Chess Events Ahead

There are two Bangor are events in the near future. Steve Abrahams is hosting a tournament December 3 in Orono, and the Aurora Winter Solstice is scheduled on December 11. Both events are posted on chessmaine.net. The Aurora Winter Solstice is in its seventh year. It is famed for its excellent home cooking and small school feel. Let's hope that the weather is nice for traveling on these two dates!

Summer Chess

While the Ellsworth Chess Club heated up, a few Mainers enjoyed the cool air conditioning in hot Orlando, Florida while participating in the US Open and other chess championships. Keji Xu represented Maine high school players at the Denker, Matthew Fishbein represented K-8 students at the newly formed Barber Invitational, and Steve Abrahams, Matthew, and his dad Dan took part in the US Open itself.

Keji Xu finished with 2.5 points good for a tie for 32nd out of 50 competitors. The highlight of his competition was an upset of Graham Horobetz (2125) in the last round. Keji's rating was 1616 heading into the tournament. He was able to raise his rating to 1637 through his play at the Denker; that is his best to date.

Matthew Fishbein also had a very successful tournament. He finished 4th in the field of 44 in the first-ever Barber K-8 Tournament of Champions. By the time he was done, he had inched his rating closer to the 2000 marked finishing at 1991. It won't be long now before Matthew will become the first Maine elementary student to reach the coveted plateau. Let's hope he does it at one of our Maine tournaments!

Steve Abrahams and Matthew Fishbein both finished with 4.5 points out of nine rounds in the US Open. I trust that they all had a great time in Florida and took some time to see some of the sights that aren't so available in Maine.

Meanwhile back in Ellsworth Dick Powell continued to keep things hopping at Mr. Paperback at 6:00 on Thursdays. Seasonal players came by to challenge the likes of Mark Woida, Isaac Marnik, and Paul Wlodkowski. Sometimes there were up to a dozen players enjoying the competition.

Mariners Finish 18th; Vaughn Ties For 19th

The Deer Isle - Stonington State K-6 Champions took their show on the road to Dallas this past weekend and proved to be weekend warriors. Led by Orly Vaughn's 5.0 points, they finished with 15.0 good for 18th place. Despite their slow start on the first day, they rebounded to again show that Maine island chess is top notch. Tyson Rice and Brendan Penfold finished with 3.5 points, while Avery Reynolds and Ennis Marshall scored 3.0 a piece to share fourth on the team. Colby Haskell and Oskar Mattes were the other members who played in the K5 Under 900 section. Kylee Atwood competed in the K6 U1000 and finished with 2.0 points.

That closes the book on scholastic team championships for 2011. Overall an excellent showing from our Maine schools and individuals. Keep up the great work!

DI-S Enters Last Day in 14th Place

The Deer Isle - Stonington K5 Under 900 chess team continued to gain positions in the fifth round with Orly Vaughn (4.0) and Brendan Penfold (3.0) completing their sweep of all three rounds on Saturday. Avery Reynolds moved to 3.0 and Tyson Rice finished the day at 2.0 which gave the Mariners 12.0 points good for 14th place entering the final to rounds on Sunday. After a slow start in Dallas on Friday the Mariners looked good in the third through fifth rounds and are primed to bring home another trophy for their showcase.

Mariners Move Up In Standings

After four rounds the Deer Isle - Stonington chess team was in 17th place, fourteen spots higher than when they started the day. Orly Vaughn, Bendon Penfold, and Tyson Rice all won their third and fourth round matches to lead the resurgence.

Deer Isle - Stonington @ K-6 Nationals

Avery Reynolds and Orly Vaughn were able to each get a victory on the first day of competition at the K-6 Elementary Chess Nationals in Dallas. Oskar Mattes, Brendan Penfold, Tyson Rice, Colby Haskell, and Ennis Marshall are all looking for their first points as the enter Day 2 in the K5 Under 900 section. Kylee Atwood was also hoping to gain her first points in the K6 Under 1000 section on Day 2. We're wishing them good luck at this seven round event in Texas!

