CalChess State Scholastics History

Bay Area Chess hosts the annual CalChess State Scholastic Championships this weekend in Santa Clara. This year is the 44th edition of a tradition that started at a school, but has grown to fill several halls of a major convention center. Roughly 1200 children compete in 16 sections divided by age and chess skill. On Sunday evening, state champions will be crowned for the five Championship divisions: K-3, K-5, K-6, K-8 and K-12.

List of Scholastic Champions from 1986 to present

Check out the following trivia from more than three decades. Unfortunately, the records from 1976 through 1985 are not readily available.

• First exceeded 500 players = 1997
• First exceeded 1000 players = 2001
• Largest turnout = 1319 in 2006
• New sections added = Elementary K-5 section was only introduced in 2007 while Kindergarten began in 1997
• Most High School individual titles = Vinay Bhat won 4 from 1998-2002. Three masters won 3 times: Andy McManus (1987-1990), Dmitry Zilberstein (1994-1997) and Cameron Wheeler (2013-2015).
• Most High School team titles = 6 shared by Lowell High (1986-1994) and Saratoga High (2005-2010)
• Youngest High School winner = 5th grader Daniel Naroditsky
• Three 5-time champions = Vinay Bhat (K-3, K-12, K-12, K-12, K-12), Neel Apte (K-3, K-5, K-6, K-8, K-8), and Cameron Wheeler (K-5, K-6, K-12, K-12, K-12)
• Four 4-time champions = Micah Fischer-Kirshner (K-3, K-6, K-6, K-12), Adam Lischinsky (K-3, K-3, K-8, K-12), Daniel Naroditsky (K-3, K-6, K-12, K-12), and James Kwok (K-3, K-6, K-8, K-8) 
• Eleven 3-time champions = Andy McManus, Alan Stein, Dmitry Zilberstein, Keith Yost, Daniel Schwarz, Steven Zierk, Yian Liou, Kyle Shin, Tanuj Vasudeva, Siddharth Banik, Kevin Pan
• Grand Slam champions = None! Must win all four of K-3, either K-5 or K-6, K-8, and K-12. Eight juniors have won 3 out of 4. 
• Champions to become GM = Vinay Bhat, Steven Zierk, Daniel Naroditsky
• Champions to become IM = Alan Stein, Dmitry Zilberstein, Philip Wang, Yian Liou, Vignesh Panchanatham, Cameron Wheeler, Kesav Viswanadha
• Current US Champion Sam Shankland never won at the CalChess Scholastics. However, he became adult State Champ at age 16 (a record that was recently broken).
• The Schism of 2005 saw the CalChess Scholastics in Oakland compete against the CalNorth Regional in San Jose on same weekend. The Regional drew over twice as many kids (906 to 397).
• More than 20 false 9-1-1 calls from public telephones marred the 1998 edition at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
• Kudos to the main organizers = Ray Orwig, Dr. Alan Kirshner, Richard Peterson, Dr. Salman Azhar, and Dr. Judit Sztaray

Please contact Michael Aigner with errors, omissions, or additional trivia. Many thanks to Dr. Alan Kirshner for maintaining the records from 1986 to 2011. 

Big Names at SF International

GM Wei Yi

GM Ipatov

The start of a new calendar year brings fresh opportunities for the talented young stars of the Bay Area chess community.  The San Francisco International brings foreign titled players to Santa Clara for the kind of tournament more often seen in Europe than in America.  Over 70 competitors representing 15 different countries will cross swords over seven days.  Many aspire to earn one of the precious norms required for the highest titles in chess: Grandmaster and International Master.

Leading the field are 14 Grandmasters, 20 International Masters and 4 ladies holding the corresponding women's titles.  The five top seeds, rated over 2600 FIDE, include 2012 World Junior Champion Alexander Ipatov of Turkey, the current youngest Grandmaster on the planet, 14 year old Wei Yi of China, and the Berkeley Chess School talent Sam Shankland.  Sam won the 2012 edition of this event.

The one, the only, GM Shanky

Among the leading norm contenders are IM Wang Chen of China and IM Joshua Ruiz of Colombia, both strong finishers at the North American Open last week in Las Vegas.  Certainly don't count out the American juniors participating, including seven masters under age 18 representing the Bay Area.  Youth will be served!

• Official Website (pairings and standings)
• Download Games
• Photo Album (Facebook)
• Dana Mackenzie's Blog (first-hand insights)

This event would not be possible without the organizational genius of Berkeley Mathematics Professor Arun Sharma and Technology Guru Salman Azhar, founder of Bay Area Chess.  Why else would so many young Grandmasters from Turkey, China, Canada and Hungary mysteriously wander to Silicon Valley for chess?

For those readers wondering where I am?  I'm at home wishing I could play.  Alas, the week-long schedule proves too much for me and my longstanding health problems.  Instead, I will prepare myself for the Golden State Open in Concord, just two weeks away.  Yes, I registered already.

