The final Grand Prix event took place on 12/21 at the 6th NESSP Scholastic Chess Tournament. The results of this event did not change the trophy winners for 2014.  Congratulations to the winners:
 

The 2015 Grand Prix will start on 2/8 at the Papa Gino's in Waltham.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Web Coordinator

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Web Coordinator

Congratulations to the MACA scholastic players who participated in the National K-12 Grade Championship held in Orlando, FL on Dec. 12-14.  Massachusetts was well represented with 2 Champions! Andrew Liu is the 10th grade Champion and Nithin Kavi is the 7th grade Champion. Both players finished ahead on tie-breaks.  The full report of standings can be found on the USCF website: http://goo.gl/nfmGVZ

Other Massachusetts players receiving awards included:

•  In 11^th grade, Siddarth Arun earned 5.0 points and received the 5^th place trophy
•  In 8^th grade, Anton Barash tied for 10^th with 5.0 points
•  In 7^th grade, Eric Feng earned 5.0 points and came in 9^th place
•  In 3^rd grade, Eddie Wei earned 5.5 points and came in 8^th place
•  In 2^nd grade, David Katsman earned 5.0 points and came in 15^th place
• In Kindergarten, Evan Wei earned 5.0 points and came in 9^th place

[Submitted on behalf of Scholastic Committee]

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Web Coordinator

Prize winners at the Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial, held December 14th in Marlborough, Mass.

Open Section

1st GM Alexander Ivanov 3.5-0.5
2nd-6th Mika Brattain, Lawyer Times, Sherif Khater 3-1
2nd-6th/Top Under 2110 Peter Chubinsky, Brandon Wu 3-1

Under 1910 Section

1st-2nd Sandra Shur, Michael Yu 3.5-0.5
Top Under 1710 Evan MacLure, Bharath Beggadahalli, David Zhou, Maxwell Chen 2.5-1.5

Under 1510 Section

1st/Top Unrated Shravan Kumar Konuganti 4-0
2nd-3rd Robert Walton Jr, James Beyer 3-1
Top Under 1310/Top Under 1100 Audrey Gaines 2.5-1.5
Top Under 900 Marvin Curry 0.5-3.5

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger and George Mirijanian.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

12/13 6:33PM: Final adv. list updated (as of 6:08PM). 

Adv. entries for Pillsbury Memorial (as of 12/11 7:34PM):http://goo.gl/d5l2H9.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Prize winners at the 3rd Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held December 7th in Marlborough, Mass.

Age 14 & Under Section

1st Jason Tang 4-0
2nd-4th Henry Liu, Eric Feng, Alan Sikarov 3-1

Age 11 & Under Section

1st-2nd Danila Poliannikov (playoff winner), Jerry Li 4-0
3rd-6th Bernie Xu, Luke Randolph, John Archibald, Gavin Randolph 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st Rafael Pashkov 4-0
2nd-5th Thomas Ha, Raymond Xu, Krishna Mutnuri, David Katsman 3-1

Novice Under 800 Section

1st Lewis Tu 4-0
2nd-7th Timmy Guan, Rachel Kuzmin, Carah Su, Brian Yu, Sujith Yeruva, Ajay Potula 3-1

Novice Under 400 Section

1st George Khramtchenko 4-0
2nd-3rd Saharsh Yeruva, Vishnu Mandepudi 3.5-0.5
medals: Ivan Khramtchenko, Aaron Lu, Jacob Snell 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order except as noted.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

TW: updated again (as of 11/05 4:11PM).

 Q3 advance entries (as of 11/04 7:23PM) available here: http://goo.gl/nLHVm7.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

After the 11.30 Papa Gino's tournament in Waltham, Advait Natti is the winner of the Grand Prix 2014!

Submitted by Dmitry Barash of the Scholastic Committee; edited by Edward Chiu of the Promotions Committee

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Web Coordinator

Prize winning teams at the Fall Team Tournament, held November 23rd in Boxborough, MA.

K-12 Section:

1st Newton South A (Yifan Xu, James Rao, Nicholas Komarovsky, Steven Kim) 4-0
2nd CMS Chess Alums (Arjun Rajan, Joseph Bartkovich, George Turer, Solon James) 2.5-1.5
3rd Medfield High School (Siddharth Arun, Daniel Blessing, Joseph Aversa, James Desjourdy) 1.5-2.5

K-6 Section:

1st Flying Eagle (Yue Huang, Joy Cao, Brian Yu, Ivan Ren) 3.5-0.5
2nd Cabot School (Ben Fauman, Max Williams, Duncan Naylor, Javier Bonilla) 2.5-1.5
3rd-4th Cabot Plus (Desmond FitzGerald-Lara, Milo Somers, Sean Hadden, Luca Guzzi),
    Medfield Chess Club (Ronan Doherty, Andre Leger, Brandon Mak, Raymond Huang) 1-3

K-3 Section:

1st NESSP Panthers (Krishna Mutnuri, Arya Chawla, Advait Natti, Meghana Kancharla) 4-0
2nd Cabot Plus (Noah Brauner, Adithya Sharma, Hernan FitzGerald-Lara, Henti Medernach) 2-2
3rd Arhan-Adam-Ethan-Jonathan (Ethan Lubomirsky, Adam Lubomirsky, Jonathan Lobo, Arhan Kalra) 1.5-2.5

Tied teams are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

It is with great sadness that we report that longtime MACA and USCF member Martin Laine of Lunenburg, MA passed away at home recently. He was 64. Martin had also been a longtime member of the Wachusett Chess Club in Fitchburg and one of the hosts of the monthly Chess Chat programs seen monthly (5 times a week) on Fitchburg Access Television (FATV).

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Web Coordinator

Prize winners at the 2nd Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held November 9th in Marlborough.

Age 14 & Under:

1st Brandon Wu 4-0
2nd-3rd Eric Feng, Michael Mi 3-1

Age 11 & Under:

1st Evan MacLure 4-0
2nd Bernie Xu 3.5-0.5
3rd-6th Maxwell Chen, Derek Jin, Madeline Hung, Alan Song 3-1

Age 8 & Under:

1st David Xie 4-0
2nd-4th Rafael Pashkov, Alan Lu, Advait Natti 3-1

Novice Under 800:

1st Shrujal Ambati 4-0
2nd-4th Rohan Doherty, Brian Yu, Sujith Yeruva 3-1

1st Jonathan Safran 4-0
2nd Victor Feng 3.5-0.5
3rd-5th Aadithya Murali, Aneesh Guda, Peter Zeng 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by George Mirijanian, Steve Frymer, Donna Alarie and Bob Messenger.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

[11/08 5:56 PM] Final List as of 11/08 2:56 PM updated.

