After taking a 1st round 1/2 point bye, Ian Morton reeled off four straight wins to overtake Columbia’s Daniel Dodds and win first prize in the Under 1800 section at the 2008 S.C. Open.  Ian’s performance raised his rating to 1760, where he is still a force to be reckoned with in his next Under 1800 section that he plays.  Congratulations, Ian, for another brilliant tournament!

Ian Morton (left) in the process of winning his final round game against Daniel Dodds.

Read on to see more images of the 2008 S.C. Open…

The 2008 CCC Championship finished on May 7 with Jim Addison winning first place with 3-0 score.  Defeating last year’s champion, David Causey, in the final round, Jim won his first CCC Championship on his first try.  Causey and top-rated Kirk McMullan tied for 2nd-3rd place with a score of 2-1.  Thanks to all seven participants for finishing with only one makeup game required during the tournament schedule.  To see the final crosstable, read on… 

NM Timur Aliyev(SC) and NM Chris Mabe(NC) shared 1st-2nd at the 34th Annual Snowstorm Special, scoring 4.5 – .5 in the five round event.  Stephen Welt also went undefeated with a score of 4-1 to capture the third place prize.  Check out the crosstable to see the overall results of all 31 participants.

See Games.  

See crosstable. 

34th Snowstorm Special — Open                   Charleston, SC

February 8-10, 2008

  No.    Name                                St  Rate     1         2        3        4       5        Score

   1. Mabe, Chris J (1)………….  NC 2294  W10   W9    W15   D2    W4      4.5
   2. Aliyev, Timur (2)………….    SC  2285  W27   W18   W5    D1    W8      4.5

   3. Welt, Stephen (5)………….  NC 1865  W12   W13   D6    -H-   W11     4.0

   4. Eubanks, Keith (3)………… SC 2074    -H-   W22   W24   W6    L1      3.5
   5. Shemesh, Yuval-RE (7)….CT 1815   W19   W16   L2    W10   D7      3.5
   6. Ramachandran, Lintu (9).SC 1814   W31   W23   D3    L4    W12     3.5
   7. Nissenboim, Josh (13)…. SC 1645   W32   -H-    W9    -H-     D5      3.5

   8. Quigley, Daniel J (4)……… GA 1913    W11   D24   -H-   W15   L2      3.0
   9. Callahan, Robert C (10)…NC 1790    W25   L1    L7    W17   W19     3.0
  10. Schwetke, Douglas (15). NJ 1599    L1    W27   W25   L5    W20     3.0
  11. Skelcher, Mark T (16)…….SC 1588    L8    W19   W26   W24   L3      3.0
  12. Hedger, Wayne L (17)……GA 1576    L3    W31   W23   W18   L6      3.0
  13. Morton, Ian G (20)………… SC 1496    W29   L3    -H-   W16   D15     3.0
  14. Battaglia, Gerald (21)…….GA 1491  L23   W32   L18   W27   W22     3.0

  15. Vonderlieth, John (6)……..SC 1828    W30   W17   L1    L8    D13     2.5
  16. Taylor, William L (14)…….SC 1641   W28   L5    D17   L13   W25     2.5
  17. Flynn, J.P. (19)…………..     NC 1513   W21   L15   D16   L9    W26     2.5

  18. Ivens, Ken L (11)………….  NC 1755    W20   L2    W14   L12   -U-     2.0
  19. Henderson, Alex (24)…..  SC 1238     L5    L11   W32   W23   L9      2.0
  20. Reed, Susan E (28)……..  SC  917       L18   -H-   W22   -H-   L10     2.0
  21. Taylor, Christian (29)……..SC  568     L17   L25   L27   -B-   W32     2.0
  22. Berg, Teigh Lee (30)………SC  540     -B-   L4    L20   W32   L14     2.0
  23. Crawford, Russell T (31)..SC nnnn    W14   L6    L12   L19   -X-     2.0

  24. Musulin, Rade Robe (12).SC 1713    W26   D8    L4    L11   -U-     1.5
  25. Lowry, Paul (22)…………..   SC 1396   L9    W21   L10   D26   L16     1.5
  26. Grimaud, Geoff J (26)……  SC 1117  L24   W30   L11   D25   L17     1.5

  27. Benjamin, Jason    (23)…  SC 1354    L2    L10   W21   L14   -F-     1.0
  28. Miller, Paul D (27)………..    SC 1044       L16   -H-   -H-   -U-   -U-     1.0

  29. Shemesh, Yuval (8)……….. CT 1815       L13   -U-   -U-   -U-   -U-     0.0
  30. Mayntz, Fred G (18)………..  SC 1565      L15   L26   -U-   -U-   -U-     0.0
  31. Robinson, Lendel (25)…… SC 1207       L6    L12   -U-   -U-   -U-     0.0
  32. Wingard, Jacob (32)……….. SC nnnn   L7    L14   L19   L22   L21     0.0

For the third year straight, the Patrick D. Hart Memorial Scholastic was held in conjunction with the Snowstorm Special.  The tournament was created in memory of one of our stalwarts of chess in Charleston and is intended as a beginners tournament to bring more players into the game.  This year’s edition had nine young players, with seven joining the SCCA and three joining the USCF for the first time.  When the last round was finished, Charlez Luczaj from Hanahan won first prize outright with four wins.  Hannah Whatley of North Augusta took 2nd prize on tiebreak over Vikram Krishnamurthy of Lexington, both with three points.  Congratulations to the trophy winners and all the participants who gave their best effort towards claiming a prize.

