The year in chess started off with a bang as FM William Kelleher upset guest-of-honor GM Luke McShane, the British supertournament stalwart, at the Boston Chess Congress at the Harborside Hyatt in Boston, MA. The upset would end McShane’s hope of winning the tournament, even as he swept his remaining games for a 4/5 finish. Instead, first in the premier section went solely to GM Alexander Shabalov, who had 4.5 points out of five in a tournament which also featured GMs Alexander Ivanov, Daniel Raznikov, and Eric Hansen.

Unfortunately, the score of Kelleher’s triumph, which came from the first round in the accelerated schedule and was mired in time trouble, could not be recreated.

The Mass G/60 was conquered, as it seems so often to be, by GM Alexander Ivanov, who scored a 3.5/4. This was Ivanov’s second consecutive G/60 crown, and his fourth in the past five years. 

The New England Masters returned in late March, hosted by the Boylston Chess Foundation. Harvard student IM Darwin Yang took first in a formidable field which included GM Ivanov, IM Denys Shmelov, and FM Jacob Chudnovsky, who writes about the tournament later in this issue.

The 2016 Spiegel Cup Finals saw the fourth consecutive victory by FM Mika Brattain in the High School section, completing a sweep for his years of eligibility. Raymond Xu took the 8 & Under section, Bernie Xu and David Zhou shared the 11 & Under, and NM Carissa Yip conquered the 14 & Under. 

Speaking of FM Yip, the Andover wunderkind made her first visit to the U.S. Women’s Championship earlier this year, and delivered a formidable performance which included a victory over GM Irina Krush! We’ll be sure to check on Carissa and her increasingly incredible feats in the next issue of Chess Horizons. 

The 2nd annual Massachusetts Girls’ Chess Championship was held at the Boylston Chess Club on May 2nd, and concluded with Joy Cao winning the trophy and National Girls’ Invitational Tournament qualification after a blitz playoff. 

And finally, congratulations to Ryan Wang, perhaps the newest superstar in the Massachusetts chess world. Young Ryan, seeded fifth with a rating of 1363, took clear first place at the K-1 National Championship in Nashville, Tennessee. His 7/7 was the only perfect score in a massive field.