38th CalChess Scholastics Winners

Main playing hall at the Santa Clara Convention Center.  Photos by Azleena Azhar.

Around 1000 Bay Area youngsters descended on the Santa Clara Convention Center for the 38th annual CalChess State Scholastic Championships.  Participants ranged from novices attending their first serious chess tournament to a co-champion of the World Youth U12.  Many wide-eyed kids were accompanied by equally bewildered parents.  This turnout proves that scholastic chess still thrives in California!

K-12 Champ FM Cameron Wheeler

Twenty juniors rated 2000+ entered the FIDE-rated High School Championship, which this year seemed more like a local Open section (except without IM DeGuzman).  Indeed, one-third of the players, including the three masters at the top, had not yet begun high school.  Paradoxically, only three high school students sat at the first half-dozen boards in the last round.  And surprising few, the 2291-rated 7th grader FM Cameron Wheeler from Cupertino swept the field.  No doubt he faced a stiffer challenge at the World Youth U12 in Slovenia last year.  The next two in the final standings were his friends Kesav Viswanadha and Vignesh Panchanatham, both also in Middle School, and National Masters too.

Only a pair of High School students went undefeated (each yielded two draws) in the 5-round tournament: sophomore Taylor McCreary of San Luis Obispo and freshman Hunter Klotz-burwell of Palo Alto.  Taylor, underrated at 1872, earned respect and rating by beating 1960 and 2050 plus drawing with two even higher experts. However, she technically lives in Southern California, and consequently Hunter, rated 2083, qualified for the prestigious Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Wisconsin this summer.  Fair travels and good luck!

Denker rep Hunter Klotz-burwell

Bravo to all of the winners!  The following State Champions were crowned.  Click here for full Individual Results and Team Results, including the 11 Junior Varsity, Booster and Rookie sections.  Trivia: A whopping 109 children turned out to play in the 1-3 Rookie (unrated) division, the largest of the weekend.  Can you say Scholar's Mate?

K-12 Championship

• Champion: FM Cameron Wheeler with 5-0
• Runners-up: NM Kesav Viswanadha, NM Vignesh Panchanatham, Taylor McCreary, Siddharth Banik, Allan Beilin and Hunter Klotz-burwell all with 4-1
• Denker Qualifier: Hunter Klotz-burwell
• Top Team: Kennedy Middle (Cameron, Kesav, etc)

6-8 Championship

• Champion: Steven Li with 5.5-0.5
• Runner-up: Anirudh Seela with 5-1
• Top Team: Hopkins Junior High (all MSJE graduates)

4-6 Championship

• Champions: Bryce Wong, Seaver Dahlgren and Daniel Hwan all with 5-1
• Top Team: Mission San Jose Elementary

4-5 Championship

• Champion: Dante Peterson with 5.5-0.5
• Runners-up: Pranav Senthilkumar, David Pan, Daniel Mendelevitch and Amir Dhami all with 5-1
• Top Team: Mission San Jose Elementary

1-3 Championship

• Champion: Callaghan McCarty-snead with 5.5-0.5
• Runner-up: Robert Reyes with 5-1
• Top Team: Mission San Jose Elementary

Kindergarten

• Champion: William Chui with 5-0
• Runners-up: Samit Pattanayak and Arnav Lingannagari with 4.5-0.5

MSJE K-6 Champions with Coach Joe Lonsdale

MSJE K-3 Champions

Seemingly every year, Mission San Jose Elementary earns praise from this blog.  What have they done this spring?  Three weeks ago, they won SuperNationals K-6 and finished Top 5 in two other sections.  Then last weekend, the Giants of chess crushed the local competition, taking on all those who dared and easily winning all three CalChess Elementary team championships, two Junior Varsity divisions, and one Booster.  Coach Joe Lonsdale, his experienced staff, and private coaches (e.g. Ted Castro, Chris Torres, Wei Liu and the veteran magician Richard Shorman) have molded quite a dynasty over the years!  Frankly, I am always amazed how they can teach a 6 or 7 year old how the pieces move in September, by April they are rated 600 and by the second year they have crossed 1000. Well done!!

The influence of MSJE extends far beyond 6th grade.  The CalChess Middle School champion team at Hopkins Junior High consists of alumni of this great chess program.  And by the time they reach High School, the former students return to teach the youngsters, sharing their wisdom from over the years.  However, even the dominance of MSJE has limits.  In the K-12 Open, the all-star lineup of Kennedy Middle, featuring two masters and two experts, predictably steamrolled the field.  Veni! Vidi! Vici!

