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NC Girls State Championships - 27 March 2010

• by Jessica Martin
• Scholastic Vice President
• Cross Table
• Over the Chessboard

Girls from all over the state of North Carolina came to Charlotte's Myers Park Traditional Elementary school to play for a $500 Scholarship to college and 20 trophies and medals. We broke last year's record of 32 with 46 girls! This is so great. Clearly we can get more to play, but the turnout was much better this year. Check out our photos to see your young ladies in action over the chessboard! Charlotte was most represented, but Durham, Boone, Asheville, Wilson, and Winston-Salem among other cities were also present. We were so lucky to have Laura Lee, number one ranked woman in NC, join us for an inspiring speech and game review to start our day. Ms Lee currently teaches chess at CYCC on weekends while also going to college.

The top section was very difficult. We were fortunate to have Rifeng Xia (Wendy) a 1900 FIDE rated exchange student play in the top section, along with 1700+ rated girls: Brittney DeWitt, Indira Puri (last year's winner), and Grace Campbell. The section included 14 players with most over 1000 and several brave u1000 girls. The u600 players had more than 30 participants, many of whom especially appreciated the face painting, and many more who along with the fun will likely have to compete in the Championship section next year.

1st place Winners: In the top section: Grace Campbell with 3.5 out of 4 wins the $500 scholarship to college! This is just one month after her brother Will Campbell won the 1st place scholarship at the NC State Scholastics amongst high schoolers! Go Campbells!! In the U600 Section, Jesse Coward and Lily Burdick both went 4 and 0, and Jesse won on tiebreaks! Impressive! Complete results will be up on the USCF soon. This tournament would not have been as punctual or fun without the help of Bill DeArmey who helped TD the floor, and Sarah Sauer and the other moms who painted faces between rounds. Thank to you to all volunteers and parents who support women's chess! It takes a village, as they say...

For more pictures and article updates, check the Over the Chessboard site.

Raleigh Russian School Scholastic - 20 March 2010

• by Gary Maltzman
• Find the full report at Triangle Chess

"Twenty-three students showed up for the 6th tournament at the Raleigh Russian School on Saturday, March 20th. Each of the five sections had a clear winner with a perfect score of 3-0. The individual winners were: Cheri Agner from Wendell Middle, Divyansh Devnani from Davis Drive Elementary, Sravya Kuchibhotla from Morrisville Elementary, Nikil Sarin from Turner Creek Elementary, and Luke Henderson from Raleigh Montessori. The First Place Team award went to the squad from Davis Drive Elementary."

TACO LX - 20 March 2010

Despite missing several regulars, a healthy turnout of twenty-seven players converged on south Raleigh for TACO LX on March 20th, 2010. With only three entries in the top section, it was merged with the under 1800 section to form an 18-player section. Scott Baldwin and Stephen Forest shared first with two and a half points. (It should be noted that there were no perfect scores going into the final round thanks to accelerated pairings and a number of draws.) Mark Chaves laid claim to the Under 1400 section with a perfect three points. Jeff Jones and jon Achelpohl served as co-TDs on behalf of the Raleigh Tournament Chess Club.

The Cross Table

• Jeff Jones
• Editor North Carolina Gambit
• Web Manager- Raleigh Tournament Chess Club
• www.ncchess.org/rtcc

2010 NC Western Regional HS Tournament - 13 March 2010

• by John Thomas

There were 32 players at Newton-Conover HS representing 9 different schools competing in the various classes (1A being the smallest and 4AA being the largest. All high schools in regions 5,6,7,and 8 were sent an invitation. The state wide version will be May 22. All NC high schools in all 8 regions will be invited. The tournament was directed by Mr. Denver Owens. He was assisted by Senior TD John Thomas.

Team Awards:

• 4A:
  1. Alexander Central (Taylorsville)
  2. Watauga HS (Boone)
• 3A:
  1. Hibriten (Lenoir)
  2. Hunter Huss (Gastonia)
• 2AA:
  1. West Caldwell HS
• 2A:
  1. Newton Conover
• 1A:
  1. Thomas Jefferson Academy (Charter School)

21st Western NC HS REGIONAL Crosstable

Individuals standings:

a student must be number 1 in their class or have a 50% score an award or have a 2 1/2 score for a trophy.