[11/07 4:11 PM] List as of 11/07 3/46 PM updated.

Advance Entries for Second State Championship/Spiegel Cup Qualifier [as of 11/06 9:17 PM] available now: http://goo.gl/8qyxSd. 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

The Massachusetts Chess Association is pleased to announce the re-launch of MACA's Twitter handle (@MassChess). We want to give chess players another channel to easily connect and collaborate with MACA and other members. Tweet us your comments, questions or pictures of your chess activities with the hashtag #MassChess! Be sure to follow @MassChess on Twitter and stay tuned for more. 

Also don't forget to Like our Facebook Page.

News submitted by: Edward Chiu, MACA Promotions Committee Chair.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Prize winners at the 81st Greater Boston Open, held October 26th in Marlborough, Mass.

Open Section

1st-2nd GM Alexander Ivanov, Michael Vilenchuk 3.5-0.5
Top Under 2100 Ryan Sowa, Michael Odell, Michael Isakov, David Kochman 2-2

Under 1900 Section

1st-2nd Howard Goldowsky, Larry Eldridge 3.5-0.5
Top Under 1750 Maxwell Zhao, Alex Yu, William Ravn, Gerard Taylor 3-1

Under 1600 Section

1st Alan Sikarov 4-0
2nd-4th Bharath Heggadahalli, Andre Saint Louis, Yudong Jiang 3-1
Top Under 1400 Jason Xiong 2.5-1.5

Under 1200 Section

1st David Zhao 4-0
2nd-3rd Joe DeFerrari, Weihang Fan 3.5-0.5
Top Under 1000 George Turer 3-1
Top Under 800 Skyler Zhou 2-2
Top Under 600 Giovanni DeBenedictis 2-2
Top Unrated Damian Lin 3-1

Players in the Under 1200 Section are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger and George Mirijanian.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

Grand Prix Scholastic 2014

The Grand Prix special prize has been set by Dmitry Barash at 3 trophies at the end of 2014 for the sum of the 10 best results (accumulated points) in Scholastic tournaments run by Matt Gosselin during calendar year 2014 (Burger King, Papa Gino's, NESSP).

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Prize winners at the First Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held October 19th in Marlborough, Mass.

Age 14 & Under Section

1st Anton Barash 3.5-0.5
2nd-3rd Michael Mi, Alex Fauman 3-1

Age 11 & Under Section

1st Brian Yin 4-0
2nd-3rd David Zhou, Bernie Xu 3.5-0.5
medals: Derek Zhao, Alan Song 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st-3rd Winston Zhao (playoff winner), David Katsman, Krishna Mutnuri 3.5-0.5
medals: Alan Lu, Rafael Pashkov, Advait Natti 3-1

Novice Under 800 Section

1st Giorgio Roscini 4-0
2nd-5th Ivan Ren, Meghana Kancharla, Johan Mathew, Holden Chalfant 3-1

Novice Under 400 Section

1st Sravan Mandepudi 4-0
2nd-11th Andrew Su, Daniel Lobo, Brandon Rubinshtein, Andrey Mukhin, Kevin Chen, Jaan Srimurthy, Milo Somers, Saharsh Yeruva, Jack Tompros 3-1

Except as noted, players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian, Steve Frymer, Dmitry Barash, and John Sadoff.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

 Final Adv. Entries for Q1 [as of 10/18/14 1:30PM] posted:http://goo.gl/0xmI48.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Adv. Entries for Q1 [as of 10/17/14 6:58PM] posted: http://goo.gl/0xmI48. 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

SCS Points 2014, updated 9.16.2014

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

The Massachusetts Chess Association is proud to announce the 2014-2015 Spiegel Cup season. The top 5 players by the March rating supplement, winners of the 4 MACA Qualifiers and the player who accumulates the most points in the Spiegel Cup Series will make up the field of 10 players in each age group. This will mark the 2nd year that the Spiegel Cup Series (SCS) will determine the final entrant in the Spiegel Cup Finals.  We are very excited for the number of affiliates returning to organize SCS events.  The first SCS event will take place this Sunday (9/14) at the Waltham Papa Ginos.  For more information please click here.

Information about the Spiegel Cup will be updated throughout the year can be found on our State Scholastics page.

Below is the list of top ratings by age group (as of 9/8/2014):

14&U
Carissa Yip 2131
Evan Meyer 2098
Nithin Kavi 2091
Jason Tang 1988
Brandon Wu 1964
Alex Fauman 1956
Conway Xu 1922
Alvin Tan 1852
Henry Liu 1846
Allen Wang 1845
Eric Feng 1845
Anton Barash 1800

Submitted by Dmitry Barash, MACA, Scholastics Committee

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

74TH NEW ENGLAND OPEN SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENTS

 The following are the results of the 74th New England Open Scholastic Tournaments, held August 30-September 1 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Leominster, MA:

 Aug. 30: K-12 Under 1500 section (15 players)
 1st: Abhinav Govindaraju of Concord, NH, 3.5-0.5
 2nd: Max Bennett of Newton, MA, 3.5-0.5
 3rd: Jerry Li of Acton, MA, 3.5-0.5

 Aug. 30: K-12 Under 900 section (18 players)
 1st: Raymond Xu of Lexington, MA, 4-0
 2nd: Andrew Gao of Carlisle, MA, 3-1
 3rd: Arjun Girish of Acton, MA, 3-1
 Timmy Guan of Belmont, MA, 3-1
 Shrujal San of Ashland, MA, 3-1

 Aug. 31: K-3 Under 1200 section (7 players)
 1st: Jerry Li of Acton, MA, 4-0
 2nd: Meghana Kancharla of Hudson, NH, 3-1
 3rd: Noah Brauner of Newton, MA, 2-2
 Raymond Xu of Lexington, MA, 2-2
 Venkatraman Varatharajan of North Andover, MA, 2-2
 Arya Chawla of Acton, MA, 2-2

