The January - March 2008 issue of Chess Horizons was delivered to the post office on December 20, 2007. Please note that due to postal delays beyond our control it may take up to 30 days to be delivered to some areas.

Mark Donlan
Chess Horizons Editor

The 3rd qualifying tournament for the State Scholastic Championship/Spiegel Cup was held Dec. 15 at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke. Sponsored by the Western Massachusetts Chess Association, the event drew 40 players in four sections and was directed by WMCA vice president Frank Kolasinski with assistance from WMCA treasurer Ed Kostreba. Arnav Ghosh of Winchester scored 3.5-0.5 in the seven-player Age 8 & Under section to capture first place and qualify for the state finals. Taking second place with a 3-1 tally was Alex Fauman of Newton, while Fynn Wennemyr of Amherst finished third with a 2.5-1.5 result. Varun Palnati of Westford tallied 3.5-0.5 to take first place in the 14-player Age 11 & Under section and receive an invitation to compete in the state finals. Tying for 2nd-3rd place with 3-1 scores were Siddharth Arun of Medfield and Tian Rossi of West Newton. Vikas Shiva of Lexington scored 3.5-0.5 to finish first in the 12-player Age 14 & Under section and will receive an invitation to participate in the state finals. Deadlocked in the runner-up position with 3-1 performances were Jesse Nicholas of Newton, Embert Lin of Acton and Darwin Ding of Lexington. Richard Lunetta II, a 15-year-old student from Burlington, posted a perfect 4-0 score to finish first in the seven-player High School section and will receive an invitation to compete in the state finals. Larry Zhu, 15, of Wellesley took clear second with a 3-1 tally, while four players tied for 3rd place with 2-2 results.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

Seventeen Massachusetts players, representing nine schools in the state, are competing in the National Scholastic K-12/Collegiate Championships, being held Dec. 7-9 in Houston, Texas. They are among more than 1300+ players from 39 states taking part in this annual 7-round Swiss scholastic extravaganza. Representing the Bay State are the following players:

Grade 1: Alex Fauman (Cabot Elementary School, Newton), 5.5-1.5, 5th on tiebreak
Grade 1: Daniel Plotkin (Sage School, Foxboro), 2.5-4.5, 75th on tiebreak
Grade 3: Jeffrey Yao (Bridge School, Lexington), 5.5-1.5, 9th on tiebreak
Grade 3: Max Wiegand (Buckingham Browne & Nichols, Cambridge), 5.5-1.5, 12th on tiebreak
Grade 3: William Nemirovsky (BB&N, Cambridge), 4-3, 62nd on tiebreak
Grade 3: Tristan Young (BB&N, Cambridge), 4-3, 68th on tiebreak
Grade 3: Issay Matsumoto (BB&N, Cambridge), 3.5-3.5, 85th on tiebreak
Grade 3: Yusuf Buxamusa (Weston public schools), 2.5-4.5, 123rd on tiebreak
Grade 4: Mika Brattain (Harrington Elementary, Lexington), 6-1, 4th on tiebreak
Grade 4: Nicholas Plotkin (Sage School, Foxboro), 5-2, 29th on tiebreak
Grade 4: Charlie Fauman (Cabot Elementary, Newton), 4.5-2.5, 39th on tiebreak
Grade 6: Nicholas Trieu (BB&N, Cambridge), 5-2, 22nd on tiebreak
Grade 7: Jacob Fauman F.A.Middle School, Newton), 5-2, 13th on tiebreak
Grade 7: Darwin Ding (Clarke Middle School, Lexington), 4.5-2.5, 24th on tiebreak
Grade 7: James Lung (Clark Middle School, Lexington), 4.5-2.5, 25th on tiebreak
Grade 7: Zaroug Jaleel (Clarke Middle School, Lexington), 4.5-2.5, 26th on tiebreak
Grade 8: Mustafa Buxamusa (Westford Academy), 3.5-3.5, 50th on tiebreak