3rd Pat Hart Memorial Scholastic — Open Section

February 9, 2008  Charleston, SC

No.    Name                               St  Rate   1       2       3       4          Score

1. Luczaj, Charlez (5)………..  SC nnnn W7   W2   W4    W5         4.0
2. Whatley, Hannah Vi (1)…..SC   667  W9   L1    W3    W7         3.0
3. Krishnamurthy, Vik (4)……SC   160   -B-   W9    L2    W4         3.0
4. Williams, Samuel (2)……..MS   544  W8   W5    L1    L3           2.0
5. Williams, Robert (3)……… MS   460  W6    L4    W8   L1           2.0
6. Mishra, Vijay (6)……………. SC  nnnn   L5    L7    -B-   W8          2.0
7. Withers, Taylor (9)………..  SC  nnnn   L1   W6    W9   L2          2.0
8. Scalf, Joey (7)……………….  SC  nnnn  L4    -B-     L5    L6          1.0
9. Vong, Oddom (8)……………SC  nnnn   L2    L3    L7     -B-          1.0

The first Folloween Open was what I consider to be a great success. We had 20 participants! Stephen Welt, with a 1712 rating won the top section upsetting David Causey and James MacDougall in the final 2 rounds.

See the Games here.

See the crosstables here.

On June 13, GM Ftacnik visited the club for a lecture and a 15 board simul. He went undefeated, scoring 14 wins and 1 draw. His draw was against Josh Nissenboim who, after a single game against a GM, can brag about his 50% lifetime performance rating against GMs.

To see the game.

GM Ftacnik will be defending his championship in the South Carolina Open tournament June 15-17 at the Carolina First Center in Greenville.  Contact your local club or SC Chess for more information.

Sponsored by: Precision Tune Auto Care

1. GM Ftacnik showing the club one of his interesting games.

2. Club President David Causey getting a lesson in the King’s Indian Defense.

3. Our top junior player, Paul Miller, ready to give the GM ” a run for his money”.

4. The GM in action while John Vonderlieth, in the background, thinks about his next move.

5. Josh Nissenboim was the only player to draw GM Ftacnik.

Congratulations to David Causey on a perfect 4-0 score to win his first CCC championship!! Jacob Al-Sarraf won 2nd place with a 3-1 score, losing only to the champion. In the battle for third between Josh Nissenboim and Clark Rivers, saw the first draw in the tournament.  Both finished with 2.5 pts. with the trophy going to Josh on the second tiebreak.  Thanks to all who participated.

Click here to view all the CCC Championship 2007 Games

The final crosstable

The 2nd Patrick D. Hart Memorial Scholastic was held February 10, 2007, in conjunction with the 33rd Snowstorm Special.  It was a 4 round event combining all sections, high school, middle school and elementary/kindergarten.   A total of 15 players participated and the top 3 finishers of each school group won place trophies and USCF memberships.

The final standings in each group were:

High School

1st place -   Rade Musulin          4.0pts.
2nd place – Stephen Nelson      3.0pts.
3rd place -   Ryan Badger           2.0pts.

Middle School

1st place  -  Paul Miller                3.0pts. (tiebreak)
2nd place  -  Katherine Olsen    3.0pts. (tiebreak)
3rd place  -  Wright Clarkson     3.0pts. (tiebreak)

Elem./K:

1st place  -  Andrew Hater           2.0pts.
2nd place  -  Eric Cheng              1.5pts.
3rd place  -  Hannah Whatley     1.0pts.

Many thanks to Sig Smith/Sigschess for providing prizes for the other finishers and to John Crompton for directing another successful PHM Scholastic.

The USC Chess Club hosted the fourth installment of its Gamecock series on December 2.  The prize winners were:

Section A
1st Place – Timur Aliyev, 2.5 out of 3
2nd Place – Keith Eubanks, 1.5 out of 3
Top Under 2000 – David Causey

Section B
1st Place – Michael Lauria, 3.0 out of 3
2nd/3rd Place – Stephen Welt, James MacDougall, 2.0 out of 3
Top Under 1500 – Joe Lang and Zachary Templeton

The scholastic winners were:

1st Place Trophy, Adam Fogle, 4.5 out of 5
2nd Place Trophy on tiebreaker, Brett Harrison, 4 out of 5
3rd Place Trophy on tiebreaker, Junda Chen, 4 out of 5
Top High School Trophy – Ryan Cooke
Top Middle School Trophy – Arjun Grover
Top Elementary School Trophy – Eric Cheng

The 33rd Snowstorm Special was held February 9-11, 2007, at the Ashley River Inn in Charleston, SC.  Thirty-one players participated from North and South Carolina with NM Andrey Chumachenko taking 1st place with a score of 4.5/.5 and NM Timur Aliyev and Expert Chris Mabe tying for 2nd-3rd with a score of 4.0/1.0.

Master Andrey Chumachenko (left) drew with Master Timur Aliyev  in the last round to secure his 1st place finish.

Click here for the games.

Click here for the crosstables.

N.C. Expert Chris Mabe (right) defeats Lintu Ramachandran to tie for 2nd place with NM Aliyev.

In this final round game, the winners of the A and C class prizes were determined by an agreed draw. Local players Doug Holmes (left) won the class A prize and Fred Mayntz won the class C prize.

Even on the last board, Teigh Berg of Aiken, SC, and local player, Brad Braun, battle for possible prizes.  Braun, by winning this game, tied for the class E prize with N.C.’s Kevin Hyde and Aiken’s Don Lockhart.

Many thanks to Sig Smith/Sigschess for offering his chess wares for the second straight year.