A special thank you goes to Organizer Salman Azhar of BayAreaChess.com for putting in literally hundreds of hours to prepare for the CalChess Scholastics.  Nothing ever goes off perfectly, but by many accounts, the 2013 edition proceeded quite smoothly.  Of course, a lot of credit goes to Chief Tournament Director and NTD Tom Langland (also CalChess President), his computer guru NTD John McCumiskey, plus the entire staff of directors and volunteers.  All I can say personally, is that I wish I could have been there. :-)

CalChess Bear

• Tournament Website
• Individual Results 
• Team Results
• USCF Rating Report (not yet available)
• Photo Album by Richard Shorman (171 pics) -- also on ChessDryad
• Photo Album #1 by Azleena Azhar (212 pics)
• Photo Album #2 by Azleena Azhar (154 pics)

CalChess Scholastic Champions!

The 37th annual CalChess Scholastics took place last weekend at the traditional venue, the Santa Clara Convention Center.  A total of 844 youngsters played in one of 14 different sections, ranging from Kindergarten and K-3 Unrated up to the competitive 6-8 and 9-12 Championships.  Thanks to organizer Salman Azhar, CalChess President Tom Langland, Chief Tournament Director John McCumiskey and the rest of the staff for putting this event together.

Without further ado, here are the 2012 State Champions!  Congratulations to all!!

High School 9-12: Joshua Cao and Sudarshan Seshadri
Middle School 6-8: Neel Apte
Elementary 4-6: Siddharth Banik
Elementary 4-5: Ben Rood
Primary 1-3: John A. Chan 

Click here for crosstables.

I focused mostly on the High School section, headed by a quintet of experts and several former students.  While most of the top seeds struggled in 9-12, two surprise winners emerged: 8th grader Joshua and 1835 rated Sudarshan!  Joshua took home the 1st place trophy on tiebreaks, but Sudarshan earned the biggest prize: a ticket to the Denker Invitational this August in Vancouver, WA. 

Three of the top four seeds in Middle School attend Kennedy Middle in Cupertino, and predictably, two squared off in the final round.  My longtime student Neel finished strong to clinch his second straight 1st place trophy.  In fact, he became state champion for the fifth time in six years (K-3, 4-5, 4-6 and 6-8 twice).  Actually, nobody has ever won all of the major sections in the long history of this tournament.  Neel and another of my students, 9th grader James Kwok, only need to win 9-12 to achieve this record.

The Elementary section winners both finished with perfect 6-0 scores.  Siddharth went coast-to-coast as the favorite in 4-6, defeating his closest challenger in the final round.  Ben knocked off the top two seeds in 4-5, including one rated nearly 400 points higher.  After winning K-3 as a 1st grader last year, Ben won 4-5 as a 2nd grader!  Way to go!!

The team competition was rather anticlimactic this year.  National power Mission San Jose Elementary easily won all of the Primary and Elementary sections while Mission San Jose High earned a second straight 9-12 title.  See the embedded photos for a few of the victorious kids at MSJE.  Props to Coach Joe Lonsdale for directing such a successful program over so many years!  Unfortunately, one reason for the lack of team competition was a boycott by rival Weibel Elementary.  I find it really sad that certain adults choose to teach their young children the wrong way to resolve their conflicts.

Normally my report would include photos of winners in each section, sometimes from my own camera   Due to ongoing health issues, I could not attend.  Alas, I have only seen one album from Saturday by Richard Shorman, plus a handful of photos from Sunday's awards presentation.  If you can share additional photos, please send them to michael (at) fpawn (dot) com.  Thanks!

October Top 100 Lists

(Left photo: Organizer Salman Azhar.)

(Right photo: Coaches Alan Kirshner and Ted Castro with 2010 K-3 National Champions.)

I recently updated the CalChess Top 100 and CalChess Top 20 lists for October. The October supplement includes tournaments rated by the first Friday in September, meaning the Labor Day Festival did not make the cut. The age is current as of September 1.

Kudos to 113 local juniors ranked among the top 100 of the nation for their age. Salman Azhar of Bay Area Chess and All Star Coach Ted Castro apparently discovered the mythical Fountain of Youth. No fewer than 50 Northern California kids are nationally ranked for age 10, 9, 8 or 7 & under, the majority affiliated with either Salman or Ted! I can't wait to see how many young masters we'll have in about five years.
(The Chesspunks train with FM Daniel Naroditsky for World Youth. From left to right: Vignesh, Allan, Danya, Kesav and Cameron. Photo from Cameron's blog.)

A record 16 kids age 17 & under are currently rated above 2000, including four in elementary school! New experts this year: Cameron Wheeler, Jack Zhu, Kesav Viswanadha, Daniel Liu, James Kwok and Andrew Yeh. Superstar FM Daniel Naroditsky, incredibly almost 2500, holds the only #1 ranking this month, but nine more youngsters are ranked among the top five for their age, including four #2's. Here's a big round of applause for ten unofficial gold medalists for October!