 Aug. 31: K-3 Under 400 section (8 players)
 1st: Ethan Lubomirski of Boxborough, MA, 4-0
 2nd: Adam Lubomirski of Boxborough, MA, 3-1
 3rd: Evan Lavallee of Lancaster, MA, 3-1

 Sept. 1: K-6 Under 1400 section (20 players)
 1st: Daniel Zhou of Lexington, MA, 4-0
 2nd: Jerry Li of Acton, MA, 3-1
 3rd: Aaron Huang of Andover, MA, 3-1
 Boshen Li of Winchester, MA, 3-1

 Sept. 1: K-6 Under 500 section (14 players)
 1st: Daniel Lobo of Acton, MA, 3.5-0.5
 2nd: Ethan Lubomirski of Boxborough, MA, 3-1
 3rd: Sujith Yeruva of Westborough, MA, 3-1
 Carah Su of Chelmsford, MA, 3-1

George Mirijanian
Assistant TD

CARISSA YIP NIPS GM ALEXANDER IVANOV IN TIME-SCRAMBLE AT NE OPEN, BECOMES YOUNGEST GIRL IN USCF HISTORY TO DEFEAT GRANDMASTER

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

74th NEW ENGLAND OPEN RESULTS

 The following are the results of the 74th New England Open, held August 30 - September 1, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Leominster, MA:

 OPEN SECTION (21 players)
 1st-2nd: GM Alexander Ivanov (2578) of Newton, MA and Farzad Abdi (2250) of Rockland, MA, both 4.5-1.5
 Top U2300: Andrew Liu (2283) of Westborough, MA, 4-2
 Top U2200: Sherif Khater (2106) of Nashua, NH, 3.5-2.5

 UNDER 2000 SECTION (32 players)
 1st-2nd: Scott Didham (1994) of Sharon, MA and James Apiri (1815) of Worcester, MA, both 5-1.
 Top U1850: Howard Goldowsky (1834) of Canton, MA and Joseph Bennett (1793) of Hubbardston, MA, 4-2.

 UNDER 1750 SECTION (35 players)
 1st: Kevin Zimmerman (1624) of East Hartford, CT, 5.5-0.5
 2nd: Anton Barash (1748) of Brighton, MA and Stephen West (1731) of Westford, MA, both 4.5-1.5
 Top U1600: David Todd (1592) of Boxford, MA, Nikita Roldan-Levchenko (1476) of Allston, MA, Evan McLure (1441) of Lexington, MA, Alan Song (1336) of Wellesley, MA and Abhinav Govindaraju (1205) of Concord, NH, all 3.5-2.5

 UNDER 1500 SECTION (23 players)
 1st: Udhay Vijay (1150) of Nashua, NH, 5-1
 2nd/U1350: Robert Walton Jr. (1330) of Manchester, NH, Gershon Gilman (1328) of Newton, MA, Stacy Angle (unrated) of Acton, MA and Jiahui Li (unrated) of Worcester, MA, all 4.5-1.5
 Top U1200: Pooja Welling (1192) of Nashua, NH and David Katsman (1078) of Chestnut Hill, MA, both 3.5-2.5

 NEW ENGLAND OPEN BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIP
 1st: FM Denys Shmelov (2579) of Pepperell, MA 9-1.
 2nd: Sherif Khater (2208) of Nashua, NH 7.5-2.5.
 Top U2300: Farzad Abdi (2273) of Rockland, MA 6-4
 Top U2000: William Ravn (1736) of Standish, ME 6-4
 Top U1800: Nikita Roldan-Levchenko (1575) of Allston, MA

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian, Steve Frymer and Nicholas Sterling.
 

George Mirijanian
Assistant TD

 FINAL NEO Adv. Entries (as of 08/29 05:30 PM) updated:http://goo.gl/iUvXZb.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

 NEO Adv. Entries (as of 08/28 09:21 PM) updated: http://goo.gl/iUvXZb.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

 NEO Adv. Entries (as of 08/27 09:08 PM) updated: http://goo.gl/iUvXZb.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

 NEO Adv. Entries (as of 08/25 11:24 PM) updated: http://goo.gl/iUvXZb.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

NEO Adv. Entries (as of 08/26 07:38 PM) updated: http://goo.gl/iUvXZb.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Adv. Entry List for 74th NEO: http://goo.gl/iUvXZb

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

 The Boylston Chess Club is looking for a new home. Please join the discussion on September 3 as one of the nation's oldest chess clubs discusses its future.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Changes Coming Soon at the Boylston Chess Foundation

We are the third oldest chess organization in the United States. Thanks to your support, we are in a stronger financial position than ever before. Although we are now facing a challenge, I am confident that together we will find the path forward. As a non-profit organization dedicated to education and sportsmanship, we are an important part of the community. Our best days are ahead of us!

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

The Massachusetts Chess Association Board of Directors is pleased to announce committee members and coordinators for the 2014-2015 term.

Promotions Committee: Edward Chiu (chair), George Mirijanian, Bob Messenger, Nicholas Sterling, Tiffany Wang

Nathan Smolensky, as President, is a member of every Committee ex-officio.

Volunteer Coordinator: Nathan Smolensky
Parliamentarian: Bob Messenger
Web Coordinator: Nicholas Sterling
Webmaster: Tiffany Wang

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Nicholas Sterling
Chief TD

MACA thanks all the MA players who participated in the 44th Annual Continental Open this past weekend in Sturbridge, MA.  Among the prize winners from MA:

            Open Section: Lawyer Times (1st U2300), IM Mark Esserman (4th-5th Other), J. Timothy Sage (4th-5th Other/2nd U2300)

            Under 2100 Section: Brett Kildahl & Muharrem Brahimaj (2nd-3rd), Jason Tang (4th-5th)

            Under 1900 Section: Mark Fins (1st), Alvin Tan & Corey Herbert Talbert & Calvin Hori & Eric Feng (5th)

            Under 1700 Section: Malachi Davis (1st), Clayton Henry White (2nd), Peter Teodorescu (4th-5th)

            Under 1500 Section: Bharath Heggadahalli (1st), Dustin Liang (2nd)

            Under 1000 Section: Rajanna Heggadahalli (5th)

Congratulations!

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Leaders in Scholastic Grand Prix points (tournaments by Matt Gosselin):

Next tournament is on 8.24 in Chelmsford.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Maryland Chess Association

2014 US Cadet Starts July 19

The MCA will again be hosting the US Cadet Championship this year. This is an invitational for the top under-16 players in the US. This year we have expanded the field to 10 players. The tournament starts July 19th at the Rockville Hilton and the games will be broadcast live at http://uscadet.mdchess.com. The winner receives a scholarship to UMBC and the top three receive free entry to the Washington International. The full field is below.

