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.