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Huntsville Chess Club Information

20180410 – Tournament Results and Misc Updates

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Free, Unrated Tournament Results

Congratulations to William Cazier for taking clear first in Monday’s free, unrated tournament! Thanks to Willie Sandifer for serving as Chief TD for these events. It really helps to keep things organized and ensure that players are paired according to their skill level.

PlacePtsName
13.0William
22.0Aaron
32.0Jackson
42.0Noah
52.0Rodney
61.0Clayton
71.0Derick
81.0Clifton
91.0Parker
100.0Mostafa
110.0Romeo

Huntsville Challenge

Today (4/10) is the last day to register and pay the early registration fee for the tournament. After today, it will be $10 more on-site. Sign up now! Lots of HCC folks have already registered. Let’s make sure one of our members brings home the prizes in both sections!
Email caesarchess@gmail.com or huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com with any questions you have. For tournament details, click here. Caesar has also started accepting PayPal payments to his email above, so you don’t have to remember to stop by the ATM before the tournament. We hope to see you Saturday, 4/13 at the Charger Village tournament site.

Final Round of the G60 Tournament

Going into the last round, there is no clear winner yet in our G60 tournament. There are 6 players tied at 3.0/4.0. It looks like the final result will come down to the wire. As a reminder, the top 2 boards will be broadcast LIVE. If you’ve got friends, family, etc., who aren’t geographically co-located with you, let them know and maybe they’ll check it out! Click here and send them the link! You can also use the link to check out all broadcast games from previous rounds.

Pairings are as follows:

BdWhiteBlack
1Bill MelvinRobert Lubin
2Ashish AcharyaJonathan Rasberry
3Miles MelvinTomasz Nielsen
4Gabriel Tu NolandJohn Daugherty
5Joel Nic FriedmanDaniel Seewald
6Abhinav AyyadevaraLogan Alex Richey
7Michael PorterPatrick Thom Dowd
8Larisa V FriedmanDouglas Seewald
David Justi ClarkBYE

Thank You

Many of our members in attendance have begun helping set-up and tear down equipment at our weekly meetings. This is extremely helpful and very much appreciated. When you’re done for the night, if you wouldn’t mind packing up the set you’re using and stacking the board with the others (or starting a stack), that helps us spend more time playing chess and less time cleaning up, afterwards.

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News 4/8/19 – J. Rasberry Takes The Lead in the G60 Tournament

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Last week, Jonathan Rasberry separated himself from the pack of 8 2/3 players with a win over Bill Melvin with the Black pieces. This week, he’ll play White against Miles Melvin, while Joel Friedman will challenge Bill Melvin on Board 2.

Come on out and check out the tournament! As a reminder, it isn’t too late to sign up to play a couple of the remaining rounds. $10 is still a pretty great rate for 2 rated games of chess. Sign up here.

Watch the top 2 boards LIVE. The previous live link has expired, but we’ll post another on the day of the tournament on our Huntsville Chess Club Facebook page.

The standings after 3 rounds are below.

#NameIDRtngRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Tot
1Jonathan Rasberry146789102105W11W7W23
2Bill Melvin124061332200W5W3L12
3Miles Melvin126997982020W6L2W122
4Robert Lubin125046531849L7W12W102
5Ashish Acharya169804971836L2W8W142
6Joel Nic Friedman144664181646L3W9W152
7Logan Alex Richey164591681554W4L1W162
8Tomasz Nielsen128200231184W16L5W112
9Abhinav Ayyadevara17016512unr.W13L6X172
10Michael Porter167650611042H—W13L41.5
11John Daugherty112515101800L1W14L81
12Gabriel Tu Noland167632781511W15L4L31
13Daniel Seewald159893651044L9L10B—1
14Patrick Thom Dowd16240207949W17L11L51
15Larisa V Friedman16068066841L12B—L61
16Douglas Seewald17016444unr.L8D17L70.5
17David Justi Clark16723067unr.L14D16F90.5
Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News 20180401 – Tomasz Nielsen Brings home the Gold in Montgomery!

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Tomasz is all smiles after his clean sweep of the Montgomery Classic competition.