 Submitted by Steve Frymer, MACA, Scholastics Committee, Chair

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Congratulations to Denys Shmelov and Mika Brattain for earning International Master norms at the World Open in Arlington, Virginia July 2nd-6th.  This is Denys's third IM norm and Mika's first.

Bob Messenger
Assistant TD

Seven things you should know about Alan Trefler, founder of Pegasystems - Business - The Boston Globe

Submitted by Steve Frymer, MACA, Scholastics Committee, Chair

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Mini-tournament at Boylston Elementary School

http://www.telegram.com/article/20140626/COULTER03/306269989/1189/coulter19

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

This article includes an upset victory by IM Sam Sevian of MA.

http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/news

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

http://www.telegram.com/article/20140622/NEWS/306229960/-1?utm_source=Keyword_Search&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2014622

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Fellow Chess-Players,

      Please find below the Final Standings of the Concord-Carlisle Scholastic June G/30 d5, the inaugural tournament of the new Concord-Carlisle Chess Club.

      Abundant thanks to everyone who participated.  We will make sure to have enough time for the next tournament to have four full G/30 d5 rounds, and to be Adult rather than Scholastic.

      The standings are also posted on the MACA Facebook page and my Blog.

      We look forward to our next class and tournament in the fall with great anticipation.  Much appreciation.

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.
Concord-Carlisle Chess Club
USCF Chess Tournament Director

[--]

Age 11 & Over

David Katsman - 1st Place
Eli Matthew Richmond - 2nd Place
Logan Dick - 3rd Place

Age Under 11

Daniel Erlich-Herzog - 1st Place
Raymond Xu - 2nd Place
Johan George Matthew - 3rd Place

Nicholas Sterling
Chief TD

The first MACA meeting of this new board will begin at 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, June 22nd at the Boylston Chess Club in Somerville.

Nathan Smolensky
MACA President

Winners of the "Most Interesting Game" prizes at the 83rd Massachusetts Open:

Championship Section: David Brodsky for his game against Agustin Garcia

Under 2100 Section: Michael Isakov for his game against Coby O'Young

Under 1800 Section: Yuanzhe Wang for his game against Michael Mi

Under 1500 Section: Andrew The for his game against David Zhou

The games were judged by International Master Jim Rizzitano
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

Prize winners at the New England Junior Open, held June 8th in Chelmsford, Mass.

Grades K-12 Section

1st Abhinav Govindaraju 4-0
2nd-7th David Katsman, Suhaas Katikaneni, Anish Kammila, Aayush Patel, Srinath Rangan, Eli Richmond 3-1
8th Rishikesh Girish 2.5-1.5
Top Female: Sanjana Kunnikuru 1-3

Grades K-3 Section

1st-2nd Nicholas Belous (playoff winner), Jerry Li 4-0
3rd-6th Advay Goel, Kyle Hooloomann, Meghana Kancharla, Ajay Potula 3-1
(Johan Mathew also scored 3 points)
Top Female: Shreeya Gomathinayagam 2-2 (Meghana Kancharla won 5th prize with 3-1)

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was organized by Kavyashree Mallanna for Celestial Minds.  Bob Messenger was the chief tournament director.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

Prize winners at the 83rd Massachusetts Open, held May 24-26, 2014 in Marlborough, Mass.

Championship Section

1st Mika Brattain 5-1
2nd–4th GM Alexander Ivanov, FM Denys Shmelov, FM Christopher Chase 4.5-1.5
Top Under 2300 Chris Williams, Arthur Tang 3.5-2.5

Under 2100 Section

1st-5th John Vaughan, Luis Baez-Rosario, Brett Kildahl, Peter Korzeb, Aashish Welling 4.5-1.5
Top Under 1950 Robert Campbell, Natasha Christiansen, Jose Feliu Camacho, James Zhou 3.5-2.5

Under 1800 Section

1st-4th Robert Stewart 5-1
1st–4th / Top Under 1650 Mark Buckles, Sandra Shur, Christopher Estremera 5-1

Under 1500 Section

1st Rahul Kumar (unrated) 5-1
2nd-4th Andrew The, Alon Trogan 4.5-1.5
2nd–4th / Top Under 1350 David Zhou 4.5-1.5
Top Under 1200 David Sigman, Edward Chiu, Alex Brown 3.5-2.5

K-12 Under 1500 Section

1st-2nd Max Bennett, Bharath Heggadahalli 3.5-0.5
3rd-5th Niranian Shankar, Samuel Gloss, James Rao 2.5-1.5
K-12 Under 800 Section

1st Vineeth Nareddy 4-0
2nd-3rd Yue Huang, Thomas Ha 3-1

K-6 Under 1400 Section

1st Vignesh Vanchinathan 3.5-0.5
2nd-4th Madeleine Hung, Niranian Shankar, Aayush Patel 3-1

K-6 Under 600 Section

1st Arya Chawla 4-0
2nd Venkatraman Varatharian 3.5-0.5
3rd-5th Fernando Riedewald, Barry Wang, Ashley O’Young 3-1

K-3 Under 1200 Section

1st Alan Song 4-0
2nd Evan Wei 3-1
3rd-5th Sammi Pan, Advait Natti, Raymond Xu 2.5-1.5

K-3 Under 400 Section

1st-2nd Adithya Sharma (won playoff), Ethan Lubomirsky 4-0
3rd-8th Skyler Zhou, Samuel Li, Aaron Lai, Ajay Potula, Brian Lu, Jaan Srimurthy 3-1

Massachusetts Blitz Championship

1st Andrew Liu 8-2
2nd Vadim Martirosov 7.5-2.5
Top Under 2200 Libardo Rueda 7-3
Top Under 2000 Nathan Smolensky 5-5
Top Under 1800 Timothy Kelly 4.5-5.5

Tied players in the scholastic sections are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian, Steve Frymer, Nathan Smolensky and Nicholas Sterling.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

  Mass Open Adv. Entry (as of 5/23 3:39 PM): http://masschess.org/Events/Advance_Entry/2014-05-24-MassOpen.htm

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

 Mass Open Adv. Entry (as of 4:22PM): http://masschess.org/Events/Advance_Entry/2014-05-24-MassOpen.htm

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

To all MACA Members,

     If you receive, or have received, the following piece of SPAM mail from a potential customer for chess lessons, DO NOT RESPOND TO IT.  The writer of this e-mail is a known perpetrator of e-mail fraud based on this appeal to find a chess coach in a foreign country.  Simply delete it and pay it no further heed.