GOLD MEDAL (top 5)
Advait Budaraju (#4 age 5)
Josiah Stearman (#4 age 7)
Rayan Taghizadeh (#4 age 8)
Michael Wang (#5 age 8)
Samuel Sevian (#2 age 9)
NM Yian Liou (#2 age 13) -- Co-champion of US Cadet Invitational
FM Daniel Naroditsky (#1 age 14)
NM Gregory Young (#2 age 15)
NM Steven Zierk (#4 age 17) -- Winner of Denker High School Invitational
IM Sam Shankland (#2 age 18) -- Winner of US Junior Invitational

Players ranked in the top 15 and top 25 of the country also deserve a special recognition. The names shown in bold and italics are all current or former students of mine.

SILVER MEDAL (top 15)
Ben Rood (#15 age 6)
Anthony Zhou (#8 age 7)
FM Tanuj Vasudeva (#8 age 9)
Cameron Wheeler (#6 age 10)
Vignesh Panchanatham (#10 age 10)
Udit Iyengar (#13 age 10)
Jack Zhu (#7 age 11)
Kesav Viswanadha (#9 age 11)
NM Evan Sandberg (#14 age 17)
NM Rohan Agarwal (#15 age 17)

BRONZE MEDAL (top 25)
Solomon Ge (#21 age 7)
Leyton Ho (#21 age 8)
Jeffrey Tao (#18 age 9)
Colin Chow (#17 age 10)
Richard Yi (#20 age 10)
Allan Beilin (#17 age 11)
Daniel Liu (#16 age 12)
Kyle Shin (#17 age 12)
Paul Richter (#21 age 12) -- CalChess K-12 Co-champion
Andrew Yeh (#30 age 14) -- CalChess K-12 Co-champion
Hayk Manvelyan (#19 age 16)

35th CalChess Scholastics Begin

The biggest annual chess tournament in the Bay Area, the CalChess Scholastics, began this evening with the blitz side event. After six years, the tournament returns to the premiere venue in Northern California: the Santa Clara Convention Center at Great America. Thanks to a steady trickle of last minute entrants who don't seem to mind the late fee, paid attendance now stands at 890, including a total of 267 in the five Varsity sections. Organizer Salman Azhar no doubt is pleased with more entries! Counting parents, siblings, relatives, coaches and volunteers, the crowd will approach 2000 people. If you're not there, you're really missing out on pure chess bliss!

Participants compete in one of 14 sections from 1-3 Rookie (unrated) to 9-12 Varsity. Advanced and intermediate youngsters play six rounds over two days while beginners only play one day. The elite players in the Varsity divisions play G/75 to G/90, meaning a single game can take up to three hours. There are three rounds Saturday and three more Sunday (9:00, 12:15 and 3:30 on both days). The Novice, Rookie, Kindergarten divisions play only one day each, with five rounds at G/30.

I will watch my 22 private students closely (plus another half dozen former students). Several have aspirations of winning, including three of the top four seeds in 4-6 and the top three rated players in 7-8. Historically my students have dominated the High School division, but that may not be the case this year because all five of my Masters are skipping this tournament. Some have legitimate conflicts while others don't see any benefit from playing only against much lower rated opponents. Most significantly, the Denker Qualifier was held last month with FM Steven Zierk victorious. What a shame! Perhaps one of my five students seeded between 4th and 12th can step up and hit a home run.

Here are my favorites and dark horses for each of the Varsity divisions. Current and former private students are shown in red bold.

• 9-12 Favorites: Samuel Sevian (2133), Hayk Manvelyan (2103), Michael Brown (2068), Arthur Liou (2010). Dark horse: Daniel Liu (1982).
• 7-8 Favorites: James Kwok (1919), Edward Li (1832), Roland Zhu (1798), Hwai-Ray Tung (1688). Dark horse: Aamir Azhar (1639).
• 4-6 Favorites: Kyle Shin (2052), FM Tanuj Vasudeva (1863). Dark horses: Neel Apte (1802), Colin Chow (1787), Hunter Klotz-Burwell (1704), Richard Yi (1688).
• 4-5 Favorite: Cameron Wheeler (1851). Dark horses: Jeffrey Tao (1599), Udit Iyengar (1556).
• 1-3 Favorites: Rayan Taghizadeh (1648), Michael Wang (1473). Dark horse: Leyton Ho (1428).

The team championships should be competitive as they always are. In the Elementary divisions, 2009 national champion Mission San Jose Elementary has won most of the Varsity trophies in recent years. But this year seems to be the best opportunity for crosstown rival Weibel Elementary to steal a title. Likewise, Saratoga High has captured five straight K-12 team titles and is looking for a record sixth in a row. Can they do it, or will Mission San Jose High end the dynasty? Stay tuned!

Latest news from Santa Clara: 7th grader Michael Brown of Southern California won the 7-12 blitz and Edward Li took 2nd. Hunter Klotz-Burwell won K-6 blitz.

36th Annual People's Tournament in Concord

A change in venue. The old: Sather Tower in Berkeley at left. The new: Mount Diablo near Concord at right.





