Columbia defeats QCCA 13.5 - 12.5 !!

The Columbia Chess Club hosted the Queen City Chess Association as the clubs met across the board for the third time. This was a huge battle with QCCA sending an army of thirteen players and Columbia having a last minute scramble due to cancellations to match the invaders from the north. If you were unable to follow the match on Twitter, here is what happened:

When the battle lines were drawn the substitutions favored the Cola team in avg rating by almost 50 points instead of the less than 10 with the original lineup. Thanks to QCCA for allowing these last minute changes!

The match was very competitive with Cola leading at halftime 7-6. First round winners for Columbia were Keith Eubanks, Paul Farb, Bill Taylor, Adam Shaw, Dan Caiello and Mike Boone with draws from Ben Caiello and Richard Watts. First half winners from QCCA were Alexander Tong, Winfred Gatlin, Suhas Madiraju, Nathan Tong, David Blackwelder with draws from Mike Eberhardinger and Ishaan Maitra.

In the second half QCCA quickly evened the score when Blackwelder posted his second win.

Dan Caiello scored his second win to put Cola back ahead 8-7.

QCCA fought back with wins from Taefi and Blackwell to take the lead 9-8.

Ben Caiello scored a win for Columbia to level the score at 9-9.

Watts (Cola) and Maitra (QCCA) drew for the second time bringing the score to 9.5-9.5 as the tension built.

Patton wins to put Cola out front 10.5 - 9.5.

Gatlin (QCCA) and Robinson (Cola) draw bringing the score to 11 - 10 with five games in progress.

Morton scores a win for Cola to extend the good guys lead to 12-10. Two point lead for Columbia with only four games left.

QCCA fights back again as Gottiparthi and Taylor-Brill both score wins to tie the match at 12-12 with only two games still going.

In a very tense battle Daniel Smith held the advantage over Suhas Madiraju but with the clock ticking down it wasn't clear how to win and with one misstep the attack could fail. Living on delay at 7 seconds the position cleared and after a hesitation brought the clock down to 3 seconds Daniel was able to sack his Queen for Suhas's Knight leaving Daniel up with 3 pawns against a lone King creating a simple win. Suhas played it out to mate hoping for another hesitation to save the half point but Daniel was up to the task and put Columbia ahead 13-12 with only one game left going and it was on Board 1.

Gary Newsom was up a pawn against Keith Eubanks but now with Cola ahead by a point Keith only had to hold the draw while Gary had to win bring his team even. To the kibitzers gathered around it looked like Gary had found a win in a same colored Bishops endgame but Keith saved the half point when Gary was left with a wrong color rook pawn and he couldn't keep Keith's King from blockading the queening square. It looked to be a very instructive endgame since it appeared as if there was a win for Gary hiding somewhere within the 64 squares. Eubanks' ability to save the half point gave Columbia the win 13.5 - 12.5 over Queen City.

Edit: Gary Newsom has posted a report with his endgame in the final game HERE.

This was a very enjoyable afternoon and it was pleasure to have the QCCA visit us again. The QCCA hosts the very successful Reverse Angle series in Charlotte. RA25 will be Jan 14 and will be a great warm up to the Land of the Sky tournament in Asheville Jan 27-29.

A very nice photo album is HERE provided by the Tong family. The rated results are HERE.

The record is now Columbia 2 wins QCCA 0 wins and one draw. We will try to schedule the next match in the spring.

Murrah wins 960 with a perfect 4-0!!

Ten players competed in the first Ashland 960 as Erik Murrah cruised to a perfect score. Gil Holmes placed second with 3 points. Bill Taylor and Darell Hunt tied for third with 2.5.

Sat, Dec 17, the QCCA will visit and try reclaim some dignity after the 11-3 thrashing in our last Club Match . This will be our third meeting and by far the largest rosters. Time control is G90, first game at 10:00. There will be Twitter updates through out the match.

QCCA Team:

Board 1 - Gary Newsom (2013)
Board 2 - Tarokh Taefi (1872)
Board 3 - Mike Eberhardinger (1733)
Board 4 - Seth Taylor-Brill (1711)

Board 5 - Shouri Gottiparthi (1703)
Board 6 - Alexander Tong (1572)
Board 7 - Windy Gatlin (1561)
Board 8 - Suraj Madiraju (1520)

Board 9 - Suhas Madiraju (1500)
Board 10 - Copeland Blackwell (1419)
Board 11 - Nathan Tong (1392)
Board 12 - David Blackwelder (1296)
Board 13 - Ishaan Maitra (1255)


Columbia Team:

Board 1 - Kyle Oody (1915)
Board 2 - Ben Caiello (1839)
Board 3 - Bill Taylor (1825)
Board 4 - Adam Shaw (1817)