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

Seventeen Massachusetts players, representing nine schools in the state, are competing in the National Scholastic K-12/Collegiate Championships, being held Dec. 7-9 in Houston, Texas. They are among more than 1300+ players from 39 states taking part in this annual 7-round Swiss scholastic extravaganza. Representing the Bay State are the following players:

Grade 8 Championship: Mustafa Buxamusa of Westford Academy.
Grade 7 Championship: Jacob Fauman of F.A. Middle School (Newton); Zaroug Jaleel, Darwin Ding and James Lung of Clarke Middle School (Lexington).
Grade 6 Championship: Nicholas Trieu of Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (Cambridge).
Grade 4 Championship: Mika Brattain of Harrington Elementary School (Lexington); Nicholas Plotkin of Sage School (Foxboro); and Charlie Fauman of Cabot Elementry School (Newton).
Grade 3 Championship: Max Wiegand, William Nemirovsky, Tristan Young and Issay Matsumoto of Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (Cambridge); Jeffrey Yao of Bridge School (Lexington); and Jusuf Buxamusa of Weston public schools.
Grade 1: Alex Fauman of Cabot Elementary School (Newton) and Daniel Plotkin of Sage School (Foxboro).

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

Sad news has come to us via the Boylston Chess Club weblog that MACA life member Gregory R. Hager of Somerville died Tuesday, Nov. 27, at his home after a long illness. Hager was a longtime Boylston CC member and also a USCF life member. Born Oct. 5, 1949 in Newton, NJ, he was raised in Rochester, NY, and had lived the past 10 years in Somerville. Since January 1991, Hager had played in nearly 250 rated tournaments - the overwhelming majority of which were held at the Boylston club. Donations in memory of Greg Hager may be made to the Living Memorial Chess Fund, c/o Robert Messenger, MACA treasurer, 4 Hamlett Drive, Apt. 12, Nashua, NH 03062. All donations - made payable to "MACA-LMCF" - are tax-deductible and will be acknowledged.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

International master David Vigorito won the Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial tournment, held Sunday, Nov. 25, at the Boys & Girls Club of North Central Massachusetts in Leominster. The 37-year-old Andover resident tallied 3.5-0.5 to finish first in an Open section field of 18 players. FIDE master John Curdo of Auburn and expert Bennet Pellows of Sharon tied for second with scores of 3-1. Capturing the top under 2100 prize was expert Derek Meredith of West Hartford, CT. Philip Lowell Jr. of Westbrook, ME placed first in an 18-player Under 1900 section with a score of 3.5-0.5. Tying for 2nd place with 3-1 results were Larry Gladding of Leominster and Tom Smith of Florence. Robert Holmgren of Wayland and Jerry Williams of Worcester shared the top under 1750 prize with scores of 2.5-1.5. Christopher Estremera of Dorchester won the Under 1600 section with a 3.5-0.5 tally. Dave Couture of Westminster and Eduardo Valadares of Hudson tied for 2nd place with 3-1 scores. The top under 1300 prize went to Danny Angermeier of Franklin, who also tallied 3-1 in a field of 14 players. Senior TD Ken Ballou of Framingham directed the 50-player MACA-sponsored event.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

The Boston Blitz is set to play the Dallas Destiny for the championship of the U.S. Chess League. The match will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 28, starting at 8 p.m. EST. Spectators can follow the live action at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge. Boston will have the black pieces on boards 1 and 3. The lineups are as follows:

                               BOSTON BLITZ                                          DALLAS DESTINY
                            1. GM Larry Christiansen (2663), age 51          IM Drasko Boskovic (2532) of Serbia, age 25
                            2. SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (2558), 28        IM Davorin Kuljasevic (2489) of Croatia, 21
                            3. NM Denys Shmelov (2251), 21                    IM Jacek Stopa (2414) of Poland, 20
                            4. NM Christopher Williams (2175), 18             WFM Bayaraa Zorigt (2196) of Mongolia, 19
                            

