNDER SECTION
1st-4th (all state co-champions): Bary Lisak of Wayland, Alvin Berroa of Saugus, Mika Brattain of Lexington and Fangru Jiang of Chelmsford

Gus Gosselin/Grade Championships

Grade K.......Danny Angermeier [franklin]
Grade 1st.....Max Wiegand [cambridge]
Grade 2nd.....Chris Kuang [winchester]
Grade 3rd.....Alex Sun [malden]
Grade 4th.....Nick trieu [somerville]
Grade 5th.....Zaroug Jaleel [lexington]
Grade 6th.....Richard Han [newton]
Grade 7th.....Jay Po [lincoln]
Grade 8th.....Ernest Zeidman [weston]
Grade 9th-12th...Anirudh Arun [medfield]

The year 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the great American player and Massachusetts native Harry Nelson Pillsbury. To commemorate this event, the Massachusetts Chess Association plans on having a historical marker placed at the grave site of Pillsbury in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Reading. MACA is seeking donations to pay for this historical marker, which would identify Harry Nelson Pillsbury's date of birth (Dec. 5, 1872 - Somerville, MA) and death (June 17, 1906 - Philadelphia) and that he was U.S. Chess Champion from 1897 to 1906. If chess club members would like to contribute tax-deductible donations toward this historical plaque, they may send checks payable to "MACA" to the Harry N. Pillsbury Historical Gravesite Marker, c/o Robert Messenger, 4 Hamlett Dr. Apr. 12, Nashua, NH 03062. Any donation, large or small, would be appreciated. In addition, anyone wishing to contribute a minimum of $35 to MACA's Living Memorial Chess Fund can have Pillsbury's name added to the list of individuals in that fund. All contributors will be acknowledged in print in Chess Horizons and on the MACA Web site - http://masschess.org. A ceremony unveiling this historical plaque is scheduled to be held on Saturday, June 17, 2006, in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Reading. The time will be posted on MACA's Web site. All chess players are invited to attend this memorial ceremony and participate in honoring one of this country's most famous players.

Yours for chess,
George Mirijanian
President

Note from Webmaster: To make donation via Paypal please go to our Membership Form and select "Pillsbury Donation". For question or comment regarding this project please use the e-mail address maca-Pillsbury_masschess.org (replace "_" with "@").

Nominations for president, vice president, treasurer, clerk, and directors of the MACA executive board for the term of office 2006-2007 shall be submitted by Feb. 15, 2006, to the chairman of the MACA Elections Commission: Ken Ballou, 27 Fenway Drive, Framingham, MA 01701-4012.

Nominees must be paid-up MACA members for the term of office through June 15, 2007 or later.