Ashland XX Round 3

Round 3 of Ashland XX had 22 players at the boards. Paul Farb (1900) stayed atop the crosstable by defending against Steve Boshears(1638) onslought. Keith Eubanks (2036) stayed close behind by outlasting Gil Holmes(1774). David Vetterlein(1800) settled peacefully with Ben Caiello(1608) after 47 moves and Adam Shaw(1810) defeated George Morton(1728) to round out the Open section action.

In the U1505 section we have a logjam with 3 players with 2.5 points. Ralph Buske(1489) and Mike Mayfield(1275) split the point with a draw. Craig "The General" Patton(1283) took the point from "Tenacious B" Birney Blind(1194), giving Craig 2.5 points total along with Buske and Mayfield. In the battle of the Marks, Woodman(1177) defeated Acklie(901). Young Christina Dunlap(916) claimed the point from younger Jon Bundy. In a tough battle Pani Wickramasinghe(1392) defeated David Boyd(1317). We also welcomed two unrated USCF members to our club, Jason Lefebvre and Megh Testerman. Newbies to the club but not to chess, they jumped right into the action and gave their opponents tough games but Richard "Mega" Watts(1151) defeated Lefebvre and James Price(1098) defeated Megh Testerman.

Next week, Cinco de Mayo, is Round 4 of Ashland XX.

Aiken/Augusta Players!! Jason LeFebvre has secured a meeting site for Saturday's starting at 10:00 am and going until...... A few of us are planning to head over on Sat May 7, if anyone else is interested let us know! You can find more information at Chess Players of Augusta .

The early entry deadline for the Lee Hyder Memorial is May 10. Early entry is $65 vs. $80 after and on site. You can early enter at the club on Thursday evening. Entry fee must be paid at the time of entry.

The club now has some tournament sets for sale. The combo (board, pieces & bag) is $20. Board separately is $5 Pieces are $7 and the bag is $12. We also have the spiral scorebook that holds 50 games for $3 or the hard cover scorebook that holds 100 games for $6. They will be available on Thurs nites while supplies last.

Farb leads Ashland XX after two rounds!

Twenty players battled in Round 2 of Ashland XX. Paul Farb (1900) defended Board 1 from David Vetterlein (1800) to move into clear first at 2 points in the Open Section. Keith Eubanks (2036) defeated Adam Shaw (1810) , Gil Holmes (1774) took the point from George Morton (1728) and Steve Boshears (1638) outlasted Russell Thurmond (1600) creating a four way tie for second at 1.5 points. Ben Caiello (1608) broke into the win column scoring the point over Pani Wickramasinghe (1392).

Ralph Buske (1489) won over Birney Blind (1194) as Mike Mayfield (1275) defeated Mark Woodman (1177) creating a tie at the top at 2 points. Craig Patton (1283) took the point from Christian Dunlap (916), Mike Meekins (954) scored the win over James Price (1098) and Mark Acklie (901) picked up the point from Richard Watts (1151).

Round 3 will be Thursday, April 28.

The Columbia Open will be August 19-21. This year's edition features an increased prize fund of $5000 guaranteed and a reduced early entry fee of $59. We expect this to be the biggest and best Columbia Open to date! Be There!!

British Bulldog Chess Meetup

Our first meetup on Sat April 16th was great fun and we had around 20 attendees, some new interested minds were opened up to chess along with USCF, ColumbiaChess and chess.com memberships.

Throughout the day there were many interested onlookers and some good publicity was created for chess and our wonderful venue, http://www.thebritishbulldogpub.com/

















Officially the meetup and tourney started at 10AM and ended at 5PM, but 8 of us stayed until 11:30 PM playing 2 person teams of alternating move, no consult blitz, which is a great way to expand your chess horizons.


The official tournament had 10 players playing a dual rated Game 60 +5 sec Delay and results can be seen here.

Pictures from the event can be seen here

Ashland XX Begins!!

Eighteen players competed in Round 1 of Ashland XX. Paul King (1912) defended Board 1 from George Morton (1728) and Paul Farb (1900) scored the win over Ben Caiello (1608). David Vetterlein (1800) took the point from Dan Caiello (1420) to share the early lead as Adam Shaw (1810) and Russell Thurmond (1600) settled peacefully in the evenings only draw.