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

High School (grades 9-12)
1st: Genesis Lung of Lexington, 4-0
2nd: Anirudh Arun of Medfield, 2.5-1.5
3rd: Larry Zhu of Wellesley, 2.5-1.5

Age 14 & Under
1st: Alexander Hu of Wellesley, 4-0
2nd: Jesse Nicholas of Newton, 3-1
3rd: Jacob Fauman of Newton, 3-1
Medal winners:
Austin Mei of Andover, 3-1
Ryan Saxe of Waban, 3-1

Age 11 & Under
1st: Mateos Sahakian of Medford, 4-0
2nd: Nicholas Trieu of Watertown, 3.5-0.5
3rd: Jared Groff of Weston, 3-1
Medal winners:
Michael Zhang of Wellesley, 3-1
Danny Angermeier of Franklin, 3-1
Alexander Sun of Malden, 3-1

Age 8 & Under
1st: Sabrina Zhang of Lexington, 4-0
2nd: Arnav Ghosh of Winchester, 3-1
3rd: Laurie Chen of Concord, 3-1
Medal winners:
Henry Li of acton, 3-1
Henry Friedlander of Brookline, 3-1
Alexander Kahn of Swampscott, 3-1

Age 11 & Under Novice
1st: Ari Seckler of Newtonville, 3-1
2nd: Rishabh Tembulkar of Newton, 3-1
3rd: Benjamin Hopkinson of Westborough, 3-1
Medal winner:
Ryan McA'Nulty of Newton, 3-1

Age 8 & Under Novice
1st: Carter Liou of Milton, 4-0
2nd: Jessica Chen of Newton, 3-1
3rd: Nathan Elbaum of Newton, 3-1
Medal winner:
Jonathan Mei of Andover, 3-1

Tournament held Nov. 18 at Milton Academy. Chief TD: Ken Ballou.

Complete report in January-March 2008 issue of Chess Horizons.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn, a MACA life member from Swampscott, Massachusetts, won the 2007 SPICE Cup International Invitational, held Nov. 9-16, at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The 27-year-old GM tallied 6.5 points out of a possible 9 to finish first in a round-robin tournament held in memory of GM Samuel Reshevsky, who died in 1992. The event was organized by GM Susan Polgar for SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence). Perelshteyn is the co-author of two books: "Chess Openings for White, Explained" and "Chess Openings for Black, Explained." A detailed report on the 2007 SPICE Cup will be published in the January-March 2008 issue of Chess Horizons.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

FIDE master Teddy Coleman, a Harvard College freshman from New York state, won the 13th annual Boston University Open on Saturday, Nov. 10, at the George Sherman Student Union at BU. Coleman posted a perfect score of 4-0. Tying for 2nd place with 3-1 tallies were national masters Christopher Williams, 18, of Brighton, and Lawyer Times, 42, of Hyde Park. The top Under 2200 prize was shared by Women's International Master Esther Epstein of Newton and unrated contestant Dr. Aung Kyaw Lwin, both of whom also had 3-1 results. Steven Abrahams, a BU freshman from North Carolina, scored 4-0 to win the Under 1900 section, while BU alumnus and former BU Chess Club president Travis Dover of New Hampshire also tallied 4-0 to win first place in the Under 1600 section. The event, which drew more than 80 players, was sponsored by the BU Chess Club and was directed by Bernardo Iglesias of the Boylston Chess Club, whose USCF affiliation was used to rate the tournament. A complete report is expected to be published in the January-March 2008 issue of Chess Horizons.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

