Welcome

GM Ftacnik Exhibitions and 2010 South Carolina Open

GM Ftacnik at the 2007 South Carolina Open

The Greenville Chess Club hosted the South Carolina Open tournament in Greenville on June 11-13. Seventy-two players competed. GM Ľubomír Ftacnik cruised to victory with a perfect score. Philipp Lamby and Wayne Christensen tied for second, each scoring 4.0.

Crosstables

Prior to and after the tournament, GM Ftacnik conducted simultaneous exhibitions in six cities, winning 77, drawing 2, and losing only 1 game:

GREENVILLE, SC - June 9: Ftacnik 4.0 - Greenville 0.0
Brew and Ewe
108 West Broad St.

COLUMBIA, SC - June 10: Ftacnik 17.5 - Columbia 0.5 (Daniel Dodds obtained a draw)
Ashland Methodist Church
2600 Ashland Rd.

FLORENCE, SC - June 14: Ftacnik 7.0 - Florence 0.0
Fazoli's Restaurant
2007 South Irby St.

GREENWOOD, SC - June 15: Ftacnik 17.0 - Greenwood 0.0
Greenwood Mall
420-39a Hwy. 72

N. CHARLESTON, SC - June 16: Ftacnik 13.0 - Charleston 0.0
Park Circle Presbyterian Church
4701 Park Place West

CHARLOTTE, NC - June 17: Ftacnik 19.5 - Charlotte 1.5 (Daniel Liu won his game, and Abhijit Ghosh obtained a draw)
The Asian Library
1339 Baxter St.

GM Ftacnik's visit to South Carolina was sponsored by SCCA President David Grimaud and Precision Tune Auto Care.

High School Invitational: Results

On June 6-7 the 2010 Palmetto High School Invitational was held in Clemson. The Invitational invites the 4 highest rated High School Players in the state to compete in a double round robin, Game in 90 tournament. This year’s participants were the strongest ever with Michael Lauria (2017), Zachary Templeton (1790), Kenzie Moore (1770), and Qianli Sun (1506). Kenzie Moore won the event scoring 4 out of 6 six points.

Michael Lauria: South Carolina's Newest Expert!!!

The National High School Chess Championships were held in Columbus, Ohio, April 16-18. Two-time South Carolina High School Champion Michael Lauria, while seeded 90th by pre-tournament rating, placed 19th individually and achieved a post-tournament rating of USCF Chess Expert (2031). This is the highest rating ever achieved by a South Carolina player while still in high school.

The D.W. Daniel High School Chess Team team consisting of Arjun Grover, Michael Lauria, Kenzie Moore, Jonathan Sarasua, Zachary Templeton, and Morgan Wang won 17th place in the Championship division with 14.5 points. Congratulate the boys when you see them.

Crosstables

3rd Border Battle Ends in Tie!!!

Timur Aliyev and Chris Mabe

The 2010 Border Battle of Carolina Champions between state champs Chris Mabe (NC, 2nd alternate) and Timur Aliyev (SC) and high school champs Joshua Mu (NC) and Michael Lauria (1st alternate for SC) was held in Greenville April 10-11. A 24 player team competition was waged as well: 12 NC players v. 12 SC players. The event ended in a tie on all fronts:

Timur Aliyev 2, Chris Mabe 2

Michael Lauria 2, Joshua Mu 2

SC Team 24, NC Team 24

Results

Merriwether Scholastic: Results

The second Annual Merriwether Scholastic tournament was held in North Augusta on April 10, 2010.

Crosstables

Senior Open: Results

2010 Senior Open Participants

There was a three way tie for first place at the 2nd annual S.C. Senior Open held at the Phoenix Inn in Greenville, SC, on March 26 - 28. Donny Gray, Charles Reeve, and Petar Jotev tied for 1st Place with 4.0 points each out of five rounds, winning $150 each in prize money. Charles and Petar were declared state co-champions (Donny resides in Georgia), with Charles receiving the first place plaque on tie-break.

Other prize winners were:

4th place: Paul Farb & Paul King winning $25 each at 3.5 points

U1800 1st: Porter Evette winning $100 with 3.0 points

U1800 2nd: Russell Thurmond winning $25 with 2.5 points

U1600 1st: Leroy Dillard, William Pilaud, and James Brown winning $25 each with 2.5 points

Wayne Christensen founded this tournament in 2009 which was held in Clemson. Gene Nix, VP of the Greenville Chess Club, organized and assisted as TD in this year's tournament under Chief TD Bill Taylor. Precision Tune Auto Care sponsored the event.

The Phoenix Inn will also be the site of the S.C. Open on June 11 - 13.

2010 Scholastic Championships: Results

The 2010 Scholastic Championships were held at the Samuel A. Heyward Career & Technology Center in Columbia on March 6. Nearly 90 students

Morgan Wang, Kenzie Moore, Michael Lauria

participated.

