The 42nd Snowstorm Special will be held this Saturday at Park Circle Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall.  This year’s version will be a one-day, 4 round, G/45;delay 5, open tournament with cash prizes for places and top Under scores.  Check out “Upcoming Tournaments” at the right to go to the USCF TLA for the tournament.  Entry fee is just $25 and you can either sign up at the club meeting on Wednesday or at the site from 8-9:15am on Saturday.  Round 1 will begin at 9:30am.  This is an excellent opportunity to play in one of our annual tournaments without giving up the whole weekend!  Hope to see our players there!

UPDATE:  Fifteen avid players showed up for play with one overall winner, a four-way tie for 2nd, and other Under prize winners.  Check out the following link for the USCF final cross table:

42nd Snowstorm Special Cross Table

Check out our “Club Calendar” for upcoming Wednesday night activities in January, 2016.

Fellow CCC member and TD, Dennis Dawley, rounded up most of our blitz players and held a double round robin tournament at last Wednesday’s meeting. After the smoke cleared, David Causey took top place in the Upper Section Quads with a 6-0 score, while Robert Webb survived to win the Lower Section round robin followed closely by James Falkner and Colby Wright. Check out the results by clicking the link below:

Christmas Blitz

Dennis announced that he would plan another blitz tournament in January, possibly the third meeting night. Join us if you missed the December tournament and try your luck at blitz chess. A small entry fee of $5 is required to play, but most all the money is paid out in prizes.

Our 2015 CCC Champion, Elijah Neumann, held his own against strong competition at last weekend’s S.C. Championships held in Columbia.  Facing some of the best players in our state, Elijah scored 3-2, with two wins, two draws (against one master and one expert), and a lone loss against an expert, and was rewarded with the Top U2000 prize.  His rating jumped from 1968 to 1987, now nearly expert strength.  Congratulations, Elijah, and, as we always say, “Show us your games!”

You can still register for the S.C. Championships at the CCC meeting this Wednesday night and get the early entry reduced fee.  Check out “Upcoming Tournaments” by clicking on the right side of the main page to get all the details about the tournament.  Any questions about the tournament can be posed to David Causey at this week’s meeting.  SCCA memberships are also available through David since he is the SCCA Treasurer.

Elijah Neumann and Zach Darga repeated their championship ways by winning the 2015 CCC Championship Upper and Lower Sections, respectively.  Both sections were decided by using a double round robin format with Elijah scoring 1.5-.5 against both Stephen Welt and David Causey in the Upper Section (over 1500) and Zach scoring 3-0 against all his opponents in the Lower Section (under 1500).  Congratulations to both our champions!

Elijah Neumann, 2015 CCC Champion

Zach Darga, 2015 CCC Lower Section Champion

In order to give our club players the chance to enter into the 2015 CCC Championship, we will offer two nights to begin play for Rd. 1.  Last night, we started with two players in the Upper Section and four in the Lower Section.  We will hold an alternative Rd. 1 next Wednesday, May 13th, so that others can join in.  Subsequently, Rd. 2 will begin on May 20th, with the two groups of first round players merged into the tournament.  Entry is just $5 and we will have “Champion” and “Runner Up” trophies in each section.  The Lower Section will be those rated under 1500, but anyone can play up into the Upper Section.  Don’t miss your chance to enter this year’s championship!  Time control for the Upper Section is G/90;delay 5 and for the Lower Section, it’s G/55;delay 5.  Half point byes are available for those that can’t make any rounds.  Email with any questions to “chessbass@att.net”.  See you there!

Click on “Club Calendar” at right of this page.

The CCC Annual Meeting for elections is tonight, April 1st, 2015.  If you have not renewed your membership ($25), you must do so before you are eligible to vote and play in the upcoming club championship in May.  Doors will be open at 7pm and the meeting will begin at 7:30pm, so any outstanding dues can be collected before the meeting begins.  After the meeting, we will discuss the format of our championship as well as possibly setting up a blitz championship before the regular championship begins.  Looking forward to seeing as many members as possible tonight so that you can have input into our future activities.

For many years, it has been known that the open format of the Snowstorm Special can lead to some major upsets.  Many a master has gone down to a Class A or B player in the early rounds.  For the lower rated players, generally a score of 3-2 will secure some prize money, due to the competition.  This year’s tournament was no exception, as Ian Bell, rated 1654, downed last year’s champ, Expert Donny Gray of Georgia, in round four, and went on to win his final round game to place second overall.  South Carolina state champion, Expert Wayne Christensen, who had beaten Bell in round two and drawn Gray in round 3, finished the tournament with two strong wins to go 4.5-.5 and take first place overall.  Congratulations to Wayne and Ian on a great tournament!

In the U1401 section of the tournament, James A. Williams of Virginia finished just like last year with a 5-0 result and took first place alone.  His travelling companion, Joseph Jackson, playing in his first tournament, lost only to his friend, Williams, drew another game, and won 2nd place with a 3.5-1.5 score.  For our friends from Virginia, congratulations and thanks for your support!

Commentary:  The Snowstorm Special is the only weekend tournament held in the Charleston area to give local players a chance to play without travel and hotel expenses.  Some of our club players played in this year’s tournament, as in the past, and we are thankful for their support.  It must be mentioned that those who did not attend should note there was no player under 1600 in the Open section, thus no prize was paid out.  In fact, some players withdrew that would have probably shared or won the U2000 prize due to Ian Bell achieving the 2nd place finish.  An U2000 player that finished the tournament with a 2.5-2.5 score (50%!) won the U2000 prize!  If you don’t play, you don’t win prizes!  “Food for thought” for those that think they didn’t have a chance after a loss in the early rounds of the Open section.  We may make some changes next year to encourage more players to attend, but, hopefully, if those that quit early or didn’t play at all will just look at the results, they should realize that they “left prize money on the table”.

41st Snowstorm Special Champion – Expert Wayne Christensen

41st Snowstorm Special – 2nd Place – Ian Bell

Click here for the final USCF cross-table.