• 4A:
1. Rifeng Xia (Watauga) was (4-0; She is FIDE rated)
2. Michael Garvin (Alexander) (3-1)
3. Justin Hampton, David Bolick, Kue Vang, and Chace Carswell
• 3A:
• Tied for first through third
• Josh McMenemy (Hibriten), Larry Kincaid (Hunter Huss), and Douglas Terry (Hibriten)
• 4th - Will Long of Hibriten.
• 2AA:
1. Matt Embler (1738), of West Caldwell went 4-0
2. Nathan Maltba of West Caldwell
• 2A:
• All these students are from Newton Conover
• Tied for 1st - Jordan Joseph (1513), Tim Tompkins, and Gabriel Crider
• Tied for 4th: Mark Keezer, Quinten Schleyer, Scott McLaughlin, and Rob Rowe
• 1A:
1. Clayton Earle
2. Joshua Bempah was second.

Asheboro Open 55 - 6 March 2010

Tom Hales has posted the complete results for TAO 55.

William Campbell wins K-12 Championship! -- 27-28 February

Cross Table

Sixth grader William Campbell of Statesville ran the table against all the big kids at the North Carolina Scholastic Championship.

His 5-0 score included two key victories on Sunday. First he defeated defending champ David High. He followed that by defeating Eric Noden, an eighth grader who had quite a tournament himself and was 4-0 going into this final round match up. Will wins the $1500 scholarship, but because he is not yet a high school student, he doesn't qualify for the Denker High School Tournament of Champions. That honor goes to 9th grader Joshua Mu, who came in clear second with a 4 1/2 score. A grand total of 452 players competed for the titles and the hardware. More to come soon on this event.

Tom Hales has posted Will's games. Read Tom's message in the NCCA Forum.

Reverse Angle 17 - 27 February 2010

by Charles Carerros

Even with the loss of all the NC Scholastic players to Greensboro, the Reverse Angle 17 drew 35 players from three states including two new members to the NCCA. Every section found difficult pairings in the final round with the winners in the two top sections being determined in games where the opponents had less than five minutes on their clocks. Cross Table

Pictures of all the players.

TACO LIX - 20 February 2010

by Jeff Jones

Taco LIX drew out 29 players to the Caraleigh Fellowship Hall on 20 February, 2010. FM Ron Simpson claimed his 17th TACO title by winning the "En Fuego" section. William LeFew claimed top honors in the "Spicy". Eric Lindauer debuted victoriously in the "Mild" section. Jeff Jones organized the event on behalf of the Raleigh Tournament Chess Club. Jon Achelpohl assisted. The Crosstable can be found at uschess.org/msa/ The next TACO will be 20 March, 2010.

Reynaldo Diaz crowned Champion at TAO 54! - 13 February 2010

by Tom Hales

"Winter weather wielded a wallop, but thirty intrepid players just wouldn't take "snow" for an answer this month! The Asheboro Open 54 proceeded as planned, hosting determined players from across the Old North State." Complete Report

KUDRIN WINS LAND OF THE SKY - 29-31 January 2010

photos courtesy of Tom Hales

Crosstable

GM Sergey Kudrin of Boston won the Open section of the 2010 Land of the Sky with a perfect 5-0 score. He defeated GM Gregory Kaidanov in an exciting Dragon Sicilian to clinch the title. Clear second was GM Alex Ivanov. NM Craig Jones was the top NC finisher with 3.5.

In the Amateur Section North Carolinians Gary Hardin and Tianqi (Steven) Wang, along with Georgia's Robert Roszkowiak tied for 1st with 4.5 The Booster section also ended in a 3-way tie among Bruce Rau and Dana Daves of North Carolina and Robert Hydzik of Tennessee.

Tim Staley of Georgia won the U1200 secion. The top NC finsiher was Yu Wang.

