Tuesday, July 30, 2013

REUBENS/LANDEY COMPLETED: PROFESSOR SAGE WINNER OF 14 PLAYER, 5 ROUND EVENT!

J. Timothy Sage, Professor Physics, Northeastern University, Boston,
wins the splendid 5 round qualifier en route to the BCC Championship this Fall.
Professor Timothy Sage plays black vs Frank Wang, Round 5.
These players were the top seeds. The game was drawn.
Professor Sage scored a respectable 4.5/5 to win the event.
Frank scored 3 points to share 3-6th place.
Dan Schmidt plays Nathan Smolensky, BCC/MACA President, Round 5.
Dan emerged with 3.5 points to capture clear 2nd in the event.
Nathan scored 3 points to share 3-6th place.
Tim O'Malley vs Frank Wang, Round 4.
Wang, O'Malley, Astrachan and Smolensky scored 3 points
to share 3-6th place.
(background): Brandon Wu vs Ted Cross.
Upper-right: Nathan Smolensky thinking . . . 
Ed Astrachan (right) plays Brandon Wu. Ed scored 3 points
to share 3-6th place in this event. Brandon, Weaver Adams 
Co-Champion, scored 2 points, good for a +11 rating hike.
Dan Schmidt, black vs Joel Wald, Weaver Adams Co-Champion, 
Round 4. Wald finished with 1.5 points, good for a +4 rating hike.
(Background, center): Jason Tang.
Standing: Timothy Sage, Ted Cross, Jeff Weinstein.
Oliver Traldi, black vs Jonathan Lee, Round 1.
Battle of the Hats: "General" Terrence Fricker, 
plays black against Ed Astrachen, Round 3.
Brandon Wu plays black vs Natasha Christiansen, Round 3.
Nathan Smolensky vs Jason Tang, Round 1.
This was a 14 player event.
An excellent job done by TD Bernardo Iglesias.
See you tomorrow for BCC Rapids.

BCC: FREE BEGINNER INSTRUCTION

TODAY! THIS EVENING! 7:00 - 8:30 PM AT THE CLUB
NM Alex Cherniack will offer free chess instruction.
Alex is 3-time BCC Club Champion
with over 30 years teaching experience.
National Master Alex Cherniack instructs Rebecca
last Tuesday, July 23rd.
Come to the Boylston Chess Club.
Bring all the questions you have
but were afraid to ask.
Now's the time to ask!
See you tonight!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