Ethan Bergeron Finishes Strong at Nationals

Ethan Bergeron was able to finish with 4.0 points in the Under 1600 Section at the High School Nationals in Columbus, Ohio. He managed three wins and two draws in this 7-round marathon. His teammates Connor Maines (1.5) and Patrick Jerome (0.5) played in the Championship Section and learned how tough this competition is. Due to being unrated they had to choose between the Championship Section and the Unrated Section and opted for the more challenging section.

Hopefully we'll hear more from their adventure when they return. Next up is the K-6 Nationals in Dallas where a group from Deer Isle-Stonington will look to bring home some hardware. They have seven players entered the U900 K-5 Section. I'll keep you posted on their results next weekend.

Cheverus Has Three Players at High School Nationals

Ethan Bergeron, Patrick Jerome, and Connor Maines are competing in the High School Nationals in Columbus, Ohio this weekend. They are part of the 2011 Maine State High School Championship team from Cheverus High School in Portland. Jerome and Maines are competing in the K-12 Championship section while Bergeron is in the K-12 Under 1600 section. They all were looking to get their first points in the second round Friday night in this grueling seven round competition. Good luck, Stags!

A Legend Passes Away

Bernard "Doc" Mann died Tuesday, April 26 in Bangor. He just a month shy of his 102nd birthday. He was a familiar face at Bangor chess events over the years although he claimed never to play rated games. In the USCF archives he is listed as playing one rated event in 1996 where he won two of three games. He would have been 86 at the time. There are many nice articles about him including an interview that Dan DeLuca did with him on chessmaine.net five years ago.

http://chessmaine.net/chessmaine/2009/06/happy-birthday-bernard-doc-man.html

He was a treasure, and we all will miss him. Rest in peace, Doc.

Deer Isle - Stonington Team Brings Home Hardware

Once again a Deer Isle - Stonington team brings back a trophy for their collection. Led by Bethanny Humphrey (5.0) and Cameron Wendall (4.0), they were able to finish in 13th in the K-8 Under 1000 section. Humphrey was able to finish tied for 14th and brought home the 18th Place trophy on tiebreaks. Other members of the Mariner team were Alyssa Chesney (2.5), Krisford Melanio (2.0), Isaac Vaughn (1.5), and Philomena Mattes (1.0). Cody Eaton (2.5) participated in the K9 Unrated section. Congrats, Mariners! Good luck to your schoolmates that are attending the Elementary Nationals in Dallas in a few weeks.

Fishbein Finishes Third!

Matthew Fishbein won his last round game and finished with 6.0 points leaving him 0.5 points behind the co-champions James Black and Jeevan Karemsetty. Fishbein's pnly blemish was a loss to Black which is featured on the USCF website. Congratulations, Matthew!

Fishbein 1/2 Point Behind Entering Last Round

Matthew Fishbein continued his excellent K-8 National Championship with a 6th round victory to move to 5.0 points, 1/2 point behind the five leaders. His 5th round loss to James Black is featured on the USCF web page. He has an excellent chance to end up with 6.0 points.

Bethanny Humphrey (4.5) and Cameron Wendell (4.0) are leading Deer Isle-Stonington in their quest for a National trophy. The DIS Mariner team is currently in 11th place in the K8 Under 1000 division.

Fishbein Enters 5th Round Undefeated

Matthew Fishbein is putting his best foot forward at the Nationals in Columbus. He has won his first four rounds and is one of only eight with 4.0 in the K-8 Championship section. He is scheduled to play James Black, Jr. (2156) in the 5th Round Saturday evening. There are 225 players in this section.

The Deer Isle-Stonington Under 1000 team is currently in 6th place. Bethanny Humphrey continues to excel with 3.5 points through four rounds.

Mainers Excel at Junior High Nationals

Matthew Fishbein has won his first three games to be tied with 19 others leading the way at the Junior High K-8 Championship section in Columbus, Ohio. Meanwhile Bethanny Humphrey's name is atop the standings in the K-8 Under 100 section. These National events consist of seven rounds in three days. I'll keep you posted on results as they come in.