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.

MACA, Web Coordinator

> How are you doing today and I hope you're fine?
> My name is Mr. Richard Morgan, my Wife and I are looking
> to hire a Chess Coach for our Son who's relocating to my
> sister's house in the states in 2 weeks, we live in Utrecht,
> Netherlands.
> We decided to hire a Coach for him so he won't be idle. His
> name is Frank, his 16 years old. We want
> him trained for an hour, twice a week. You live in the same
> state with my sister.If you are available and ready, kindly get
> back to us with your total fee for a month, and the city you
> reside. You will get to pick your training days, place and
> time. Hopefully an arrangement can be made.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Mr. Morgan

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

One clarification: MACA Members under age 16 ARE allowed to vote.  It is only in USCF where Members under age 16 may not vote.  Thanks very much.  Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.  MACA, Web Coordinator

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/us/at-11-new-master-breaks-record-older-than-she-is.html

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Nicholas Sterling
Chief TD

Instructions for Completing the MACA Elections Ballot

I. Completing your ballot

    A. The first part of the ballot is where you may vote for MACA's Executive Officers: President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Clerk

        1. Do not vote for more than one candidate for each office. If you vote for more than one candidate for any Executive Officer position, your vote for that

        position will not be counted.

        2. Please mark an "X" inside the box for a candidate, or write in a different person for that office. If you write in a name, you must still mark an "X" in the

        the box next to the write-in.

        3. If you write in the name of a person, please print the name clearly.

    B. The second part of the ballot is where you may vote for the Board of Directors. You may vote for up to eight (8) candidates for director.

        1. If you vote for more than eight (8) candidates, then none of your votes for Director will be counted.

        2. You may choose any of the nominated candidates, or you may write in other candidates (please print clearly). In any case, your total number of votes

            cannot be more than eight (8).

        3. If you write in any candidates, you must mark an "X" in each corresponding box for your vote to be counted.

II. Returning your ballot

    A. You may return your ballot by U.S. mail in the envelope provided. Ballots returned by U.S. mail must be received no later than Friday, May 23, 2014.

    B. You may return you ballot in person to the Elections Commissioner or a member of the Elections Commission at the site of the 83rd Massachusetts Open Championship at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel, Marlborough, no later than 11:59 a.m. on Saturday, May 24, 2014.

    C. All ballots must be returned in the envelope provided, whether returned by U.S. mail or delivered in person. Ballots not returned in the envelope provided will not be counted.

    D. Ballots will be opened and counted in public view at the site of the 83rd Massachusetts Open Championship on Saturday, May 24, 2014.

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Candidate Statements for Office of President

Nathan Smolensky (Incumbent):

“Since being elected MACA president one year ago, I have worked passionately towards helping this organization fulfill its complex goal of supporting chess in the Commonwealth in all of its forms. With experience as a tournament director and a teacher in afterschool programs, and being a frequent player myself, I appreciate the many important functions MACA serves, from running tournaments for both children and adults, to supporting our brightest young talents as they travel to tournaments abroad, to reaching out to potential new players young and old.

“I was an integral part of launching our Early Education Initiative, an exciting and innovative new program which aims to get chess into the schools at a rate not seen before in this state. I have worked as editor of Chess Horizons, to personally ensure that the organization provide the beloved magazine to its loyal subscribers, as it is our duty to. I also made sure that we delivered proper reimbursement for missed issues prior to my term.

“I believe there is a bright future ahead for MACA and for chess in this state, and I believe that I have the experience, the skills, and the passion necessary to lead it there.”

Marc Turgeon (Challenger):

“Hello fellow member.  You support Chess in Massachusetts.  You play OTB chess in rated tournaments.  You pay money to MACA and USCF.  You teach your children and friends the moves and rules.  Chess is worthwhile and you want others to enjoy chess.   Only you can create more chessplayers.  Teach and play chess in your town at libraries, senior and community centers, retirement homes, Scout and  Girl Guide meetings, anywhere people meet for a few hours.    Thank  you for any efforts to grow chess in Massachusetts   Only you give chess to the next generation.  Can MACA do anything to help?     

“Now MACA supports chess for a few. TWO persons, almost alone, run a dozen rated tournaments and do little more. Does MACA’s train TD’s?  Does MACA help Chess Clubs, or r Coaches and Trainers, or Professional level players?   Does MACA teach chess and provide playing opportunities to 1,051836 persons aged 5-17 in Massachusetts?  125 turn out for a MACA event.  Do three million MA adults play?   1200 are USCF members but does MACA ask their help?   Is MACA a joke?   MACA is in crisis.

“Please  VOTE for MARC TURGEON as PRESIDENT OF MACA   Let’s change.”

Candidate Statements for Office of Treasurer

Robert Messenger (Incumbent):

“I have been MACA’s Treasurer since 2001 and have been Membership Secretary, Chairman of the Tournament and Budget Committees and chief director at MACA tournaments for the last several years.

“I think it’s extremely important for MACA’s money to be kept in responsible hands.  MACA should avoid risky investments such as the ones suggested by my opponent.  For example, in March 2013 he advised the MACA board to invest in Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO), saying that his broker had said that copper was going to be big that year.  At the time SCCO was selling for about $40 a share, and it’s currently selling for about $30 a share.  The point isn’t just that a particular investment wouldn’t have done well but that MACA should be using its money to promote chess and provide services for its members, not to play the market.

“The MACA board needs to move beyond the personal conflicts which have driven away volunteers.  MACA should focus on maintaining its current programs and finding new ways to promote chess in Massachusetts.

            “I ask for your vote.”

Robert E. King (Challenger):

“Board Member for thirteen years, including two terms as President (2001-2002 and 2012-2013), Clerk (2005-2006), and Publications Coordinator/Chairman (three terms). I was a member of Metrowest and Boylston Chess Clubs. I served as Boylston Chess Club Board Member for several years, including a term as Clerk, and a Club Tournament Director. I am a Bridgewater State College graduate (political science major, history minor). 