Women's International Master Esther Epstein of Newton, MA, posted a perfect score of 4-0 to win the 74th Greater Boston Open, held Oct. 27-28 at the Kennedy Senior Center in Natick, MA. Epstein, who is the wife of GM Alexander Ivanov, has held the WIM title since 1972 and was U.S. Women's champion in 1997. She was U.S. Women's co-champion in 1991 and has played for the U.S. Women's team in five Chess Olympiads. Finishing a full point behind Epstein for a second-place tie in this year's GBO were national master Christopher Williams of Brighton, MA (who lost to Epstein in round 3), and expert Derek Slater of Medfield, MA (who lost to Epstein in the final round). Class A contestant Kevin Ma of New Hampshire tallied 2.5-1.5 to win the top Under 2200 prize. The tournament was held in three sections and drew a total of 48 players. Senior TD Ken Ballou of Framingham, MA directed and was assisted by fellow senior TD Bob Messenger of Nashua, NH for the sponsoring Massachusetts Chess Association. A complete report as well as a selection of games from the event will be published in the January-March 2008 issue of Chess Horizons.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

Andrew Ardito, a 14-year-old expert from Coxsackle, NY, posted a perfect score of 3-0 to win the 2nd annual WMCA Memorial Open, held Oct. 13 at the Palmer Public Library in Palmer, MA. Capturing second place with a score of 2.5-0.5 was Clay Bradley of Marlow, NH. In the Under 1800 section, first place with a perfect 3-0 performance went to Jesse Anderson of Williamsville, VT. Taking second place with a 2.5-0.5 tally was MACA life member David Hall of Ashfield, MA. Maurry Tamarkin, a 69-year-old MACA member from Brimfield, MA, and Gary Zyra of Holyoke, MA, tied for 1st-2nd place in the Under 1400 section. Both scored 2.5-0.5. The 33-player Western Mass. Chess Association-sponsored event was directed by Ed Kostreba, assisted by Frank Kolasinski.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

"Chess Chat," a monthly program produced by Fitchburg Access Television and hosted by George Mirijanian of Fitchburg and Martin Laine of Lunenburg, is now being televised on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Access Bellingham-Mendon Inc. (ABMI), Channel 8. The most recent program focuses on the exploits of chess-playing actor Humphrey Bogart, who was an avid chess player all his life. The hosts analyze a game that Bogart played against Dr. Paul Limbos, a two-time member of the Belgian Chess Olympic team, during the filming of "The African Queen" in 1951 in the Congo. For more information on the program, contact ABMI publicity director Steve Saraceno at 508-966-3234.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

International master Igor Foygel of Brookline, MA, and FIDE master Braden Bournival of Manchester, NH, shared top honors in the 67th New England Open, held Sept. 1-3, 2007 at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH. Both tallied 4.5-1.5 in an Open section field of 20 players and went home with the co-championship title and the lion's share of prize money. Tied for 3rd place with 4-2 scores were IM Justin Sarkar of Scarsdale, NY; FM Paul MacIntyre of Malden, MA; and 12-year-old Class A contestant Zaroug Jaleel of Lexington, MA. MacIntyre was the top-scoring player under 2300, while Jaleel was the top scorer under 2200. Tying for 2nd Under 2200 prize money were Bennet Pellows of Sharon, MA, and Isaac Saidel-Goley of Bedford, NH, both of whom finished with 3.5-2.5 results.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

GM Alexander Ivanov of Newton, MA, tied for first place with GM Ildar Ibragimov of CT in the 129th New York State Championship, held over the Labor Day weekend in Albany, NY. Both tallied 5-1 in a 65-player Open section, with Ivanov defeating Ibragimov in the second round. Ivanov's victory was historic, as he had entered the 67th New England Open in Manchester, NH, and lost in the first round to expert Patrick Sciacca of South Lawrence, MA, before withdrawing from the tournament and hightailing it to Albany to eventually share top honors with Ibragimov. Both had tied for first place in the 64th New England Open in 2004.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

MACA life member and former Chess Horizons editor Joel F. Johnson of Phoenix, AZ, won the 27th Senior Open, held Aug. 14-19 in LaQuinta (Palm Springs), CA. The 51-year-old former Mass. resident tallied 5.5 points out of a possible 6 to finish first in a field of 45 players.