BCC $5 OPEN: NEW ATTENDANCE RECORD AT 45 PARTICIPANTS // IN 3 SECTIONS // 18 KIDS U12

The chess stars are here. This photo is priceless.
This is the most well-attended event to date this year.
THE $5 OPEN: IN 3 SECTIONS: OPEN / U1950 / U1650
RESULTS: OPEN SECTION
Tian Rossi, black vs NM Andrew Wang, Round 2.
Wang swept the field with a perfect 4.0. Rossi took clear 2nd with 3 points.
A tough pairing: NM Wang v NM Godin: Round 4.
Godin took clear 3rd with 2.5 points.
IM Marc Esserman vs Scott Didham, Round 2.
Didham shared 4-8th place with 2 points.
(background): Arthur Nugent vs Natasha Christiansen;
Nithin Kavi v Bowen Wang, both with 2 points.
Conway Xu vs Joe Kelly. Xu scored 2 points to share 4-8th place.
Veteran chess player, expert Arthur Nugent plays
Natasha Christiansen in Round 2.
Conway Xu v Joe Kelly in the back.
The Open Section had 14 players.
U1950 SECTION:
Loring Loretti faces off with Alvin Tan and his bag of tricks, Round 1.
Loretti, Tan, David Thomas and Rohan Shankar shared 1-4th, with 3 points each.
David Thomas plays James Zhou in Round 3.
Background: Rohan Shankar v Eric Feng;
Maxwell Zhao, black vs James Hankard;
Sandeep Vadlamudi v Harold Dondis.
Loring Loretti, black vs Harold Dondis, Round 1.
A special shout-out "hello" to Harold, who is
the oldest living active amateur chess player on the planet
at 91. (If anyone can refute this statement, please 
provide proof and send in a "comment" to this post.)
There were 14 players in the U1950 Section.
U1650 SECTION:
Stephen Savage won clear 1st with 3.5 points.
Here he is playing black vs Evan Maclure who shared 2-3rd 
with Sandeep Shankar, each with 3 points.
Postmortem: Lucy Cai, black vs Jeff Weinstein: draw.
Lucy, Jeff and Steve Stepak shared 4-6th place with 2.5 points.
Also in this photo, Sammi Pan (left) and Stella Pan, 
Sammi's 6 yr old sister "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL" girl.
Background: in cap: Evan MacLure's dad.
There were 17 players in the U1650 Section.
Youngest player in the tournament: 6 yr old Derek Jin
who scored 1.5 points, increasing his rating by 160 points.
Bravo Derek!
BCC Skittles Room: 45 participants plus 20 parents, friends
and relatives of the players. "Full House."
GOOD THINGS COME IN 2s
Eddie Wei's younger brother, 4 yr old Evan Wei and dad.
BCC knights of the Round (ok rectangular) Table:
Boshen Li, Jason Tang, Brandon Wu, Eric Han, Nithin Kavi (hand)
and Conway Xu. Future chessmasters of the Club.
BEST PORTRAIT PHOTOS AWARD TO SAMMI PAN:
Brandon Wu            Photo: SammiPan
(This is the best photo I have ever seen of Brandon)
I trust it will be published in a chess biography about
Brandon when he has attained the glory
of his chess talent and prowess.
Brandon is self-taught.
So too is SammiPan when it comes
to photography.
Eric Feng                                   Photo: SammiPan
Joe Perl                                        Photo: SammiPan
Internal Momentum: James Hankard
Photo: SammiPan
Three dads Messieurs Zhao, Wu and Wei, wired online,   
while their children perform chess brilliancies.
Endgame: TD Bernardo Iglesias watches the 
tense moments of 2 endgames, Round 2:
Eric Feng v Alvin Tan; Maxwell Zhao 
v Shachindra Chandrashekar.
Bernardo did a superb job directing
the large event and the 18+ kids.
Parting shot:
                                                                                                           Photo: Steve Stepak
All young chess prodigies have their chess pets.
Here Winston Zhao thinks while his LionKing observes.
[Remember my photo of GM Nigel Short with his
pet pig, in his match with GM Lev Alburt in Foxboro, 1985:
published in Chess Horizons (?)]

Friday, July 26, 2013

Sahakian, Times Triumph at Time-Handicap Blitz

This past Sunday, the Boylston hosted a very different kind of blitz tournament - with time handicaps based on rating, it would level the playing field, making for an exciting and unpredictable event. 

The event was a round robin, with eleven players participating. When the smoke cleared, the second seed, club champion and NM Lawyer Times, and the seventh seed, Mateos Sahakian, were tied for 1st with excellent 9/10 scores. A time-handicap bullet playoff for the title ensued, and Sahakian triumphed, becoming the BCC's first Time Handicap Blitz Champion!

More event highlights: 

 Sahakian - Schmidt
 Chiu - D. Barash
 A. Barash - Rabin
 Sikarov - Nicholas
 Schmidt - Times
Zeldow - Hoy
  

Join us again this weekend for another round of BCC fun, with our $5 Open Saturday followed by our Members' picnic, this Sunday at noon at Danehy Park in Cambridge.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

BCC CHESS FORECAST: GREAT CHESS CELEBRATION $5 OPEN // FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY


Sunshine Chess
BCC $5 Open: Saturday, July 27, 2013
Fun for the Whole Family
The facts:
4SS 60/SD + 5" DELAY
More Fun than you can imagine!
Get your entry-fee in by Thursday July 25th
BCC Members and Non-Members $5 cash/check
PayPal by Friday 11:59PM
or pay $10 at the door.
Prizes in the form of free entries to
BCC future events 
(exceptions noted)
Help Support your favorite chess club!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