Crosstables

Games from top high school boards

High School Section

Kenzie Moore (1653), Michael Lauria (1946), and Morgan Wang (1122) tied for first in the High School section, each scoring 4.0. They all attend D.W. Daniel High School in Clemson, South Carolina. Kenzie Moore took home the first place trophy on tie break. Qianli Sun of Wando High School threw the High School Section into chaos with his upset win over top rated Michael Lauria in their second round encounter.

D.W. Daniel High School won the high school team trophy. The Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) finished second.

High School Grade Champions

12th grade: Qianli Sun, Wando High School, Mt. Pleasant, SC
11th grade: Thomas Fred Wells, GSSM, Hartsville, SC
10th grade: Daniel Caiello, Faith Heritage High School, Lexington, SC
9th grade: Christian Dunlap, Richland Northeast High School, Columbia, SC

Middle School Section

Benjamin Caiello of Faith Heritage Middle School in Lexington, SC, won the middle school title, scoring a perfect 5.0. Kevis Tsao of R.C. Edwards Middle School and Nicholas George of Cherokee Trials Middle School tied for second, each scoring 4.0

R.C. Edwards Middle School won the middle school team championship. Faith Heritage finished second.

Middle School Grade Champions:

8th grade: Luke Lepak, St. Joseph's, Greenville, SC
7th grade: Gordon Zhang, R.C. Edwards Middle School, Clemson, SC
6th grade: Mowei Tang, R.C. Edwards Middle School, Clemson, SC

Elementary School Section

Thomas Leonardi of Spartanburg Day School, Perry Fleming of Bamberg Elementary School and Elias Longenecker of St. Mary's tied for first place, each with perfect 5.0 scores. Thomas Leonardi took home the first place trophy on tie break.

Pinckney Elementary School in Mt. Pleasant won the elementary school team title. Beaufort Academy finished second.

Elementary School Grade Champions:

5th grade: Kyle Mcsheehy, Pinckney Elementary School, Mt. Pleasant, SC
4th grade: Chris Hoogenboom, Riverview Christian School
3rd grade: Maxfield Trask, Riverview Christian School
2d grade: Patrick Lee Wang, Carver Elementary School, Florence, SC
1st grade: Kevin Jarr Rogers, Beaufort Academy, Beaufort, SC
Kindergarten: Thomas Mazzeo, Beaufort Academy, Beaufort, SC

36th Snowstorm Special: Results

The Charleston Chess Club hosted the 36th Snowstorm Special in beautiful Charleston on February 5-7. Andrey Chumachenko, Philipp Lamby, Kevin Kane, and Doug Holmes tied for first, each scoring 4 points.

Crosstables

In February 1973, sixteen hardy South Carolina chess players played in a chess tournament (the South Carolina Junior Championship) during the middle of a seven inch snowstorm, one of the worst storms in South Carolina history. To commemorate the snowstorm and the event, the Charleston Chess Club has held an open tournament every February since the great snowstorm. The tournament was dubbed the "Annual Snowstorm Special" and has been held every year except 2002 and 2003.

5th Pat Hart Memorial Scholastic: Results

The Charleston Chess Club hosted the fifth Pat Hart Memorial Scholastic Tournament in Charleston on January 23, 2010.

Crosstables

Who was Pat Hart?

Coach and Student Challenge: Results

Eight teams featuring sixteen players representing South Carolina and Georgia competed in the 1st Coach and Student Challenge on January 9, 2010. To qualify, there had to be no less than 400 rating points between the coach and student, and no more that 2800 in combined rating points (based on Nov 09 rating supplement).

Top honors were taken by TAYLOR TERROR, THE father and son tandem of Bill Taylor and Christian Taylor from Aiken, SC. Bill continues terrorizing his competition by pitching a 3-0 shutout in the coach section while son Christian finished with 1.5 in the student section. Bill is hot, having raised his rating over 120 points in the last two tournaments.

Splitting second place were the KING KRUSHERS (Columbia) and THE TORNADOS (Charleston) comprised of Columbia club members, Paul Lowry and Erik Murrah and Charleston players Stephen Welt and Cole Johnson respectively. All four players splitting second place won 2 games each in their respective sections out of 3.

Here are the other participants, coaches are listed first.

THE CHECK MATES: David and Maureen Grimaud (husband - wife)
DOUBLE DUTCH: Jerry Rothstein and Vikram Krishnamurthy
THE BACKWARD PAWNS: Daniel Dodds and Chris Aluri
KING KRUSHERS: Erik Murrah and Paul Lowry
KNIGHT HIKERS: Steve Boshears and Richard Watts
FLOTOWN KNIGHTS: Drew Plyler and Patrick Wang
THE TORNADOS: Stephen Welt and Cole Johnson
TAYLOR TERROR: Bill and Christian Taylor (father - son)