Register for Closed Championship, Take Advantage of Chess Rate

The chess rate for the Best Western and Comfort Inn (formerly the Augusta Civic Center Inn) is good until Friday, April 1. Take advantage of this promotion and be able to go to your room between rounds. The Closed Championship playing room is connected to this hotel and makes it very convenient for players.

Now is also the time to send in your registration for the State Closed Championship before rates rise on April 6. We are pleased to have the Championship centrally located and in April again. The prize fund ($540) is not as large as last year, but it is comparable to past events. It also provides a chance to become State Champion or win a class prize.

Friday Night JB Game35 Results

Six chess fanatics played a three round unrated chess tournament Friday, March 25 at the University of Maine. Steve Abrahams (1983) worked hard to defend his title especially in the last round with Max Berube (1569). Abrahams finished with three points and Berube with two. Berube was tied for second with Anna Bryan (952) who defeated her father Andy (1313) handily in the last round. Murray Bridges (1434) returned to action after a short hiatus to finish his studies at UMaine-Farmington to secure 1.5 points after drawing with Isaiah Fallon (731) in the final round. The Multipurpose Room tucked away in the corner of the Memorial Union was a perfect place to play chess on a Friday evening at UMaine. We hope to do this again during the next school year - thank you to players and organizers for giving the loyal chess players a place to play!

Standings:
Steve Abrahams 3.0 W6 W4 W2
Max Berube 2.0 W5 W6 L1
Anna Bryan 2.0 L4 W5 W6
Murray Bridges 1.5 W3 L1 D5
Isaiah Fallon 0.5 L2 L3 D4
Andy Bryan 0.0 L1 L2 L3

Friday Night G/35 Set for March 25 at UMaine

Friday evening there will be an opportunity to play some USCF rated chess at UMaine. There will be three rounds of G35 set to start in the Multipurpose Room in the Memorial Union at 6:00. Entry fee is $15 with $25 going to the winner of an octet, while raised money will go to the John Bapst chess program. In the past there have been from 6-12 players attending and having fun playing this action time control.

In other news all cross tables are up on USCF from the past weekend events at UMaine. Matthew Fishbein inched his way to 1944 en route to master status. Maybe that will happen at the Maine State Closed Championship April 9-10. He is also scheduled to compete in Columbus, Ohio at the Junior High National Championships. Good luck, Matthew!

Xu, Fishbein, Youth, and Boss Win Titles

Keji Xu, playing solid chess throughout, outlasted Ethan Dininno in the last round to secure the Maine State High School Individual Chess Championship today in Orono. Xu, the number 5 seed behind four players from Cape Elizabeth, was able to finish undefeated on the day and become the first Bangor High student to qualify for the Denker High School Tournament of Champions. Dininno, the highest seed, played brilliantly throughout before falling just short.

Matthew Fishbein, playing solid, conservative chess, scored 4.0 in the Junior High section and will represent Maine at the first K-8 Tournament of Champions in Orlando this summer. Fishbein took his time and on gaining advantages in his games played flawlessly. Runner-ups Haley Deluca Lowell and Ian Youth only lost to Fishbein en route to their 3.0 finishes. They were joined by Anna Bryan at 3.0 whose only blemish was to Youth.

In the tightly contested K-6 Division Youth's twin brother Eric came home with the laurels a half point clear of five who finished with 3.0. In the early finishing K-3 Championship Itai Boss won all four games to gain the top trophy. And in the other scholastic section Andy Turner won the High School Under 1200 section with 3.5.

While the Scholastics took place, there were the Sidekick Quads. Max Berube won the higher rated quad and three shared the top spot in the lower rated quad.

There will be a tournament Friday evening at UMaine for those of you that can't get enough chess in March.

Follow chessmaine.net for all results.

State Scholastic Individual Preview

On tap Saturday are the Scholastic Individual State Chess Championships. There will be five different champions crowned: High School, High School Reserve, Junior High (K-8), K-6, and K-3.