BCC SUMMER CHAMPIONSHIP: RICH AND DEEP // INTENSE AND DECISIVE // FAST AND FURIOUS

Jesse Nicholas: Summer Champion
Convincingly, Jesse held his ground with 3.5 points and a
USCF Rating accomplishment of 2199! Bravo, Jesse.
Jesse Nicholas vs BCC Champion, NM Lawyer Times, R3.
Lawyer had to settle for 2-3rd place In Open Section with 3 points
sharing with Scott Didham, also with 3 points.
Seth Lieberman vs Scott Didham, Round 1.
Background: Nithin Kavi vs Mark Neale.
Conway Xu, 50 percent in event, here, black 
vs Scott Didham, Round 4.
NM Lawyer Times vs Nithin Kavi, Round 4.
Kavi held level with 2/4 in Open Section.
Battle of the Jasons: Tang vs Spector.
Spector clinched 4th place with 2.5 points.
Tang held even with 2/4.
Decisive Game: Round 4 // Rohan Shankar vs Imran Hendley.
Hendley emerged undefeated with 3.5 points to become
U1800 Summer Champion.  Rohan had 2.5 points,
good for 3-5th place.
Decisive Game: Imran Hendley vs Bret Michael Zeldow, R2: draw.
Zeldow was also undefeated with 3 points good for sole
possession of 2nd place in the U1800 Section.
Rohan Shankar black vs Ned Kerwin, Round 1.
Ned broke even with 2/4 points in the U1800 section.
(Background): Imran Hendley black, vs Jeff Weinstein.
Open Section, Round 3 : Scott Didham vs Mateos Sahakian;
Nithin Kavi vs Tom Phan (playing his first USCF tournament
game, ever. Welcome Tom to the BCC and
may you have much success and enjoyment playing
chess with us!); Conway Xu vs Mark Neale;
Upper Right: Jason Tang playing Jason Spector.
U1800 Table: Bret Zeldow black vs Ned Kerwin;
Matthew Manzo black vs Sandeep Shankar.
Matthew scored 2.5 points to share 3-5th place
with Sandeep Shankar and Stephen Savage.
(Further back): Lucy Cai black vs Jeff Weinstein.
Long View: BCC Summer Championship, Round 1.
Eddie Wei black vs Alexander Shi Jin;
Sandeep Shankar vs Larry Jin;
Stephen Savage black vs Tony DiNosse.
Matthew Manzo vs Richard Alan Chen; 
Imran Hendley black vs Jeff Weinstein
Sandeep Shankar vs Larry Jin; Bret Zeldow vs Lucy Cai;
Seth Lieberman vs Scott Didham; Nithin Kavi vs Mark Neale; 
Mateos Sahakian vs Tom Phan; Lawyer Times vs Jason Tang;
Jesse Nicholas plays Conway Xu.
There were 28 participants in this event.
Bernardo Iglesias, TD (lower left, standing) observes the final moments 
of the Round 2 game: Larry Jin vs Jeff Weinstein. (Left to Right):
David Zhu Sun, Sandeep Shankar and Lucy Cai, observe.
(Upper left, walking): Rohan Shankar; (sitting by laptop) Chaoyu Tang, Jason's dad.
Jeff Weinstein vs Lucy Cai, Round 4: draw!
Background: Sandeep Shankar vs Matthew Manzo;
Ned Kerwin vs Bret Zeldow.
Round 2, U1800 Section: Tony DiNosse, black vs Lucy Cai;
David Zhu Sun vs Alexander Shi Jin;
Jeff Weinstein plays Larry Jin.
                                                                          Photo: Bernardo Iglesias
Theoretical Battle: Steve Stepak vs David Zhu Sun.
King's Indian Defense, Saemisch Variation.
Two weeks in a row!
BCC events to be ready for:
Tomorrow, Monday, Round 4 of 5: Reubens/Landey
Wednesday: Rapids 3 Rounder; TNS and Saturday: $5/Open!