Board 5 - Gerald Battaglia (1630)
Board 6 - George Morton (1627)
Board 7 - Lendel Robinson (1617)
Board 8 - Dan Caiello (1536)

Board 9 - Daniel Smith (1527)
Board 10 - Mike Boone (1388)
Board 11 - Darell Hunt (1307)
Board 12 - Richard Watts (1285)
Board 13 - Paul Lowry (1148)

Next week, Dec 22 will be Casual Night and the Year End Awards will be handed out. Casual play and possible blitz tournament. Trophies will be awarded at 8:00. Here are this year's winners:

Most Active : Paul Farb 41 games
Most Improved Jr Player : Ben Caiello +352
Most Improved Player: Adam Shaw +212
Jr. Player of the Year: Ben Caiello 30 points
Player of the Year: Darell Hunt 24 points

Congratulations to all the winners!

Dec 29 will be Ashland Action II.

Open Section 4 round SS G30. Prize fund $480 b/28

Entry fee $20 club members, $30 non members.

Prizes: 1st $150 2nd $100 3rd $50 U1605 $95 U1205 $85

Rounds 7:00 8:15 9:30 & 10:45 Registration for first round ends at 6:50. Register by 8:05 and receive a .5 point bye for first round.

Two half point byes available. Must commit before 8:05.

Caiello brothers win Bughouse II!!

Six teams battled in a double round-robin of Bughouse. The team of Ben & Dan Caiello took clear first with 8 points ahead of Keith Eubanks & James MacDougall who scored 7 points. Eubanks-MacDougall held a 1 point lead going into the final match but couldn't hold off Ben & Dan who scored 2-0 to win the match and tournament.

Next week, Dec 15, is a Chess 960/Fischer Random tournament. This tournament is open to everyone! No entry fee! No membership required! Open Section, Four round Swiss (Quick Rating will be used for pairing purposes). Game 20/3sec delay. Registration will end at 7:50. One bye available, must commit before round 3. Rounds 8:00, 8:50, 9:40 & 10:30. Check HERE for more information on this variant.

Monday, Dec 12, players will be meeting at the St Andrews Regional library from 6:00-8:30. This is open to everyone for casual play. Here's a chance to get some practice in before the 960 tournament.

The final Award Standings have been posted. If you believe there is an error in the standings contact Ralph . Awards will be given out on Casual Night, Dec 22.

The QCCA is sending a team to battle with Cola Chess on Dec 17. We plan to broadcast a couple boards and there will be twitter updates throughout the match. Here are the lineups:

QCCA Team:

Board 1 - Gary Newsom (2013)

Board 2 - Tarokh Taefi (1872)

Board 3 - Mike Eberhardinger (1733)

Board 4 - Alexander Tong (1572)

Board 5 - Windy Gatlin (1561)

Board 6 - Suraj Madiraju (1520)

Board 7 - Suhas Madiraju (1500)

Board 8 - Copeland Blackwell(1419)

Board 9 - Nathan Tong (1392)

Board 10 - David Blackwelder (1296)

Board 11 - Ishaan Maitra (1255)

Columbia Team:

Board 1 - Kyle Oody (1915)

Board 2 - Ben Caiello (1839)

Board 3 - Adam Shaw (1817)

Board 4 - George Morton (1627)

Board 5 - Lendel Robinson (1617)

Board 6 - Dan Caiello (1536)

Board 7 - Daniel Smith (1527)

Board 8 - Mike Boone (1388)

Board 9 - Darell Hunt (1307)

Board 10 - Richard Watts (1285)

Board 11 - Paul Lowry (1148)

Ashland XVIII - Round 4

Eighteen players compete in the Penultimate Round of Ashland XVIII. Keith Eubanks (2012) found the win over Paul King (1946) as James MacDougall (1947) defeated Paul Farb (1935) to stay tied at the top. Erik Murrah (1677) outlasted Robert Folts (1761) and Ralph Buske (1468) battled to a draw with Daniel Smith (1364).

In the Amateur Section, Ben Caiello (1497) escaped with a draw against Cody Kyzer (1202) to stay in clear first by a half point heading into the final round. Dan Caiello (1411) took the point from Birney Blind (1282) as Shiva Balasubramanian (1242) settled peacefully with Jaime Sanyer (1008). Mike Mayfield (1355) defeated Christian Dunlap (754) and Richard Watts (1141) claimed the point from Drew Plyler (1248).

The Final Round will be Thurs, Dec 9.

Next weekend, Dec 10-12, is the Greater Charlotte Championship . This is being held at the same hotel the 200 player NC Open was at so this should be another good one!