Montgomery Challenge

Rising HCC star, Tomasz Nielsen brought home the first place trophy and prize money with a perfect 4-0 score in the Montgomery Classic this past weekend. He, Michael Porter, Patrick Dowd, and son made the 3 hour trek down to the tournament. It was a strong field in both the Premiere and Reserve sections and good experience and fun was had by all. Click here for the tournament crosstable.

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars – If you’re interested in carpooling to Anniston for a tournament next weekend 4/6*, please let us know. I (Pat) won’t be able to make it this time, but wouldn’t mind coordinating the trip if someone is willing to make the 2 hour drive with our members. New chess organizer Aladdin Lateef is working with Caesar Lawrence to try his hand at directing a tournament in a new(ish) AL location.

Also, the Huntsville Challenge* will be on 4/13. Don’t miss the chance to play in a tough tournament crowd with competition from all over the state. Your attendance will help ensure that weekend tournament organizers, like Caesar Lawrence always feel that a trip to Huntsville to put on a tournament is worth the effort.

*As a reminder, both USCF and ACF memberships are required for these events.

Round 3 of the G60 tournament

The pairings and standings for round 3 of the G60, 5 week tournament. Click here for details. Also, if you haven’t registered, but still want to get some G60 USCF rated games in, register here and we can give you 1/2 point byes for the first 2 rounds.

To watch board 1 live on Monday 4/1 at 6pm, click here.

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News – HCC to Broadcast tournament games Live

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Starting with round 2 of our G60 tournament, we’ll be broadcasting Board 1 live from of all our standard rated events! The pairings are subject to change, but right now it looks like the first game will be between Miles and Bill Melvin on Monday 3/25 at 6pm. If you can’t make it out to the club, you can still watch their game live from anywhere in the world!

Click here to check it out on the evening of 3/25. The remaining rounds will be broadcast using the same link on the following dates and times:

Round 3 – 4/1 @ 6pm

Round 4 – 4/8 @ 6pm

Round 5 (Final Round) – 4/15 @ 6pm

For ease of locating the link, we’ll also add it under the main menu: Events->G60 D5 03/18-4/15 2019 PAIRINGS, STANDINGS, AND LIVE GAMES LINK and on the home page.

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Misc Info

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Since the beginning of the year, we’ve had over 30 brand new players attend the club and the past 3 weeks, we’ve averaged 22 participants. This growth is great, we appreciate you, and we wanted to make sure that we pause give anyone new the same information that all of our more tenured club members should already know.

Membership

The Huntsville Chess Club strives to be able to offer great value to all of its members. Casual chess at the club is always free, without a membership requirement. By becoming an official member, you become eligible to compete in team matches, the yearly Huntsville City Championship, the extensive online video library, and receive a significant discount on events and chess equipment. It helps us to offer some of the great things we’ve been doing lately, like the trip to the Amateur Team South Championship tournament.

Click here to join!

Organization

The Huntsville Chess Club is organized by a board of 6 HCC members. We meet quarterly to discuss anything and everything involving our club. Please email us if you have any suggestions about anything you might like to see at one of our meetings, or if you would like to get more involved in volunteer chess work (coaching, helping out at meetings or tournaments, etc.). We’ll bring it up at our next board meeting and let you know the status. Check out our list of Officers here.

Chess Equipment

We may provide equipment for new folks to use, but most tournaments will not. We don’t want the initial cost of getting into chess to be a deterrent for new players. We’re pleased to offer a limited selection of quality chess equipment at a discounted rate for our official members, to include, clocks, sets, boards, and bags. Buy online and pick it up at the next Monday meeting.

Click here to check it out.

USCF Rated Tournaments

From time to time, we offer USCF rated tournaments. We will still have plenty of players not participating to offer everyone a game, so don’t let that stop you from attending on one of these nights. We have a tournament starting 3/18 and end on 4/15. Byes are available for all rounds but the last. Even if you can only attend 1 week, please register here!

As always, drop us a line at huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com or talk to Pat at the club if you have any questions about how to get involved in rated tournament play or have questions about anything else that happens at the club.

