The 36th Snowstorm Special was held February 5-7, 2010, with a turnout of twenty-eight players participating.  Though numbers were down, the competition was up.  Many games featured rating differences of over 400 points, but were strongly contested to the bitter end.  Some draws were given up to lower rated opponents even by the best players in the field.  For the final crosstables, click the link below:

http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201002076831

Congratulations to FM Andrey Chumachenko, NM Philipp Lamby, Expert Kevin Kane and “Super A” (former Expert) Douglas Holmes for tying for the top place with a score of 4-1.  Many of our local players won or tied for many of the class prizes, in fact, a total of 18 players out of 28 participating won prize money.  Thanks to all who showed up to play and gave it their best shot.  For those that missed the tournament for whatever reason, notice that some prizes were given out due to the low number of participants in their class.  Don’t let that happen again next year!

Here are the pre-entries as of 2/03/10:

3 day schedule:

2 day schedule:

Click “Upcoming Events” for tournament details.

For a crosstable of the tournament, click the following link:

http://main.uschess.org/assets/msa_joomla/XtblMain.php?201001231641

For our December club meetings, we will have thematic competitions to sharpen your skills.  Opening and endgame thematic chess is on the agenda, so come out and join us for skill training to prepare for the upcoming tournaments.

You can still pre-enter by paying the early entry fee by Feb. 3rd.  David Causey will be taking pre-entries at the Charleston Chess Club on that night.

Click “Upcoming Events” for more details

For those that have not been given any chores before Thanksgiving, we will be meeting at the usual time and place this Wednesday night.  It will be just skittles night so bring your board and set and enjoy a few games before getting down to some serious holiday celebration.  See you there!

Newly crowned 2009 S.C. Reserve Champion, Qianli Sun, with SCCA president, David Grimaud.

Through the efforts of, then, SCCA President Bill Dodgen, in 1976, October 9th was proclaimed “National Chess Day” by President Gerald Ford.  All chess clubs and organizations are encouraged to hold events that enlighten the general public of our grand game.  Since many of our events are scheduled on weekends, this Friday will be recognized in text, but will be remembered as a significant contribution from the state of South Carolina in the effort to promote chess nationally.  Give your support to our game by participating in club activities, tournaments, and exhibitions in the coming weeks and give back to chess what it so generously gives us all.

For the month of October(beginning Oct. 7), we will be pairing our members in head to head matches.  The format will be four game matches with two games per night.  The time control will be Game 29 Quick chess.  Bring your set and clock and be ready to play rated chess against an opponent near your strength.  For those that attend all four meetings in October, they will be able to play two different opponents during the month.  Our goal is to have our players seasoned in tournament chess play so that when they compete elsewhere or in larger local tournaments, they will be more prepared to do well.  Since this competition is for current members, be sure to bring your dues if your membership has expired.  Our dues are only $5 per year and that covers the club cost for holding these non-prize tournaments.  To check your membership status, just click the “Members” tab at the right.

Special thanks to Richard for arranging an alternate location.  We are back to our normal meeting place in Park Circle.