GM Lubomir Ftacnik will be visiting our club on Wednesday night to give a lecture and simul.  Visitors are welcome to attend and watch the lecture, but if you want to play in the GM simul, there is small fee of $5 that goes toward scholastic chess.  Scholastic players can play for free, but the fee will only apply to non-scholastic players.  Bring your set and board if you wish to play against GM Ftacnik.

Update:  Thanks to all that showed up and attended GM Ftacnik’s lecture and simul.  Around 25 attended the lecture with 17 giving it their best to upset GM Ftacnik, but he held his own 17-0!

Due to a church event requiring all rooms, we will not meet on July 13th.  The next meeting on July 20th is a special event for the club with GM Lubomir Ftacnik giving a lecture and simul for our members and guests.  The simul is usually a $5 entry fee for non- scholastic players which supports our scholastic chess events.  The lecture is free to all, so don’t miss the chance to listen to a strong GM show how they think in complicated chess positions.  Be sure to bring your board and set if you plan to participate in the simul.

2016 CCC Upper Section Champion – Expert Elijah Neumann

2016 CCC Lower Section Champion – Robert Webb

The 2016 CCC Championship has finished!  Congratulations go out to Elijah Neumann/Upper Section Champion and Robert Webb/Lower Section Champion.  Other trophy winners in the Lower Section are as follows:

2nd Place – Matthew Johnson

3rd Place – Braeden Reed

Top U1000 – Sam Stone

Thanks to everyone for playing and supporting our club championship.

Click here for final USCF cross tables:  CCCCh2016

Our meeting this Wednesday, June 15th, will have some exciting chess.  Elijah Neumann and David Causey will have a playoff featuring two Game 15;d5 games, and if they are still tied, two 5min blitz games.  If there is still a tie, an Armageddon game will be the final tiebreak to determine the club champion.

In the Lower Section, the 4th round matchups should produce some critical chess for those vying for the top three places and the Top U1000 prize.  We plan to have a 5th round to determine the final standings.

It is important as we finish our championships that players attend and play their games.  This avoids further byes and makeup games so that we can finish by the following Wednesday meeting.  Trophies will be ready for the eventual winners.

Show up and lets have some exciting chess!

We still only have 4 players in the Upper Section with only three games played thus far.  After wins by Elijah Neumann against Jim Bickley and David Causey against Michael Gorlitsky in the first round, Neumann and Causey squared off in the second round Wednesday night.  After 50 moves, they agreed to a draw in a position that neither player wanted to risk trying to win.  Bickley and Gorlitsky was postponed due to Bickley’s absence, so their game will hopefully be made up next Wednesday.  In the Lower Section, fifteen players are competing and after two rounds, John King and Robert Webb have two points, but two games were postponed due to absent players and could produce another two point score for one player.  If games are not made up, they will be given a 1/2 point bye in order to pair future rounds.  Those that missed need to be sure to show up next Wednesday or you may lose ground to the leaders.  Hope to see another good turnout!

Update:  In the Upper Section, Bickley vs Gorlitsky was made up Wednesday night, June 1, with Bickley winning.  Next week will be Neumann vs Gorlitsky and Bickley vs Causey to finish the round robin pairings.  In the Lower Section, many players did not show after missing last week  so makeup games were not feasible.  Those that were not present to play the 2nd and 3rd round were given half point byes for games missed and eight players were paired for the round.  Reed vs King will be made up next week, but results for the rest were Neiffer (0) vs Johnson(1), Magill (0) vs Hitopoulos(1) and Fowler(1) vs Billings(0).  Trophy prizes for the tournament will be Champion and Runner Up in the Upper Section and 1st through 3rd and Best U1000 in the Lower Section.  Be sure to show up for the next round!  There still might be a trophy in your future!

We are taking registrations for those CCC members who want to participate in the 2016 CCC Championship.  Free entry is being offered to current CCC members and a reduced club dues of $15 applies to those signing up for the tournament.  With enough entries, we will try to have our traditional Upper and Lower Sections with 1st place and Runner Up trophies, accordingly.  This a your chance to play USCF-rated chess at regular time controls (Game 90;delay 5 sec) and at a schedule of one game a week.  If you haven’t done so, come check out our new site at The Church of the Holy Cross on Daniel Island and sign up to play.  Hope to see a good turnout!

Update:  We had only 4 players for the Upper Section (above 1500 rating) signup and play in the 1st round!  If any other players above 1500 would like to join in, we will take their registration on Wednesday, 5/25/16, and play another 1st round, then merge the two groups into the 2nd round on June 1.  The good news is that twelve players are signed up for the Lower Section and played their 1st round Wednesday night.  Their 2nd round will be played next Wednesday, 5/25/16. 

Our new meeting site at The Church of the Holy Cross on Daniel Island brought out some old members that have not attended in years.  Expert Lindsey Blanks and Michael Gorlitsky dusted off their sets and came ready to play.   It was good to see them again and we welcomed them back.  Overall, we had nearly a dozen attendees and our hosts invited us to continue using their facilities in the future.  With our new meeting site secured, our officers will now propose plans for our club championship and other chess activities.  Hopefully, our returning old members will join us in our future competitions.  For those that missed the first meeting at our new site, we look forward to them turning out and enjoying our new location.

On May 4th, our temporary new meeting site will be located on Daniel Island at the Church of the Holy Cross.  The address is 299 Seven Farms Dr., Daniel Island, SC, 29492.  Turn left at the corner when you see the church and park behind in the parking area.  We will be in one of the meeting rooms in the back building.  This is a temporary meeting site as a trial to see if it is adequate for our needs and chess friendly, i.e. space, noise level, etc.  If anyone knows of another adequate site for us to check out, let us know.

Due to the closing of the Park Circle Presbyterian Church, we will be looking for a new site for our meetings.  We encourage our members and guests to give us input so that we can make this transition as easy as possible.  Check the website often for updates so that you will know of any changes in our location, temporary or permanent.

UPDATE:  The Park Circle Presbyterian Church has told us that we can use their facility through the end of April.  We are still searching for a potential new site and want to remind everyone about our annual meeting on April 6 at the current location.  We can elect officers and discuss new site ideas with everyone.  Try to make this very important meeting.

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