One hundred and sixty one players braved the elements to get into Asheville for the event. Once there the snow didn't matter and Land of the Sky once again lived up to its reputation as the place to be for the best chess in America in late January. Full report coming soon.

Gary Newsom,
NCCA President

TACO 58 - 16 January 2010

by Jeff Jones

The new format yields a big crowd at TACO LVIII. 44 players from all over eastern North Carolina converged in Raleigh for the revamped Triangle Area Chess Open LVIII on January 16th, 2010.

FM Ron Simpson and David Noden shared top honors in the 16 player "En Fuego!" (Open) section. The win was Simpson's 16th TACO and defending champion Noden's third. Gary Maltzman topped the "Spicy" (under 1800) section, while Austin Liu set the pace in the "Mild" (under 1400) section. Jeff Jones organized and directed TACO LVIII on behalf of the Raleigh Tournament Chess Club. Jon Achelpohl assisted. More details will follow with the upcoming Gambit.

Crosstable

Asheboro Open 53 - 09 January 2010

by Tom Hales

The bitter cold spell gripping North Carolina gave way to some sizzling chess this month! Thirty-two of our state's finest players refused to hibernate, and instead braved the cold for a day of friendly competition Asheboro-Style. Total cash prizes awarded were $690.00, for an over 86% payout. Here is the crosstable.

You will find more information, photos and games at Asheboro Chess

The Statesville Skewer - 02 January 2010

by Mike Williams

The first tournament report of 2010 is in. Mike Williams sends a link to his excellent report on the Statesville Skewer.

Southern Scholastics December 12-13th, 2009

All eyes were focused on West Charlotte High School in Charlotte for the twenty-second running of the Southern Scholastics Championship, which has become the state's second biggest event, behind only the State Scholastics.

Individual Section Champions were as follows:
K-12 =1st David Spencer, Olympic
          Robin Yopp, South Meck
K-8   1st Tianqi Wang, JM Robinson
      2nd Justin Yang, Metro
K-5   1st Alex Tong, Villa Heights
     =2nd Joshua Holcombe, Smith Academy
          Lloyd Liu, Barringer
          Christopher Pfuhl, Smith Academy
K-3   1st Alex Chu, Wingate Park
     =2nd Emery Tran, Barringer
          Ethan Yen

In the team competition, the winners were:
K-12   Myers Park H S
K-8    JM Robinson M S
K-5    Villa Hieghts Elementary
K-3    Barringer Elementary

Lenoir High School

December 10th, 2009 - Photo by John Thomas

Twelve players trekked to Lenoir High School on December 5 to compete in the most recent Lenoir Open. The event was G/40 and the players competed in two sections

The top section was won by West Caldwell High senior Matt Embler, who won with a perfect 3-0 score. There was a tie for second between James Johnson III and John Simonson, who came in with 2 points each.

The team trophy was won by West Caldwell HS.

Spurrier and Hogue win at Asheboro

December 10th, 2009 - Photos by Tom Hales

Thirty three players showed up at the Asheboro Mall for a little Christmas shopping and a lot of chess.

Crosstable

The top section was split by Robert Spurrier of Kernersville and Tanner Hogue of Chapel Hill. Pre tourney favorite NM Maurice Dana went down to a first round defeat at the hands of Bob's son, Nick Spurrier.

The middle section ended in at tie at 2.5 between Josh Taylor and Grace Campbell. The lower section produced the only clear winner of the day, as Yimo Chen came through with a perfect score. Robert King was second at 2.5

The lower section produced the only clear winner of the day, as Yimo Chen came through with a perfect score. Robert King was second at 2.5

Simpson and Mabe Share Greater Charlotte Championship

By Gary Newsom
December 7th, 2009

A grand total of 77 players braved the early winter chill and converged on the campus of UNCC Charlotte to compete in the Greater Charlotte Championship, held on December 5-6. Four masters were present to compete for the guaranteed $2400 prize fund, headed by FM Ron Simpson of Raleigh. He was joined by NM Chris Mabe of Charlotte, NM Phillip Lamby of Columbia, SC, and NM Klaus Pohl of Greeneville, SC.

crosstable

The Open Section was won by FM Simpson and NM Mabe who came in with 4-1 scores. Third place was won by Charlotte high schooler Dominique Myers, whose 3.5 score included sending Mabe to his only defeat of the event. The U2000 prize was won by Patrick McCartney with 3 points. Also noteworthy was the performance of Mladen Pauler, a Charlottean by way of Bosnia, who just last week played his first USCF rated game at the Queen City Chess Club. He also came in with 3 points.