In the Amateur Section, Ralph Buske (1489) outlasted Richard Watts (1151) as Mike Mayfield (1275) survived a scary attack to take the point from James Price (1098). Christian Dunlap (916) scored the only upset of the night defeating Cody Kyzer (1236). Birney Blind (1194) continued his solid play with a victory over Mark Acklie (901) and Mark Woodman (1177) won over Jonathan Bundy (105).

Round 2 is Thursday, April 21.

Be sure to check out the coverage of the U.S. Chess Champs. Coverage starts at 3:00 with GM Maurice Ashley and WGM Jennifer Shahade provide commentary.

Watch live streaming video from uschess at livestream.com

Casual Night - Ashland XX starts next week!

Over a dozen players including three new eager minds and our bi annual visitor from PA enjoyed some stress free chess on Casual Night.


Paul Farb (1900) and visiting Steve Boak (1813) contested their latest battle in a series that started in CA around 20 years ago with Steve getting the upper hand this time. Klaus Johnson brought in a copy of the book Palma de Mallorca, 1970 Interzonal Chess Tournament and several of us enjoyed playing through a dozen or so of the games. Naturally bughouse broke out with a couple of our new players jumping in.


A handful of us visited the British Bulldog Pub afterwards to go over games and play some consultation blitz??! Be sure to check out this chess friendly Pub on Sundays as some casual players gather and if you can beat one of the owners you'll win a free pint! The April 16 Meet Up will be held in the back room of the pub from 10-4. Contact Daniel for more information.


Next week is Round 1 of Ashland XX. This tournament will be our normal, two section tournament: Five round Swiss. Two Sections. One round a week for five weeks. Entry fee $3 a round for club members, $5 a round for non-members. One bye allowed, No last round byes. Rounds start at 7:30. Game 90 Open Section First Place $35, Second Place $20, U1805 $15 U1605 $15. Club members with a floor of 1800 receive free entry, $15 will be deducted from any prize won. Amateur Section (U1505) First Place $35, Second Place $20, U1205 $15 U1000 $15. Perfect score (5-0, byes do not count) wins free entry into a Cola Club tournament. After going seven tournaments (1 year) without the free entry being claimed it's been claimed in the last two tournaments! Can someone post a perfect 5-0 in this one?


The Lee Hyder Memorial is coming up on May 20 here in Columbia. Be sure to take advantage of the early entry of $65 before May 10. The regular entry fee is $80 and this deadline is only 1 month away.

Lamby wins Ashland Quick XXIV!

Sixteen players competed in four quads at Ashland Quick XXIV. Philipp Lamby (2099) scored a perfect 3 points to take clear first ahead of Edsel Pena (2019), Paul King (1905) & Klaus Johnson (1795) in the Top Quad.

Joerg Lohse (1765) and Gil Holmes (1551) tied with two points to finish first in the Candidates Quad ahead of Paul Farb (1774) and Steve Boshears (1593).

Adam Shaw (1445) posted a perfect 3-0 to take the Amateur Quad ahead of George Morton (1474), Erik Murrah (1435) and Mike Mayfield (1427).

David Boyd (1254) shared the top spot of the Reserve Quad with Cody Kyzer (1091) finishing ahead of Richard Watts (1066) and Christian Dunlap (726).

Note that posted ratings are Quick Ratings, not Regular.

Next week, April 7, is Casual Night. Come out for some stress free chess!!

The Year End Awards standings have been updated.

There will be 4 (FOUR!) tournaments here in Columbia this year. All will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn on Harbison.

The first is the Lee Hyder, that used to be held in Aiken, on May 20-22.

Next up is a new event, the South Carolina Class Championships on July 9-10. There is also a Blitz tournament Sat night during this event.

On Aug 19-21 is the Columbia Chess Club's signature event, The Columbia Open and the last tournament will be the 72nd South Carolina Championships.

There's plenty of action right here in town this year so get out and play!!