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News – G60; d5 Tournament

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In appreciation for our membership who have patiently waited for a tournament of G60 or higher, we plan to hold one spreading across 5 weeks starting Monday, 3/18. Please sign up using the links below. You will need to be both a USCF and HCC member to play. You can register for these groups if you need to using the links below.

If you haven’t yet played in a standard rated USCF tournament, what are you waiting for? We will help you through it in a much lower pressure environment than typical tournaments. As always, if you don’t want to play in the tournament, there will still be an opportunity to play other folks who aren’t participating.

Register / Renew USCF Here

Register

As a reminder, the HCC will be driving down to Birmingham this weekend to play in the Caesar tournament there. We still have one spot available if you would like to join us! Just email huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com and let us know if you do or if you have any questions.

One Open Section – Conference room registration is down, so these games will be played in the typical club playing area or off to the side of it.

5 Rounds Swiss System G60; d5 – Games will begin as promptly by 6pm as possible. Please let us know if you are going to be late on a given week. Otherwise, we’ll try to wait for you to arrive before starting.

Entry Fee: $10

Prize: Antique WWII era heirloom chess set.

Byes: 1/2 point bye available for all but the final round.

Depending upon whether we will have access to the equipment, Board 1 games may be broadcast live!

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Birmingham Classic Carpool Opportunity

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We sent this information out via email last week, but it appears that some did not receive it. Sending again as a reminder and in case those who didn’t receive it are interested.

Birmingham Classic 3/16/19 – Tournament Details

If you are considering attending the Birmingham Classic tournament on 3/16, you may want to join us as we carpool down on Saturday morning and back immediately following the tournament.  


We can take 5 additional people in my vehicle (7 total).  First-come, first served.  If you’re interested, please reply to this email directly.  Also, please indicate if you’re willing to drive your vehicle as well (in the event that we have more than 5 folks interested in attending).  Gas money contributions are appreciated, but not required.  


For new members (and a refresher for our more seasoned membership) – 
Recently, we’ve had a lot of new folks come out to play chess with us at the library, which we think is AWESOME!  The tournament population is similar to that of our meetings.  There are plenty of people at all skill levels to compete against.  So, don’t think that just because you’re new, you won’t stand a chance.  There are even prizes designed for the different levels and sections!  
In contrast to our weekly meetings, most tournaments require you to provide your own equipment.  If you don’t have a tournament set, we can lend you one or sell you a complete board, set, clock, and bag for $35 so you’ll be able to participate in any tournament you would like to in the future.  The club makes a few bucks on this discounted deal, but it’s still a better deal than you’ll be able to find anywhere else.  We don’t want equipment costs to stand in the way of tournament chess!
To attend this tournament with us, you’ll need to be a HCC, USCF, and ACF member (USCF and ACF are all that’s required for the tournament, itself, but HCC membership is required to catch a free ride with us).  That might sound like a lot if you’re thinking about playing in your first tournament, but there are unique benefits to holding membership in each organization.  If you aspire to become (or think you might) an active tournament participant, it’s an investment that easily pays for itself.
If you’re still reading this post, why not give it a shot?

Birmingham Classic 3/16/19 – Tournament Details – send an email to CaesarChess@gmail.com and include name, USCF ID, and what section you would like to be entered into.

HCC Membership
USCF Membership
ACF Membership
If you have never played in a USCF rated tournament, it’s an intense and rewarding experience, but it can be overwhelming for first-time participants.  Attending with a group of friends can take a lot of the stress out of it.  Please let us know if you have any questions.  We are happy to walk you through each step of the process.

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News 3-11-19 Future Team Match vs. Murfreesboro Chess Club Sign-up

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The Huntsville Chess Club has been formally challenged to a team match by the Murfreesboro Chess Club! Ideally, we will have 2 representatives for each rating class F(800) -Master (2200+).

Please let us know by completing the form below if you’re interested and what date(s) you’d be able to attend. Depending upon the amount of interest, transportation should be able to be provided by the HCC. Also, feel free to ask any questions via email or in the comments below.

Each matched player will play his/her opponent 2 games, alternating colors.