In the U1800 section, Charlotte's JP Flynn and Greensboro's Reynaldo Diaz agreed to a hard fought last round draw and tied for 1st with 4-1. Third place was shared between two Charlotte youth; Ken Chu and Joe Biernacki. The Under 1600 prize was a tie with Ben Blair and Jonathan Sarasua sharing the honors.

The U1400 Section saw the only clear winner with Norm Pruitt continuing his recent winning ways by cruising to a 4.5 score. Second place was a tie between Praveen Suthaharan of Greensboro and Windy Gatlin of Charlotte. Michael Boone won the U1200 prize with a 3.5 score. All the adult sections were directed by the tag team of STD Tim Champion and CTD Wing Chu.

In the scholastics section, Lloyd Liu won the K-12 division and Eddie Lancaster prevailed in the K-4 section. The scholastic was directed by LTD Fabio Hurtado.

As advertised the tournament paid out the guaranteed $2400 prize fund plus gave out 10 nice trophies in the scholastics section. The numbers didn't allow us to break even, but we at Queen City Chess were very proud of the event and will be happy to put it on again next year. It combined great playing conditions, fantastic competition, and a high level of sportsmanship and camaraderie. And that is what amateur chess is all about.

In addition, this event accomplished something that was envisioned when the QCCA began. A system has been put in place to determine an official yearly champion of the Charlotte metro area. Six players qualified from this event to compete in a round robin for the title of "Greater Charlotte Champion". The players were NM Chris Mabe, Dominique Myers, Gary Newsom, Patrick McCartney, Mladen Pauler, and Dan Liu. This event will be contested on consecutive Tuesday nights in February at the Queen City Chess Club's weekly meeting.

Thanks from the QCCA for all who participated

Mabe and Simpson Share a TACO

NM's Chris Mabe and Ron Simpson won three games and drew a hard fought battle with each other to tie for first in the Top Section of the TACO in Raleigh on Nov 21. Larry Williams and Gordon Ray split the class prize.

In the lower Section, Norm Pruitt kept his TACO all to himself by sweeping with a 4-0 score. Strong performances were also turned in by Henry Johnson and NCCA 1st Vice President Walter High, each with three.

Lenoir Open

A grand total of 40 players competed in the Lenoir Open on Saturday, November 14. Section winners were Randy Lovelace, Steven Sauer, and Luis Gonzales. West Caldwell HS won the scholastic team section, which also drew schools from Guilford County and Johnson City, Tn (!). John Thomas and Randy Lovelace directed.

Mabe Wins 2009 North Carolina Grand Prix

In an exciting finish that went down to the last game, Charlotte NM Chris Mabe has won the 2009 North Carolina Grand Prix, taking home a check of over $400! The Grand Prix came down to the final event, the NC Open. Chris needed to place in the points and ahead of Raleigh NM Ron Simpson in order to win. Needing a last round win against Expert David Erb in order to clinch the Grand Prix for himself, Ron fought valiantly to win but David was up to the challenge and held the draw in a complex ending.

The Under 1800 prize was won by Brian Moore. Under 1600 was taken by Kevin Chen, and the Under 1400 prize was won by William LeFew. (Please send your mailing addresses to gary.newsom@queencitychess.com and I will send out the checks.) So ends a successful first year of the Grand Prix. With the changes in points calculation to level the playing field; and our new sponsorship with ChessCentral, look for the 2010 Grand Prix to be even bigger and better.

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