Blog

Final Recap

The dust has settled and we have a clear winner - Resident GM Ben Finegold! Congratulations to Ben and to all the other competitors who participated. There were some upsets (Spencer Finegold bested Doug Eckert, Jason Zhou defeated William Nesham) and the games were all exciting. Check out the game section to see the players in action.[imagefield_assist|fid=9024|preset=article_thumb|lightbox=true|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=250|height=167]

[imagefield_assist|fid=8943|preset=frontpage_200x200|lightbox=true|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=200|height=200]On Friday, January 7, Scholastics Coordinator Alex Vergilesov made his first visit to Blossom Wood Day School in Hazelwood. This was the first time in the history of the school that chess lessons were offered as an option for after-school programming. Vergilesov and club employee Mike Kummer drove out to the event where they met up with a recently hired part-time instructor, Sam Hatfield. When they arrived 32 students were eagerly awaiting their first-ever chess lesson!

Kummer instructed a group of 16 K-4 students separately, while Vergilesov trained Hatfield on how to lead and implement a lesson. Sixteen more enthusiastic students in grades 4-7 made their first steps in understanding chess. The instructors began with a pawn exercise, challenging the students to play out “pawn wars” where the victory condition was promotion; the first player to promote a pawn wins.

[imagefield_assist|fid=8914|preset=frontpage_200x200|title=|desc=|link=none|origsize=|align=left|width=200|height=200]The Chess Club Ladder got off to a great start with 52 CCSCSL Members signed up and 16 USCF rated games played in the first two weeks. Alexsey Kazakevich is on top of the leaderboard for total points with 2.5. If he can maintain his top position until the end of the month, he will be rewarded with $100. Alexsey is also in line to win another $100 as the member that plays the most games during a month. He has played three. CCSCSL Instructor Bill Thompson has been playing some good chess lately as well. He even managed to defeat CCSCSL Executive Director Tony Rich. An upset of 275 points. The player that delivers the biggest upset for the month receives $50.

To see the crosstable of the first two weeks of action, click here. 

To see the rules and the official, up to date club ladder click here.

Between entry fees for the Simul, entry fees for the tournament, and donations from players, over $2200 for the fight against ALS was raised by the Saint Louis Chess community.  Thanks to all who participated!

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