Some participants will miss the drums. More than a few others will not. For most of its 35 year existence, the People's Chess Tournament was held at Sproul Plaza on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. Love 'em or hate 'em, the drummers were always a part of the annual President's Day weekend tournament.

A sad sign of the times, state budget cuts, rising rental fees and lack of insider support forced organizer Richard Koepcke to find another venue. He teamed up with BayAreaChess.com founder Salman Azhar to move the event to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Concord (1/2 mile north of the Concord Hilton where last month's Golden State Open was held). The weekend simply won't be the same, although the board game being played remains unchanged.

The entry fee has increased due to the rental cost at the hotel. The days of cheap tournaments seem to be history because few organizers can find a free or cheap playing site. Big sigh!! The nonprofit Mechanics' Institute remains the biggest exception. New this year are 3-day and 2-day schedules, plus an experimental dual entry fee structure: players may pay the full entry fee to win full prizes, or pay 2/3 of the entry, but only be eligible for half of the advertised prizes. So far, about 1/3 of the entrants have chosen the "economy" fee. (If you're a junior playing up a section for the experience, then it makes sense to pay the economy fee.)

• Event: 36th People's Tournament
• Date: February 13-15
  
• Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel in Concord (map link)
  
• Format: 6 rounds in 6 sections (Open, U2100, U1900, U1700, U1500, U1300).
• 3-day schedule: Reg: Sat 10-11. Rds: Sat 11:30, 5; Sun 11:30, 5; Mon 10, 3:30.
• 2-day schedule: Reg: Sun 9-9:45, Rds: Sun 10, 12:15, 2:30, 5; Mon 10, 3:30.
  
• Time control: 30/90, G/60 (rounds 1-3 of 2-day schedule at G/60)
  
• Entry fee: Regular $99/98 or Economy $69/68. Play up for $20. Add $25 after 2/11.
  
• Prize fund: $7,001 based on 129 paid entries. $1000 (guaranteed) top prize in Open and $500 in each of the lower sections. Economy players win 1/2 prize.
• Tournament Flyer
• Online Registration
  
• Advance Entries (89 players as of 2/11)

I will be there and look forward to seeing many of my students as well! Hopefully I have some free time between rounds (or before 11:30 on Sunday morning) to go over games.

Trivia question: Who won the People's the last time it was not held at UC Berkeley?

Shankland and Kraai Draw Top Honors

IM Sam Shankland and GM Jesse Kraai shared first at 4.5/6 in the CalChess State Championship, held at a new venue in Santa Clara. Shankland (photo at left) had superior tiebreaks and earned the title for the second year in a row. Congratulations Sam!! Still a teenager, "Shanky" now has two adult trophies at home; although in a bit of an irony, he never won the CalChess Scholastic Championships!

The winners faced stiff competition from IM Ricardo DeGuzman, IM Dmitry Zilberstein and two teenagers: FM Steven Zierk and NM Greg Young. DeGuzman, Zierk and Young tied for third at 4.0/6, with Young claiming top U2300 honors as well. One interesting tidbit: Shankland, Kraai, DeGuzman and Zierk completed a quad amongst themselves, drawing every single game. (Photo of Shankland versus Kraai at top right.) With a performance over 2600 for his last 12 rated games, Zierk (photo at right) will break 2400 USCF.

The tournament attracted 153 players, almost all from the San Francisco Bay Area. Organizer Salman Azhar of BayAreaChess.com paid out 100% of the $8,100 advertised prize fund, even though it was based on 166 paid entries. In a sure sign of the future, at least 60% of the players were kids, including a majority of the prize winners. And here's one unusual sight: a WIM and a FM played *up* in the Expert section!?

• Final crosstables and Prize winners
• USCF rating report
• Fpawn's Slideshow on Flickr
• Awesome Photos by Richard Shorman
  

State Champions!

• Master: IM Sam Shankland and GM Jesse Kraai; U2300: NM Greg Young
  
• Expert: Karim Seada
• Class A: James Kwok
• Class B: Thadeus Frei (6-0!!)
  
• Class C: Jonathan Uesato and Udit Iyengar
• Class D/E: Leyton Ho; U1200: Rupa Gudiseva
  

Hello from the Heart of Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley becomes chess central this weekend as the CalChess State Championship takes place at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara. Defending champion IM Sam Shankland will face stiff competition from veterans GM Jesse Kraai, IM Ricardo DeGuzman, IM Dmitry Zilberstein and the red hot teenager FM Steven Zierk. With 142 players registered in advance, the attendance will likely top out between 160 and 180. BayAreaChess.com organizer Salman Azhar should be pleased (and relieved) with the turnout at his first big money tournament!