George Mirijanian
Publications Coordinator

GM Alex Shabalov, the current US Champion, will join the New England Masters Chess Tournament. The tournament is scheduled to start on Aug 13.

Please visit the tournament website for details.

Please allow MACA to extend a very big THANK YOU to Igor Foygel for stepping in very late and agreeing on short notice to judge the "most interesting game" prizes for the 2007 Massachusetts Open. And again, a hearty thanks to Walter Champion for his generosity donating these prizes!

Here are the winners:

Open section: David Vigorito (Vigorito - Meredith, round 2)
U2000 section: Vishwa Krishnamurthy (Brudno - Krishnamurthy, round 3)
U1750 section: Hector Perez (Perez - Lunetta, round 4)
U1500 section: Joshua Keller (Keller - Cook, round 1)

Ken Ballou
Chief TD
2007 Massachusetts Open

Do you always know when a new chess events is happening in New England? Now MACA can send it to your desktop.

Simply subscribe to our RSS by adding this URL "http://www.masschess.org/ASP/DOFE/DOFE_rss.asp" to your news reader.

Don't have a news reader on your computer? There are many free RSS Reader available online - Google Reader is one example. If you are not sure what RSS is, you can read about it on Wikipedia.

Tiffany Wang
Webmaster, MACA

The results of the 2007 MACA election were tabulated at the 76th Massachusetts Open on Saturday, May 26, from noon to 2 p.m., in Marlborough. There were 809 ballots mailed out first-class the first week in April. A total of 121 ballots (approx. 15 percent) were properly cast and returned.

            
            PRESIDENT

            Maryanne C. Reilly 67
            Robert E. King 44
            George M. Mirijanian 2
            Donna M. Alarie 1
            Kenneth R. Ballou 1
            Stephen A. Dann 1
            Steven J. Frymer 1
             
            VICE PRESIDENT
             
            Donna M. Alarie 60
            Kenneth R. Ballou 54
            Stephen A. Dann 1
            George M. Mirijanian 1
             
            TREASURER
             
            Robert D. Messenger 109
            Donna M. Alarie 1
            Bernardo Iglesias 1
             
            CLERK
             
            Steven J. Frymer 99
            Donna M. Alarie 1
            Kenneth R. Ballou 1
            John F. Dould 1
            Kenneth W. Gurge 1
            Mark Kaprielian 1
            Robert D. Messenger 1
            Mikhail Perelshteyn 1
             
            BOARD OF DIRECTORS (All results listed, with those elected listed with one asterisk. 
            Those elected but needing to accept are listed with two asterisks.)
             
            * George M. Mirijanian 104
              Gilbert F. "Gus" Gosselin (deceased) 101
              Maryanne C. Reilly 98
              Donna M. Alarie 91
            * Stephen A. Dann 86
            * John F. Dould 86
            * Kenneth M. Kaye 77
            * Kenneth P. Belt 72
            * Margaret King 12
            * Kenneth R. Ballou 11
            * Robert E. King 6
            * Larry Eldridge 5
            ** Mark Kaprielian 5
            * Parker Montgomery 3
            ** Edward P. Kostreba 3
            ** George W. Duval 3
               Steven J. Frymer 3
               Natasha C. Christiansen 2
               John A. Curdo 2
               Igor Foygel 2
               William J. Kelleher 2
               Louis P. Jacques 2
               Alonzo H. Ross 2
               En-Kuang Lung 2
               Jiaping Zhang 2
               Beebe Wiegand 1
               Robert Messenger 1
               Mark Donlan 1
               Bernardo Iglesias 1
               Alexander Ivanov 1
               Eugene Perelshteyn 1
               Paul MacIntyre 1
               Charles Riordan 1
               Predrag Cicovacki 1
               Chris Chase 1
               Max Enkin 1
               Hal Terrie 1
               Edward Epp 1
               Frank Kolasinski 1
               Paris Finley 1
               David Hall 1
               Reilly Nathans 1
               Dan Sullivan 1
               Robert Egan 1
               Greg Hager 1
               Matt Phelps 1
               James Krycka 1
               Harvey Reid 1
               Vincent Cammarano 1
               John Chamberlain 1
               Derek Slater 1
               Kenneth Gurge 1
               Gary Brassard 1
               Dave Couture 1
               Irving Wolfson 1
               Joe Alfano 1
               Peter Shtudiner 1
               Christopher Galli 1
               Trent Masiki 1
               Jerry Williams 1
               Scott Didham 1
               George Chudolij 1
               Bruce Denis 1
            