If you can't take a weekend for chess head over to Florence for the Florence Chess Club Championship on Sat, Dec 11. This is a one day, five round, G30 Swiss with trophies to the top two finishers and the entry fee is only $10! Reg is from 9-9:15 with Round 1 starting at 9:45. Inquiries: John Zeimetz (843) 229-7468 or check with Drew Plyler at our club on Thursday evening. A few club members are heading over so check on Thurs evening if you'd like to car pool. This club is starting to get rolling and we may be able to set up a Club Match with them soon.

The first weekly tournament next year starting on Jan 6, Ashland XIX, will be a Team Tournament. Full Details will be posted Monday, Dec 6.

Steve Boshears is forming a team to compete in the 2011 US Amateur Team - South in Orlando, Fl Feb 18-20. This will be a 4-player team (plus optional alternate), Team Avg rating below 2200 using Jan ratings. There are six players interested right now so we may have enough for the club to field two teams. If you would like to be on this team contact Steve by Email or at the club on Thursday evenings.

In case you missed it, Garry Kasparov sat down with Google for this Q&A. It's an hour long and worth watching if you have the time.

Cola Chess vs QCCA rematch (11-3)

Columbia Chess claims shocking 11-3 victory over QCCA!

Gimme a good hearty Viking Quest yell, VICCCCTORRRRY!!! (If you watch Entourage you will understand)

The Columbia Chess Club traveled to the Queen City Chess Association on Saturday, Sept 25th for a club rematch. The previous match ended in a tie.

The Crosstable of the event is HERE.

More on this event to follow.

Road Warriors Needed!! - Rematch Sept 25

Time to settle this war between the states!

A rematch with the Queen City Chess Association has been scheduled for Saturday, Sept 25. Our first match ended in a very exciting tie!

The Border Battle which featured matches between the State Champs, the State High School Champs and matches between class players all ended with tie scores when the dust settled.

The first two battles were fought in South Carolina. This time we take the battle North to Charlotte at their home, Asian Herald Library. Two rounds starting at 10:00, Game 90.

We're looking to field a ten player team to bring back bragging rights not only in this North-South rivalry but also in the battle between each state's largest club!

Final Team Rosters:

Team Columbia:
Board 1 - Philipp Lamby
Board 2 - Paul Farb
Board 3 - Joerg Lohse
Board 4 - Daniel Smith
Board 5 - Shiva Balasubramanian

QCCA Team
Board 1 - Gary Newsom
Board 2 - Mark Sturman
Board 3 - Mike Eberhardinger
Board 4 - Windy Gatlin
Board 5 - Hassan Hashemloo

QCCA vs. Cola Chess - TIE!!!

The Queen City Chess Association visited the Columbia Chess Club for a friendly club match today. The QCCA Team consisted of Patrick McCartney (1978), Mark Sturman (1807), Mike Eberhardinger (1773), Charles Carerros (1650), Copeland Blackwell (1332) and Anthony Cato (1132). The Cola Team was made up of Keith Eubanks (2024), Kyle Oody (1901), George Morton (1634), Steve Boshears (1613), Richard Watts (1230) and Daniel Smith (1154).

With the close ratings on each board we expected a tough match from the boys from Charlotte and we got it! In the first round, Cato took down Smith, Blackwell defeated Watts, Carerros threw caution to the wind in the most exciting game of the day as Boshears was unable to find the win and ultimately lost the game, Morton pulled a Houdini to defeat Eberhardinger as Mike literally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, Oody defeated Sturman and McCartney took down Eubanks to give the Bad Guys a 4-2 lead after the first round.

Cola Chess has a lot of fight to bitter enders and it showed in the second round as the match teetered back and forth from promising to hopeless to we might survive!

Smith missed the win against Cato but kept his cool and drew the game so we still trail by 2 points with 5 boards to go. Watts showed the never say die attitude as he continued to put up maximum resistance in a lost position to salvage the draw and save the half point keeping our slim hopes alive. If there was a Goody's headache award in this match Boshears would have won it as he saw a second promising position slip through his fingers and was defeated, now we trail by 3 points with only three boards left. Morton's position didn't look good, but for the second time Caissa smiled upon him and he was victorious! Our slim hopes are still alive. Oody wins again to pull us to within 1 point of drawing this match! This means the result on the Board 1, the last board playing will decide the match. Our club's pride is riding on Eubanks, who has been with the club from the beginning, was our first player of the year and our first club champion. Naturally, he comes thru in the clutch to defeat McCartney tying the match score at 6-6!!

We hope to visit QCCA and play them on their turf in the future.

The match crosstable is HERE.

All in all it was a fun day and exciting day! We had the US Champs broadcast playing in the skittles room and a three round side tournament was won by Adam Shaw who posted a perfect 3-0 score. About thirty players came out to either compete or support the home team.

The side tournament crosstable is HERE.

Another side note, congratulations to Holly and Erik "The Weak Square" Murrah whose second child arrived this week!!