Players will be divided up into three different regions of the hotel: Master, Expert, A, B and C all play on the second floor (Bayshore room). The D and E sections (Mendocino room) and Friday scholastic tournament (Napa room) are on the ground floor. Hopefully the rowdy young kids stay far away from where the big boys do battle. We'll kindly allow an exception for 8 year old FIDE Masters. ;-)..
FINAL RESULTS

• Fpawn Twitter page
• Photo album at Flickr
• Tournament flyer
  
• Map and driving directions

I will try my best to provide limited internet coverage throughout the weekend, most likely on Twitter and perhaps by uploading photos to Flickr. No promises! I should be quite busy with over 20 students in attendance, all who want part of my attention. Hopefully my own games won't take too long, so that I have enough time to socialize, eat and still look at a few games between rounds. Wish me luck, both on and off the board!

Adult State Championship on Thanksgiving Weekend!

In a bold move, BayAreaChess.com chief organizer Dr. Salman Azhar reinvented the annual Thanksgiving weekend tournament into something bigger, stronger and more prestigious. The advertised prize fund of more than $8000 (based on 166 entries) exceeds what any local organizer has offered since the failed Firecracker Open in 2001. The event takes place at the plush Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, across the street from the Great America theme park. Veteran players may remember this hotel as the venue of the CalChess Scholastics for many years in the 1990s and early 2000s.

To my surprise, the CalChess Board designated this untested event as Northern California State Open & Class Championship. At first, it seemed strange to me to quietly move our state championship from the traditional Labor Day weekend to an untested date. Moreover, chess enthusiasts from Southern California and other western states will undoubtedly continue to attend the 45th annual American Open in Los Angeles. I even heard of a few local players traveling to LA for the larger prizes and stronger competition.

However, I am impressed by the number of advance entries so far. Already 110 participants have registered for the 3-day and 2-day schedules (not including another 50 in the 1-day scholastic side event). I project a final turnout near the "based on" number of 166, or roughly on par with this year's Labor Day festival. Not bad at all for the first year! The Master section already appears respectably strong with five International Masters, including 2008 State Champion IM Sam Shankland, plus another seven masters (three age 16 or younger).

• Event: CalChess Open State & Class Championship
  
• Date: November 27-29 (3-day) or November 28-29 (2-day)
  
• Location: Hyatt Regency at Santa Clara Convention Center, 5105 Great America Parkway (across street from Great America water park)
  
• Format: 6 round swiss in 6 sections (Open, Expert, A, B, C and D/E).
• 3-day schedule: Reg: Fri 10-10:30. Rds: Fri 11, 5:15; Sat 11, 5:15; Sun 10, 4:15.
• 2-day schedule: Reg: Sat 9-9:30. Rds: Sat 10, 12:15, 2:30, 5:15; Sun 10, 4:15.
  
• Time control: 40/2, G/1 except G/60 for rounds 1-3 of 2-day schedule.
• Entry fee: $90 for 3-day, $84 for 2-day by Sunday 11/22; $20 more on-site.
• Other fees: play up one section for $19, re-enter into 2-day schedule for $39.
  
• Prize fund: $8100 based on 166 players, including $1000 guaranteed for 1st place in Master section and $500 for 1st place in lower sections ($300 for D/E).
  
• Tournament flyer
• Orientation page
  
• Advance entry list

All of my students are strongly encouraged to attend this championship! Watch America's elite juniors match wits with titled players and each other in the Master and Expert sections: FM Steven, NM Gregory, NM Yian, Kyle, Arthur, DanielL and several more who haven't registered yet! I expect a fun weekend of skewers and forks. Be there!

Entries for the CalChess Scholastics

The week has come for the biggest Bay Area chess event of the year! The 34th CalChess Scholastics takes place on Saturday and Sunday at the Parkside Convention Center and the adjacent Crowne Plaza Hotel. The "Varsity" or "Championship" sections play in the hotel while the Junior Varsity, Novice and Rookie sections will be in the Parkside center. Please note that this location is across the street from last year's venue at the San Jose Convention Center.

The three individuals in charge are the same as last year: organizer Salman Azhar (see photo at right), National Tournament Director John McCumiskey and CalChess President Tom Langland.

Please check out the round schedule at the official website. There are 13 categories, split up by both grade level and rating. The first round begins at 9:00am on each day, although players should plan to arrive by 8:30. The Kindergarten plus 1-3 Rookie, Novice and Junior Varsity sections play five rounds on Saturday only. The 4-6 Rookie and Novice sections play five rounds on Sunday only. The other three Juniors Varsity sections (4-6, 7-8, 9-12) and all four Varsity sections (1-3, 4-6, 7-8 and 9-12) have six rounds with three on Saturday and three more on Sunday.

As of midnight on April 28, about 850 players have registered. A few more people will likely sign up late, but the entry fees increase by $10 and $20 this week. Unfortunately, the low turnout continues to follow a downward trend over the past few years: 1319 in 2006, 1172 in 2007 and 1028 in 2008. Perhaps the weak economy plays a significant role, but that's not the only factor being blamed by pundits.