            

The MACA board of directors reports with great sadness the passing of Gilbert F. "Gus" Gosselin, who died Monday evening, May 21, at the age of 80. Gus was one of the greatest contributors to the promotion of chess, both adult and scholastic, in Massachusetts as well as in New England. At the time of his death, he was MACA's scholastic coordinator and Living Memorial Fund coordinator. In his past 35 years' involvement with MACA, Gus served in every major executive position in the organization. For the past several decades, especially during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990's, he kept chess alive in Rhode Island. A tribute to Gus will be published in the July-September issue of Chess Horizons, which will be mailed out in June. Funeral arrangements are unavailable at this time, but letters and/or cards of condolences can be sent to his wife Ruth and daughter Marcia and family at 19 Glen St. #2, Malden, MA 02148 and to his son Matthew at 177B Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176.

George Mirijanian
President, MACA

Please send memorial comment to MACA Discussion Forum. We will collect all comments and publish it on this site and CH soon.

Update: Gathering for Gus

On April 29, the MACA board of directors at its executive meeting in Chelmsford voted unanimously to endorse the candidacy of Stephen L. Jones of California for the USCF Executive Board. MACA urges all USCF voting members in Massachusetts as well as USCF voting members in other states to cast their vote for Mr. Jones in this year's election. Please read his candidate statements in the April, May and June issues of Chess Life and vote for a highly qualified individual for the USCF Executive Board. Ballots will be distributed in June.

Stephen Jones was born on Sept. 26, 1942 in Austin, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas in 1964 and earned a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin in 1967. He became known to chess players in New England in the early 1970s when he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After winning the 1973 Massachusetts Open and becoming the state champion for that year, he returned to school and received a doctor of laws degree from the University of Michigan in 1976. He is currently an attorney in Los Angeles, with a specialty in business law and real-estate litigation.

He has been a FIDE master for many years and has won or shared at least two national titles: the 1968 U.S. Amateur Championship and the 2002 U.S. Senior Open. In postal chess, he has won twice the U.S. Correspondence Championship (9th and 11th).

In his spare time, Mr. Jones does volunteer work as a mediator/arbitrator for the courts. In his April Chess Life candidate statement, he writes that he owes chess at least as much. He also states that he intends to work ably and professionally toward helping the USCF move forward.

George Mirijanian
President, MACA

On March 18, the MACA board of directors at its executive meeting in Chelmsford voted to endorse the candidacy of Joseph W. Lux of New Jersey for the USCF Executive Board. MACA urges all USCF-voting members in Massachusetts as well as USCF-voting members in other states to cast their vote for Mr. Lux in this year's election. Please read his statements in the April, May and June issues of Chess Life and vote for a highly qualified candidate for the USCF Executive Board. Ballots will be distributed in June.

Joe Lux is a well-known national tournament director with a long list of impressive credentials, including being the director or assistant director at many scholastic and adult tournaments, giving simultaneous exhibitions, teaching chess to school-age youngsters and coaching teams in scholastic events. He is currently an active weeknight and weekend tournament player and has been a member of the USCF's Tournament Director Certification Committee for many years. He played a key role in helping edit the "corrected" second edition of the USCF's Official Rules of Chess, published in March 1979. His involvement with chess goes back more than 30 years. He has played in tournaments in Massachusetts, including the Eastern Class Championship and the former New England Class Championships.