“As former MACA President, I reported the problem that remains, that MACA lacks an appropriate investment portfolio. Over $40,000 sits in bank accounts earning on tenth of one percent (0.10%) interest.  The board has blocked investing, voted down my motions for an investment committee and to join Scottrade, and did not second my motion to buy 250 shares of Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO paid a dividend of 10.52%). In contrast to the current hands off approach, I am planning for MACA to have a balanced portfolio consisting of stocks, bonds, and local stocks and municipal bonds.

“Vote to put an independent, idea man as MACA Treasurer to take charge of MACA's financial affairs and reinvest MACA money for the positive good for chess and the Chess Horizons magazine.”

Candidate Statements for Board of Directors

Kenneth Belt (Incumbent):

                “I have been a member of the MACA Board, including one-time President, for almost 15 years. My participation brings civility, reasonability and an objective perspective to MACA proceedings.
The key issues before MACA arise from the constantly evolving challenges of the Internet Age to
stay atop the latest methodologies, while holding down its place in the mainstream of chess. My
background as a computer professional these past 35 years prepares me for this undertaking, and
I ask for your vote to keep me on the MACA Chess Board. It's your move.”

Stephen Dann (Incumbent):

“First joined then MSCA board at age 18 as college freshman at Northeastern, September, 1969. Produced first issue of Chess Horizons in October (now in 45th year). Worked with about 20 CH editors over the years and was founder and honorary life member of AUSCJ/CJA. Was local host organizer/hospitality of 1970 U.S. Open at Parker House Hotel and Prudential Center. Ran hundreds of amateur events from 1970 to 2000 enrolling 5,000+ MACA/USCF members (USCF affiliate CONE). After 10 years succeeded getting 501-c-3 federal educational status for MACA in 1980. Sunday columnist (www.telegram.com) since 1975. Volunteer career at www.LinkedIn.com.”

Incumbents Steven Frymer and George Mirijanian declined to make comments.

Dmitry Barash (Challenger):

“I’m chess player, parent, tutor, director, sponsor, and member of Scholastic Committee.I was Maryland champion, my rating 2300.I’m proud parent of one of the top 7^th graders in MA Anton Barash.I’m teaching kids chess for about 30 years.I was running scholastic tournaments.I’m running Chess Scholastic Grand Prix based on Matt Gosselin’s tournaments, and awarded winners for 5 years.You can see more details on my page https://sites.google.com/site/scholasticchessinma/

“I’m member of Chess Scholastic Committee for several years, and I’m glad to see raising interest in scholastic chess, and greater number of kids playing chess.I’m running for MACA board for the first time.”

Christopher Chase (Challenger):

“FIDE Master, Former MACA President, former Chess Horizons Editor, current Boylston Chess Foundation Board member, and tournament director, particularly active in running scholastic events.

“If elected, I hope that I can contribute to good and rational governance to MACA’s internal affairs.  I also hope to help bring Chess Horizons back to its former glory. In addition, I would like to really improve MACA’s tournament offerings.  I am more than willing to spend time and energy to make MACA better for all the state’s chess players. “

Edward Chiu (Challenger):

"I am running for a seat on the Board of Directors of MACA to raise awareness for emerging technologies in chess.  I would like to help the MA chess community better connect with each other and make the game more easily accessible.  Ideas I have include: leveraging social media to promote chess events and initiatives, utilizing mobile payment options at tournaments and transitioning to a paperless community (becoming more eco-friendly).  Let’s work together to bring chess to the next generation of players.  Please visit my Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/VoteEdwardforMACABoard;

Frida Kuzmin (Challenger):

“I was playing chess in Russia since I was 5 years old. After participating in different local, state, and international tournaments, I gained a title of Woman FIDE Master. While living in Los Angeles, CA I was an active member of a local Chess Club there. Here, in Massachusetts, I opened Frida Chess Club for kids. I have been conducting USCF Scholastic Chess Tournaments in Boston area, teaching kids to play chess in private school in Brighton. I want to make chess in MA more attractive and affordable. I would like to attract more girls to chess.  Vote for me!”

Maryanne Reilly (Challenger):

“I served as President of MACA for three years, 2007-2010.  I also served as Scholastic Coordinator during that time, and for several years prior, under the excellent tutelage of Gus Gosselin.  I run now because I would like to see MACA pay more attention to the needs of scholastic players and their parents. I welcome questions, at mcreilly2001@yahoo.com.  Thanks for your consideration.”

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Steve Frymer
MACA Board Member

Prize winners at the 24th Massachusetts G/60 Championship, held April 27th in Marlborough, Mass.

Open Section

1st-2nd IM David Vigorito, FM Steven Winer 3.5-0.5
Top Under 2200 Carissa Yip 3-1

Under 2000 Section

1st-3rd Michael Isakov, Robert Holmgren, Michael Yu 3-1

Under 1800 Section

1st Varun Palnati 4-0
2nd Oleg Poliannikov 3-1

Under 1600 Section

1st Danila Poliannikov 4-0
2nd-3rd Robert Babcock 3.5-0.5
2nd-3rd/Top Under 1400 Bernie Xu 3.5-0.5

Under 1200 Section

1st-2nd David Sigman, James Rao 4-0
Top Under 1000 Mark Chudnovsky 3-1

Bob Messenger and Steve Frymer directed.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

 The 24th Mass G/60 Championship online registration will be closed midnight tonight! Adv. Entries are published here: http://goo.gl/5T3vtY.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

http://www.tauntongazette.com/article/20140413/NEWS/140418366

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

The list is published here. 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Fellow Chess-Players,

Thank you all who came to participate in the NESA April G/30 One-Fund Benefit last weekend 4/5-4/6/2014. Apologies for the delay of this notice; it took some time to calculate how much $$$ we would donate to One-Fund. The final total is $130, including $30 from T-shirts and $100 from my matching donation to the fee revenue.

Our next NESA Tournament is tentatively scheduled for Saturday 5/10/14, 1:30-5:30 PM, 4-Round Swiss, G/30 d5.

We will see you again soon!