• Latest entries by rating
• Latest entries by team
• High School: 9-12 Varsity
• Junior High: 7-8 Varsity
• Elementary: 4-6 Varsity and 4-5 Varsity
• Primary: 1-3 Varsity
  

The tournament is an individual swiss, but for many folks, the team competition takes on even greater importance. Many of the "usual suspects" in the Varsity sections are back for more this year, including the K-6 national champion team from Mission San Jose Elementary (MSJE) in Fremont. Check out the new article and photos on the CalChess website by proud coach Joe Lonsdale.

• High School: Saratoga H.S. and Mission San Jose H.S. (Fremont)
  
• Junior High: Windemere Ranch M.S. (San Ramon) and Hopkins J.H.S. (Fremont)
• Elementary 4-6: MSJE, Weibel Elem. (Fremont) and St. Mark's School (San Rafael)
• Elementary 4-5: MSJE and Weibel Elem.
• Primary 1-3: Forest Park Elem., MSJE and Weibel Elem.

I will personally direct the blitz and bughouse side events once again this year. First, the blitz on Friday night offers a great opportunity to warm up for a weekend of chess. And the bughouse on Saturday night is the perfect way to relax and socialize after a tough day of serious chess. I hope to see many of my students and other local kids, especially for the Friday night blitz championship! Schedule: on-site registration both days at 5:30-6:00 with round 1 at about 6:15. If all goes well, the K-6 kids will be done by 8:30ish while the older kids finish around 9:00.

Good luck to all players and parents! If you read this blog and you see me on the weekend, please say hello to me. I will be busy with my students, but I also enjoy meeting people.

Turkeys Play Chess in Milpitas

(IM Ricardo DeGuzman won all of his games at the Thanksgiving Festival.)

The Bay Area Chess Thanksgiving Festival attracted about 150 players for mental exercises to burn off all the calories from turkey dinner. One IM, one NM and two former masters headlined the field in the top section. The venue at an office park in Milpitas was amazingly comfortable; the higher rated players were distributed throughout several smaller rooms surrounding the bigger main room, each with a door to minimize noise.

The playing schedules included options for 1-day (Friday only), 2-days (Saturday and Sunday) and all 3-days. The 1-day swiss saw 77 juniors compete for trophies in five sections ranging from U1400 to U500. Another 63 players chose the adult tournament, with about 2/3 choosing the faster 2-day schedule (three games of G/60) over the leisurely 3-day option (all six rounds at 30/90, SD/60). The organizer paid out about $1900 in prizes, 64% of the advertised amount. Smaller side events included a scholastic blitz tournament on Friday afternoon and scholastic quads on Saturday.

The competition in the Master/Expert section went according to form with the top five rated players finishing in the money. Top rated International Master Ricardo DeGuzman (2430) was never seriously threatened all weekend, sweeping the field with an impressive 6-0 score. Your humble reporter, NM Michael Aigner (2272), took second place at 4.5. Check out the game viewer for the game that decided the top honors.


Five players shared third place and the U2200 prizes at 3.5 points. Former masters Mike Splane (2196) and Dana Mackenzie (2120) combined for a solid 5.5/6 against lower rated juniors but only could score one draw in four games against the two masters. Teenage expert Evan Sandberg (2030) also tied at 3.5 after a disappointing last round draw.

Kudos to the two juniors who shared the U2200 honors: Brian Wai (1755) of Saratoga High School and 7-year old Samuel Sevian (1833). Wai (see photo at right) calmly defeated three of the top five Bay Area prospects under age 12 (all rated between 1830 and 1950), drew with Mackenzie and lost only to IM DeGuzman and this writer. After this 2150+ performance, his rating shot up nearly 100 points to 1850. Sevian, already rated #1 in the nation for age 7&under, joined the big tie at 3.5 by vanguishing two young A-players and drawing with expert Sandberg.

• Rating report for adult tournament (2-day and 3-day)
• Rating report for scholastic swiss (Friday only)
• Rating report for scholastic quads (Saturday only)
• More photos in Flickr album
  

The following list shows the winners of each section at the Thanksgiving Festival plus the player with the largest rating gain (excluding provisional ratings).

Master/Expert

• 1st = IM Ricardo DeGuzman, 6.0/6
• Most rating points = Brian Wai (+95)
  

Class A/B

• 1st = Rahul Desirazu, 5.0/6
• Most rating points = Rahul Desirazu (+93)
  

Class C/D

• 1st = Julian Michael Lin, 6.0/6
• Most rating points = Daniel Chen (+204)

Star Section

• 1st = Binjih Lin and Richard Yi, 3.0/4 each
• Most rating points = Binjih Lin (+85)

Elite Section

• 1st = John Guiragossian, 4.0/4
• Most rating points = Rohan Kasiviswanathan (+150)

Champ Section

• 1st = Anish Yakkala, Nathaniel Sauerberg and Udit Iyengar, 3.5/4 each
• Most rating points = Nathaniel Sauerberg (+142)
  