The high school championship seems to be up for grabs since defending champion Matthew Fishbein will be playing in the Jr. High section hoping to qualify for the newly formed K-8 National Championship that will run parallel to the Denker High School Invitational at the US Open in Orlando, Florida this summer. Top contenders include Ethan Dininno, Matthew Reale-Hatem and Brett Parker all from Cape Elizabeth. Ethan Bergeron fresh off a stellar performance at the team championships could also contend. Keji Xu and Margaret Bryan carry ratings above 1500 and cannot be ruled out. Paul Rudnicki, Jiawei Zou, Connor Maines, Kellen McDonnell, and Ian Pelletier are also expected to compete and be factors in the final outcome. It seems like a wide open competition. In the high school reserve section Andrew Turner, Deanna Power, and Josh Shuman should contend for the title.

In the Junior High section Matthew Fishbein is the prohibitive favorite. There are many other top players, but they will have a hard time competing with this burgeoning master. He should enjoy a considerable rating advantage over nearest competitors Bethanny Humphrey, Ezra Briggs, Haley Deluca Lowell, and Anna Bryan. Wesley Parker is expected to play in the High School section.

In the K-6 section Ian Youth of Scarborough has a 200+ point advantage over his challengers. He may find his stiffest competition in his own household as brother Eric is coming off an undefeated run at the team championships. This section provides quite a bit of intrigue and an unknown could make a run.

The youngest section of the day (K-3) should provide a shootout amongst Deer Isle-Stonington teammates Cam Stewart, Ben Penfold, and Rylee Eaton. They all bring momentum from the team championships having all finished undefeated in leading their team to victory. The unpredictability at this level makes it the hardest to handicap.

Good luck to all competitors on Saturday!

All Girls Champion Crowned

Bethanny Humphrey from Deer Isle-Stonington bested three others to win the All Girls Scholastic Championship Section with 3.0 points. Since there were only four entries in the Championship Section, there were only three rounds. Deanna Power of John Bapst (2.0) finished second, and she was followed by Haley Deluca Lowell (1.0) and Anna Bryan (0.0) from the Airline School. Only 62 rating points separated the four girls before the match and all six games were closely contested.

In the Under 600 Section Jackie Rebsen finished first among 10 contestants with a perfect 4.0. Check out chessmaine.net for all the results.

Next week will be the Individual Championships. I will give a preview in my next entry.

Team State Champions Crowned

Some excellent battles ensued during the state team chess championships last Saturday. Cheverus High School proved its mettle by running the table in the High School Championship Section defeating perennial powers John Bapst, Deer Isle-Stonington, and Orono en route. Board 1 Ethan Bergeron was particularly impressed as he also was a perfect 4.0 in leading his team to an improbable victory.

In the Junior High Championship Section, Deer Isle-Stonington scored 4 points in the final round to overtake Airline Community School 14.0-13.0. Airline had held the lead from the start, but could not hold off the depth of the Mariners in the last round. Orono also made a strong surge in the final round to finish just out of the runner-up position with 12.5 points. Top seeds Matthew Fishbein and Wesley Parker led the way individually, but Cape Elizabeth was unable to garner enough points to crack the top three positions.

In the K-6 Championship Section, Deer Isle-Stonington again ended up victorious. Their depth led them to 15.5 points out of a possible twenty and a comfortable victory over runner-up Breakwater. Breakwater was led by the Two Brothers Youth who scored 8 of their teams 14.0 points. The Airline K-6 team fell just short of catching Breakwater in the final round finishing with 13.5 and a third place finish. All Saints was next in fourth.

In the last Championship Section, K-3, Deer Isle-Stonington rolled to an easy victory with 11.0 points far outdistancing the second place Airline School's 5.0 points. Ben Penfold and Cameron Stewart each finished 4.0 to lead the junior Mariners.

All results can be found on chessmaine.net.

This weekend the All Girls State Championships will be held. It should be an interesting event. Check back later this weekend for results. Next weekend the State Scholastic Individual Champions will be crowned. Then on the weekend of April 9-10 the State Closed Championships will be held in Augusta. Posted on the State of Maine Chess blog are the current standings for MECA's Chess Player of the Year. This a busy and exciting part of the chess calendar.