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.
NESA, USCF Chess Tournament Director

[--]

NESA April G/30 d5, Rated, Saturday 4/5/2014

# Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Tot Prize

1 Nicholas Sterling 12454027 1746 W5 W4 W2 W3 4
2 John R Archibald 15110208 812 W7 W3 L1 W4 3 1st
3 Niranjan Shankar 15313074 1101 W8 L2 W5 L1 2 3rd
4 Jason Xiong 15229224 701 W6 L1 W7 L2 2 2nd
5 Aaron Stanley Fairchild 15198084 381 L1 W6 L3 W8 2 $
6 Shreesh Nalatwad 15426675 unr. L4 L5 W8 W7 2 $
7 Joseph Mussalli 15420057 unr. L2 W8 L4 L6 1
8 Matthew Volfson 14711558 204 L3 L7 L6 L5 0

NESA April G/30 d5, Rated, Sunday, 4/6/2014

# Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Tot Prize

1 Steven Winer 12549813 2414 U--- H--- W2 W5 2½ H
2 Anish Kammila 14756510 854 W6 W4 L1 L3 2 1st
3 Nicholas Sterling 12454027 1746 U--- U--- W5 W2 2
4 Thomas Tongzhou Ha 15207334 774 D5 L2 L6 W6 1½ $
5 Akhil Kammila 14756490 714 D4 W6 L3 L1 1½ 2nd
6 Jason Xiong 15229224 701 L2 L5 W4 L4 1

NESA April G/30 d5, Unrated, Saturday 4/5/2014

# Name ID Rtng Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Tot Prize

1 Paul Sciaraffa 12297410 1827 W6 W5 W2 W3 4 1st
2 Yaroslav Mikhaylov unr. W4 W3 L1 B--- 3 2nd
3 Alan Song unr. W5 L2 W4 L1 2 3rd
4 Devesh Mani Posa 15240777 102 L2 W6 L3 U--- 1
5 Ronel Voshchin 15240694 371 L3 L1 D6 U--- ½
6 Luke Mussalli unr. L1 L4 D5 U--- ½

Nicholas Sterling
Chief TD

Prize winners at the Gus Gosselin Grade Championship, held March 9th in Marlborough, Mass.

Grades 8-12

1st Siddharth Arun 4-0
2nd-3rd Luke Lung, James Rao (9th grade) 3-1
Top 9th Grade Max Bennett 2-2
Top 8th Grade Gershon Gilman 2-2

Grade 7

1st Evan Meyer 4-0
2nd-3rd Alex Fauman, David McCabe 3-1

Grade 6

1st Eric Feng 4-0
2nd-5th Alexander Bao, Max Weinhaus, Andrew The, Bharath Heggadahalli 3-1

Grade 5

1st Sandra Shur 4-0
2nd-4th Michael Mi, Michael Yu, Amrit Subramanian 3-1

Grade 4

1st Maxwell Zhao 3.5-0.5
2nd-6th Gavin Randolph, Daniel Wang, Boshen Li, Jesse Liu, Madeleine Hung 3-1

Grade 3

1st Bernie Xu 4-0
2nd-4th Sammi Pan, Arnon Kuzmin, Benjamin Fauman 3-1

Grade 2

1st Dustin Liang 4-0
2nd-6th Nicholas Belous, Rachel Kuzmin, David Zhou, Rafael Pashkov, Aneesh Guda 3-1

Grades K-1

1st Derek Jin 4-0
2nd-3rd Winston Zhao, Derek Zhao 3.5-0.5
Top Kindergarten Evan Wei 3-1
Medals: David Katsman, William Palmer, Noah Brauner 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, Chris Bird, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

The Adv. Entries for the Gus Gosselin MA Grade Championship  is available now: click here for the GGG adv. entry list. 

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Article about Carissa Yip's attendance at this Chess Camp:

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/chess-schein-friedman-camp-brings-top-students-st-louis

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Prize winners at the Barry S. Spiegel Cup (Massachusetts individual scholastic championship) held February 9th in Marlborough, Mass.:

High School Section:
1st Mika Brattain 4-0
2nd Siddharth Arun 3.5-0.5
3rd Mateos Sahakian 3-1

Age 14 & Under Section:
1st-3rd Danny Angermeier (playoff winner), Evan Meyer, Carissa Yip 3-1

Age 11 & Under Section:
1st-3rd Brandon Wu, Suraj Ramanathan, Michael Yu 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section:
1st-3rd Bernie Xu, David Zhou, Derek Zhao 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.  Players finishing 1st or tied for 1st are state champions for their age group.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

 Adv. entries for the 2014 Spiegel Cup State Championship available here.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Prize winners at the Winter Team Challenge, held February 1st in Marlborough, Mass.

Grades K-12 Section:

1st Knights (Alex Fauman, Michael Isakov, Alan Sikarov, Anton Barash) 16.0
2nd Newton South (Nicholas Komarovsky, Michael Ostrovskiy, Winston Jiang, James Rao, Nishant Varma) 0.0

Grades K-6 Section:

1st The Four Knights (Eric Feng, Derek Jin, Andrew The, Boshen Li) 4-0
2nd Hastings (Richard Chen, David Sun, Daniel Zhou, David Zhou) 3-1
3rd-4th Gold Warriors (Evan MacLure, Daniel Wang, Luke Randolph, Gavin Randolph),
        NESA K-6 (Michael Yu, Brian Yin, Dustin Liang, Alexander Bao) 2.5-1.5

Medals for individual players: Nicholas Belous (Jedi Knights), Andrew Bistras (ACLS Tigers) 3-1

Grades K-3 Section:

1st NESA Challengers (Sammi Pan, Aaron Huang, John Archibald, Aadit Unniraman) 12.0
2nd Cabot School (Benjamin Fauman, Duncan Naylor, Desmond FitzGerald-Lara, Hernan FitzGerald-Lara) 10.0
3rd CCFB (Milo Somers, Adithya Sharma, Ali Abouhilal, Owen Zhang) 2.0

Tied teams are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, George Mirijanian and Steve Frymer.
 

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

Spiegel Cup invitation lists for 14U, 11U and 8U.
Invited players should send their confirmation to Steve Frymer [sfrymer (at) rcn (dot) com].
If an invited player is not coming please contact Steve Frymer immediately [781-862-3799].

Alternate players should inform Steve Frymer whether they are presently available to substitute for an invited player.
the 1st and 2nd alternates should provide a contact phone number, AND CONFIRM WHETHER THEY ARE WILLING
TO BE ONSITE ON 9 FEBRUARY. Note that an alternate could be called on Saturday evening [8 February] or early
Sunday morning [9 February]. If an invited player drops out during registration on Sunday morning the highest rated alternate
who is present at the hotel will be invited in.