Premier Section

• 1st = Steele Langland and Michael Sandler, 4.0/5 each
• Most rating points = Michael Sandler (+173)
  

Booster Section

• 1st = Akash Thiagarajan, 5.0/5
• Most rating points = Akash Thiagarajan (+127)
  

Thanks to organizer Salman Azhar (see photo at left) of Bay Area Chess for organizing and the Pakistan-American Culture Center for hosting the festival in Milpitas. The tournament staff included CalChess President Tom Langland, Leo Lo, Paul Steiner, Gajanan Chinchwadkar and David Lee

Perhaps the greatest disappointment of the weekend was the complete lack of participation by Bay Area adults. Only a dozen of the 63 players in the main tournament were over the age of 18. Where did all of the Bay Area adults go and why would they skip a slow time control event?

While the decline in local adult chess may be traced to the natural advantage of juniors at the popular G/45 and other fast time controls, this reasoning certainly doesn’t apply to a leisurely event at a 30/90, SD/60 time control. In fact, the four adults in the Master/Expert section (out of 17 players) combined to score a lopsided 10.5 out of 11 against the lower rated kids! And while a junior won Class A/B, four out of the six adults in the section still gained rating points. If there was an event for adults to match wits against the talented juniors, then seemingly this was it.

Bay Area Chess Gives Thanks

Organizer Salman Azhar and Bay Area Chess are hosting the Thanksgiving Festival in Milpitas on Friday through Sunday. The main event will be a 3-day adult tournament featuring slow time controls (30/90, G/60) with an accelerated 2-day schedule. Side events include a 1-day scholastic swiss on Friday and kids quads on Saturday. The advance entries for the adult tournament have been rather slow so far due to limited publicity, but there is still time to register online before the late fee kicks in after Wednesday. (Update: the late fee is waived on Thanksgiving Day.)

Please note that the location of this event is in Milpitas, not in Santa Clara.

• Event: Bay Area Chess Thanksgiving Festival
  
• Dates: November 28-30
• Location: 372 Turquoise, Ste 2, Milpitas (near Calaveras between I-880 and I-680)
• Format: 6 round swiss in 3 sections (Master/Expert, Class A/B and Class C/D)
• 3-day schedule: Reg: Friday 10:00-10:30. Rounds: 11:00 and 4:00 daily.
• 2-day schedule: Reg: Saturday 8:15-8:45. Rounds: Saturday 9:00, 11:10, 1:45, 4:00; Sunday 11:00 and 4:00.
  
• Time control: 30/90, G/60 (rounds 1-3 of 2-day at G/60)
  
• Entry fee: $59 online by Wednesday, $75 on site
• Prize fund: $3000 based on 100 paid entries (or else proportional)
• Side events: 1-day scholastic swiss on Friday; kids quads on Saturday
  
• PDF flyer and entry form
• Advance entry list

This tournament is highly recommended to my students, particularly those rated below 2000. I plan to play in the 3-day schedule and will be available between rounds to share some laughs and review tournament games.

Azhar Will Organize States 2009

Announcement
by CalChess President Tom Langland

"The CalChess Board of Directors has selected the official organizer for the 2009 CalChess State Scholastic Championships. We accepted proposals during the month of June and we reviewed all of the proposals and selected Salman Azhar! Salman (see photo) obviously did an outstanding job with the 2008 Scholastic Championships, so please join me in congratulating Salman on his selection, and help us look forward to making the 2009 Scholastic Championships the best ever!"

Additional note by fpawn: The contract for the 2009 Championships has not yet been signed, but I expect an announcement soon. The tentative dates are May 2-3.

Many Thanks to the CalChess Scholastics Staff

(Candid photographs of the tournament bigwigs by Richard Shorman. From left to right: Salman Azhar, Tom Langland and John McCumiskey.)

It has been said before but I'll say it once again: the CalChess Scholastic Championships on May 17-18 would not have been possible without the tireless and underappreciated efforts of a small group of staff. I wish to single out three individuals in particular.

• Organizer Salman Azhar worked literally day and night in the weeks prior to the tournament to take entries, answer questions and make sure that everything was ready to go. While much of his work took place behind the scenes, I did receive comments from parents about this "superman" who responded to emails at 3am.
• CalChess President Tom Langland was one of the first people to show up in the morning and the last to leave in the evening for three straight days (Friday through Sunday). Despite working overtime, Tom always was cheerful, especially to the kids.
• National TD John McCumiskey diligently ensured that the tournament ran smoothly, both on schedule and in compliance with USCF and CalChess rules. John oversaw the directing staff and relied on his vast experience to extinguish a myriad of small fires.

These three individuals received plenty of help from the other staff members and dozens of official volunteers, but the ultimate responsibility fell back to them. Did everything proceed perfectly? No. Still, the event surpassed most expectations and most people went home content, even if some wish they had done better at the chess board. I hope the readers of this blog will join me in a round of cyber applause for a job well done!