Pre-Pair: By email the Wednesday before the event.

Time Control: G/70;d5

Rounds: 10am, Lunch 1:35pm

Site: First Cumberland Presbyterian Church 907 E. Main St. Murfreesboro, TN 37130

Coffee and filtered water will be provided.  Lunch will be provided via the MCC and HCC on-site between rounds.

HCC and USCF membership will be required for this event.

HCC Registration:

Register

USCF Registration:

USCF Registration
Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News 03/04/19 – Misc News Updates (Plus Lots of Cool Pics)

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The HCC has been busy!  Our Chess in a Cave event made National News!  Thanks to David Hayes for publicizing what’s become our flagship scholastic annual event.  USCF Online Magazine

We fielded 2 teams for the Alabama State Scholastic Chess Championship.  We had 3 organic HCC members and were thankfully able to “borrow” a player from the MCCL for our K-6 Club team, who played board 2, and a board 4 from the Chess Kids Nation for the High School club team.   We were very happy to join forces to allow some kids to play on Sunday of the tournament, who otherwise would not have been able to.  They all played their games as though they were playing for their original clubs.

It was kind of a spur of the moment thing to put a team together, so we went in looking to have fun without a lot of expectations, but both teams performed really well for their first 4 vs 4 team tournament.  Noteworthy achievements were a draw against Expert Om Badhe, and a win over an 1800+ player, on Board 1 by Joel Friedman and a near perfect score 3.5/4 by Patrick Dowd on Board 1 in the K-6 Club section.

The K-12 Club team – Joel, Logan, Jonathan, and Varash.

 

 

 

 

The K-6 Club team – Patrick, Joseph, Clate, and Connor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joel Friedman placed 4th in the K-12 (Open) Individual Championship on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

Stuart Rachels (USCF 2605) vs Joel Friedman

No chess player is too good for a pick-up game on the hallway floor of a tournament!

 

Both Patrick Dowd and Larisa Friedman from the HCC served as TDs for the K-3 and K-6 sections of the tournament on both days.  It was hard work, but a lot of fun!

John Morash ponders his next move against a talented Raytheon crew of engineers.

In our last post, we detailed the Raytheon Engineering Week Simul led by John Morash, but we failed to include a photo.  Here it is!

 

 

Our typical library meeting crowd is growing.

Last week we attended our normally scheduled chess meeting at the Huntsville Public Library and 22+ people showed up to play!  There was a great mix of all ages and skill levels.  We held a free, unrated G10; d0 tournament, won by Tomasz Nielsen.

 

 

Huntsville Chess Club Information

Weekly News – Raytheon Simul / HCC Returns from Murfreesboro Winter Congress Victorious!

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On Thursday, February 21st, NM John Morash emerged from a tournament Chess retirement of nearly 22 years to represent the HCC as part of National Engineering Week’s Simultaneous Exhibition at Raytheon in Huntsville.  He faced-off against talented Engineers/chess players playing on 10 boards at a time and completed the event without losing or drawing a single game!  The HCC is extremely grateful for his participation.  We may even see some future members recruited from the event (hint hint: Tomasz, tell your buddies they’re welcome anytime)!

On Saturday, February 23rd, an HCC contingent of 6 players consisting of David Hayes, Pat Dowd and son, Ashish Acharya, and Larisa and Joel Friedman traveled the 100+ miles to Murfreesboro, TN to compete in the Murfreesboro Winter Congress tournament.  In addition to the opposition, they battled fatigue and threats of severe weather, but emerged unscathed.  When the scores were tallied, the HCC brought home every prize awarded.

Ashish Acharya, playing in his first ever rated, USCF tournament, took clear first with a perfect score and initial rating of 1843!  Congratulations to all.  Look for more road trip tournament carpool opportunities in the future.  It was a lot of fun!

Results:

Ashish Acharya – 1st

David Hayes and Pat Dowd – 2nd (tie)

Larisa Friedman – 1st U1600

For official results click here.

We hope to see you at the club on Monday evening!  We’ll probably hold a free, quick, unrated tournament.  Stay tuned for upcoming event announcements.