No entry fee for 10 player invitationals though e-mail confirmation is requested. If an invited player fails to confirm
he/she is at risk of being replaced. Confirmations should be received no later than midnight 31 January.

Steve Frymer
chair
MACA scholastic committee

14&U
Evan Meyer    2079    Q1 winner
Henry Liu    1786    Q2 winner
Jason Tang    1899    Q3 winner
Alvin Tan    1880    Q4 winner
Anton Barash    1619    SCS winner

Mateos Sahakian    2053
Nithin Kavi    2043
Conway Xu    2027
Danny Angermeier    2013
Carissa Yip    1991
_______________________
Allen Wang    1821................................................alternate #1
Alex Fauman    1798.............................................alternate #2
Jeffrey Yao    1788................................................alternate #3
Michael Isakov    1754..........................................alternate #4
Sandeep Shankar    1666.....................................alternate #5


11&U
Max Zhao    1699    Q1 winner
Michael Yu    1618    Q2 winner
Eric Feng    1776    Q3 winner
Andrew The    1410    Q4 winner
Danila Poliannikov    1424    SCS winner

Brandon Wu    1828
Alex Yu    1765
Suraj Ramanathan    1671
Eddie Yi Ming Wei    1640
Lucy Cai    1629
_______________________
Michael Mi    1566..................................................alternate #1
Sandra Shur    1521...............................................alternate #2
Richard Chen    1474.............................................alternate #3
Eddie Wang    1457................................................alternate #4
Evan Maclure    1454..............................................alternate #5


8&U
Achyuta Rajaram    1292    Q1 winner
Nicholas Belous    907    Q2 winner
Derek Zhao    1115    Q3 winner
David Zhou    1135    Q4 winner
Arnon Kuzmin    1033    SCS winner

Derek Jin    1390
Dustin Liang    1215
Bernie Xu    1104
David Xie    904
John Archibald    863
_______________________
Joy Cao    852.........................................................alternate #1
Sammi Pan    840...................................................alternate #2
David Katsman    810.............................................alternate #3
Winston Zhao    786...............................................alternate #4
Aaron Huang    777................................................alternate #5

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

To everyone who participated in the Education Expo at the Boston Chess Congress,

      Thank you all abundantly who contributed to the 3rd annual Chess Education Expo organized by Massachusetts Chess Association this past weekend at the Hyatt Harborside Hotel.  The Expo took a great deal of effort to plan and assemble over the past three months, and I appreciate everyone's assistance enormously.   I have been catching up on some other urgent non-chess projects for the last few days that had to be put aside for the Expo and then frantically rushed to be completed afterward, so that is why this letter of gratitude is a bit tardy.

      To make a few accolades:

             1. First, hearty thanks to the Hyatt Hotel and Kendra, the Convention Manager, for providing us such a wonderful locale for the Expo.  The view lived up to its superlative reputation, and the thunderstorm we got to watch against the Boston skyline was tremendously exciting.    We commend the efficiency of the staff in helping us out, the superb cuisine at the nearby Harborside Grill, and the care that was taken to keep valuable possessions in the room secure.  I will soon be posting photographs on MACA's Facebook page.

             2. Second, let me thank Nathan Smolensky, President of MACA, and Stephen Dann and George Mirijanian, Directors of MACA, for manning the room for extended hours; and Bob Messenger, Treasurer of MACA who was also a Tournament Director of the Boston Chess Congress, for helping us spread the word through some marvelously improvised publicity.  Apparently the Expo had over 50 visitors on Sunday after its light attendance (around 20 stragglers) on Saturday.

             3. And finally, I thank Sharon Burtman for coming on Sunday to deliver her presentation on educating children in chess such as to inspire them for life.  I am sorry I could not be there in person, but I understand there was a large and appreciative crowd.

       The Education Committee of MACA will review the Expo, ups and downs, and make plans for our next event.  We understand and regret the short notice of some invitations that unfortunately prevented some of you (and others not contacted here) from attending who might have done so.  We also wish to be better organized about consignment of book vendors in the future to avoid the last-minute frenetic scramble - and drop-outs - that preceded this event.

       This Expo was the first one I came to and oversaw as Education Chair.  In my mind, it was still in its pilot stage.  I myself would like to expand the Expo's appeal next year to have many more lectures, vendors, chess education experts, software and website developers, and other invaluable and often overlooked providers of chess education on hand.  All of us deserve to receive recognition and have all of our combined service become far more conspicuous and appreciable for the chess-playing public.  In particular, parents of up-and-coming Scholastic players of noteworthy ability should be much more attuned to the tools out there.  Naturally, all of this will require far superior advance planning and organization than was in place this year, and I pledge to make that happen.

       If any of you would like to be involved in, and informed about, future chess educational events, please write back to confirm and we will keep you apprised of developments.

       On behalf of MACA and the Education Committee, I thank everyone for a successful Expo and look forward to having all of you, and many others, at our next, hopefully even better, Expo.

Nicholas P. Sterling, Ph.D.
MACA, Education Committee, Chair

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Board Member

Nicholas Sterling
MACA Correspondent

Prize winners at the 4th Spiegel Cup Qualifier, held January 4th at the BB&N school in Cambridge, Mass.

Age 14 & Under Section:

1st Alvin Tan 3.5-0.5

2nd Michael Isakov 3-1

3rd-4th Alex Fauman, Max Bennett 2.5-1.5

Age 11 & Under Section:

1st Andrew The 4-0

2nd-5th Michael Mi, Evan MacLure, Luke Randolph, David Sun 3-1

Age 8 & Under Section

1st-3rd David Zhou (playoff winner), John Archibald, Arnon Kuzmin 3-1

Novice Under 800 Section

1st-2nd Arvind Sridhar, William Kim 3.5-0.5

3rd-4th Eli Richmond, Anthony Wang 3-1

Novice Under 400 Section

1st Rachel Kuzmin 4-0

2nd-5th Noah Brauner, Holden Chalfant, Aidan Duncan, Senthil Sivakumar 3-1

Tied players are listed in tiebreak order.

The tournament was directed by Bob Messenger, Steve Frymer and Nathan Smolensky.

Bob Messenger
Chief TD

Adv. Entries for 4th Qualifier posted: http://goo.gl/eavx4I.

Tiffany Wang
MACA Webmaster