George Mirijanian
President, MACA

The Sage School chess coach and active chess player/coach Max Malyuta passed away due to bacterial meningitis on 3/24. The wake will be on Tue 3/27 from 6-8PM and funeral 3/28 10AM. The address for the funeral home is:

Manning-Heffern Funeral Home
68 Broadway
Pawtucket, RI 02860
Tel: 401-723-1312

If you wish to help with the funeral expense, please send your donation to:
RI Chess Association
P.O. Box 15444
Riverside, RI 02915

This year's Gus Gosselin/Massachusetts Grade Championships took place on March 4, 2007, at Natick High School. There were 132 players who took part in 8 sections (combined sections: K-1, 7-8 and 9-12) and one house player in the grade 9-12 section who was not part of the official final standings.

The winners are:

Kindergarten: Sean Chang, 5, of Newton, 4-0
Grade 1: Sandeep Vadlamudi, 6, of Sharon, 3.5-0.5
Grade 2: Max Wiegand, 8, of Cambridge, 4-0
Grade 3: Nelson Pang, 9, of Westborough - on tiebreak over Siddharth Arun, 8, of Medfield, both 3.5-0.5
Grade 4: Michelle Chen, 9, of Concord - on tiebreak over Nicholas Zhang, 9, of Lexington, both 3.5-0.5
Grade 5: Jimmy Wang, 11, of Acton - on tiebreak over Michael Wang, 11, of Lexington, both 3.5-0.5
Grade 6: Ryan Saxe, 11, of Waban, 4-0
Grade 7: Mustafa Buxamusa, 12, of Westford - on tiebreak over Charles Alex-Barton, 13, of Concord, both 3-1
Grade 8: Felix Yang, 13, of Norwell - on tiebreak over Jesse Nicholas, 13, of Newton, both 3-1
Grade 9: Nitya Pandeti, 14, of Weymouth, 2-2
Grade 10: Douglon Tse, 16, of Milton, 4-0
Grade 11: Jaymin Patel, 17, of Natick, 2-2
Grade 12: no winner

USCF member George Edmund O'Rourke of Concord, Massachusetts died Feb. 26, 2007 at age 77. Born July 29, 1929 in Washington, DC, Mr. O'Rourke graduated from Georgetown University and earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He was founder and president of Corporate Tech Planning in Waltham, MA, retiring in 1993. He had been a resident of Concord since 1958. Earlier in his chess career, he had played at the celebrated Chess Divan in Washington. Besides being a USCF member, Mr. O'Rourke was also a member of the Massachusetts Chess Association (MACA) and an active member of the Wachusett Chess Club in Fitchburg, MA and the Nashoba Chess Club in Westford, MA. In addition, he took part in USCF-rated tournaments at the Waltham (MA) Chess Club. An avid weeknight and weekend tournament player, Mr. O'Rourke had participated in more than 125 tournaments in the past 15 years, including the 2001 U.S. Open in Framingham, MA and several Massachusetts Open state championships. His most recent tournament victory was tying for first place in the prestigious George Sturgis Memorial tournament in December 2006 in Fitchburg. He was runner-up in the 2006 Wachusett Chess Club championship and runner-up in the David Bronstein Memorial tournament in January 2007 in Fitchburg.

George Mirijanian
President, Massachusetts Chess Association

John W. Loyte, a well-known chess player from Maynard, died of a heart attack on Sunday, Feb. 11 at the age of 68. Loyte, both a USCF and MACA life member, was a longtime member of the Nashoba Chess Club in Westford and an active participant in the Billerica Chess Club Friday night Swiss tournaments. In the past 15 years he had played in more than 400 USCF-rated events. In the 1980s, he was an active member of the Wachusett Chess Club in Fitchburg. Besides chess, Loyte was an avid bridge player and took part in many bridge tournaments in Massachusetts.

George Mirijanian
President, MACA

[ Read obituary on MassLive.com ]