Four CCC members participated in the S.C. Open last weekend in Greenville, S.C., and made an excellent showing.  Our own CCC president, David Causey, tied for 2nd-3rd place in the Open section by winning his last round game against Life Master and 12-time S.C. champion, Klaus Pohl.  David has broken the 2000 rating point barrier that he has hovered under for over 25 years!  Stephen Welt, one of our class B players, tied for 9th-12th place also in the Open section, gaining over 30 rating points!   Our lone representative in the Under 1800 section (since Stephen was playing up in the Open section) was “grandmaster-drawing” Josh Nissenboim.  Josh had a respectable 50% result against “C” class players, holding his own and confirming his solid status at that level.  Finally, bringing up the “anchor-leg” in the Under 1400 section with an outstanding result, was Ian Morton.  Ian tied for 1st-4th by knocking off Daniel Dodds in the last round, who was undefeated to that point.  Daniel, you may remember, was the young player who garnered a win against GM Ftacnik in the Columbia simul.  All in all, a solid performance for our contingent from the Charleston Chess Club.  Be sure to congratulate them!

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

For our first beginner’s lesson, let’s play through a game and have each move explained so that the reader can see the logical pattern of thought that exists in chess play. Strong chess play follows a methodical plan based on positional and tactical considerations.

Click here for the lesson.