Miscellaneous Scholastic Reports

First of all I would like to give MACA member Steve Shea a BIG THANK YOU for obtaining the Fall River Heritage Park (Battleship Cove) site for Scholastic Chess. Steve and his friends have done a great job in establishing a chess base with the help of chess sets from the Living Memorial Chess Fund.

Twenty-four players showed up to play in the 5th Fall River Scholastic chess tournament. Three winners in the K-3 group were tied with scores of 3-1. The tie break results were, 1st Lee Holstein of North Easton, 2nd Jacob Modest of Jamaica Plain and 3rd Daniel Holstein of North Easton. Medal winners in the group were Kathleen Coccio of Bristol, RI and Courtney Almedia of Fall River.

Mitchell Edward of Orleans won the 1st place trophy with a score of 3 1/2-1/2. Aaron Pavao of Fall River tied Jonathan Poggi of Norton, both had 3 points. The tie break gave Jonathan 2nd place and Aaron 3rd. Shantel Paquette of Fall River received a medal for her effort.

The 7-12 section had a two way tie for 1st with scores of 3 1/2-1/2. Eric Burgess of Fall River became the 1st place winner over Jon Charles Ferris of Fall River who got the 2nd place trophy. Eric Ferreria of Fall River won the 3rd place trophy. Katherine of Little Compton, RI won a medal.

Frank Vogel of RI and Gus Gosselin of Malden directed the tournament. Frank brought his computer and turned in the rating report. Many of the children where from the Fall River Library Chess Club.

K-3  Section

1st    Ben Smith of Melrose with a score of 4-0
2nd   Mattew Arbesfeld of Lexington with a score of 3-1
3rd    Reilly Nathans of Newton with a score of 2 1/2

4-6 Section

1st Joe Liang of Boston with a score of 3 1/2-1/2 on a tie break.
2nd Chris Williams of Brighton with a score of 3 1/2 -1/2 on a tie break.
3rd Alex Kogan of Brighton with a score of 3-1.

The events were organized and directed by Gus Gosselin

The event was organized and directed by Gus Gosselin of Malden, MA.

Pat Sciacca of South Lawrence and Tom Zuppa of North Billerica won 1st to 2nd with scores of 3 1/2-1/2. U1800 was a two way tie between Kent Leung of Lynn and Paul Sciaraffa of Avon with equal scores of 2 1/2-1 1/2. The Under 1400 section was won by juniors Nikita Konovalchuk of Natick and Amrit Gupta of Newtonville with scores of 2-2. junior Aaron Sciore (644) of Newton won the under 1200 section. The event was played in Malden at the American Legion Post on May 21, 2000.  Steve Frymer and Gus Gosselin directed.

Eighty students from over twenty Rhode Island Schools played in the Greater Providence Youth Chessfest on Saturday, April 8, 2000.  The students enjoyed four rounds of chess which culminated in certificates, medals and trophies.  One parent remarked "this is great, my children play at home, but they rarely get to meet other children who play chess."  Not only were parents pleased with the event, but the Tournament represented the success which is possible when volunteers pool their efforts. Members of the USCF, The Providence Public Libraries, the Living Memorial Chessfund and Rhode Island Chess Association each contributed materials as well as valuable time and expertise.  The children who participated in this event were primarily from the Providence area, although several children were from neighboring towns also participated.  The event was a wonderful opportunity for children with diverse backgrounds to find common ground at the chess board.  Several of these children currently participate in the "Volunteers in Providence Schools" (VIPS) chess clubs which are run in the Providence Public Libraries. The event provided encouragement for these children and inspired them to continue their study in Chess.

Paul E. Taylor

The Greater Providence Youth Chessfest was one of the greatest chess tournament to take place in Rhode Island and it would not have taken place without Paul E. Taylor.  It is very exciting that 80 children came to play chess and have fun.  If you fall down in Rhode Island you get to touch all four sides, so 80 is a great number.  In my traveling around Providence their have a big inner-city like Boston and these are the children that have to be reached.  Chess has that ability to modified behavior. 

Karen Gregory of the VIPS and her crew did a great job in publicizing the event, obtaining a site and have food and juice on hand for the children. 

A note of thanks go to the numerous directors who did the pairings for each section, like Howard Cook of Cumberland, Jim Della Selva of North Providence, Robert Markelewicz of Cranston, Frank Vogel of North Kingston and Gus Gosselin of Malden. 

The "Living Memorial Chess Fund" has been very supportive of chess for children in Rhode Island but takes people like Paul to make it work.

Next years event will be bigger!!  Might beat out its name sake in Massachusetts.

Thirty-five players captured the Burger King on Moody in Waltham for four about four hours on March 19, 2000. The parents and children had a great time. Many of the children wore Burger King hats including yours truly.

The winners in the 7-12 grade group were 1st place Chris Estremera of Boston, 2nd place AJ Rice of Newton, and 3rd place Alex Lee of Natick.

The elementary section of the tournament was won by Nikita Konovvalchuk of Natick with a score of 3 1/2 to 1/2, finishing 2nd was Mark Rice of Newton with a score of 3-1. The third place winner was Caleb Comptois of Hubbardston with a score of 3-1 on a tie break. Joe Bennett of Hubbardston and Michael Perchonok of Brookline of each won medals with scores of 3-1.

Nathan Reilly of Newton won the first place trophy in the primary section with a strong showing by scoring 4-0. Finishing second was Xander Frantz of Newton with a score of 3-1. Matthew Arbesfeld of Lexington finished 3rd on a tie break with a score of 3-1.

Peter Lee of Natick and Mary Murphy of Newton provided a lot of help to make this event run smoothly. The event was organized and directed by Gus Gosselin of Malden, MA.

Swampscott High from the NE won the High School Section.N (10-12)
Cambridge Rindge and Latin from the NE won the Junior High Section. (7-9)
Sage School from the SE won the Elementry section. (4-6)
Harvard Elementry from Central won the Primary section. (K-3)