2024 West Chester Chess Club News and Announcements
To see all completed swiss and quad club events, visit this USCF page. Come play chess with us any Thursday you can make it!
April 3 - Last Thursday's Swiss Results - Aaron Biscoe
The results from last Thursday's Swiss are available on Chess Nut. If you have a google account you can use it to sign in. Or create a login on Chess Nut.
To view results, click on either the Open or 'Under 1600' blue link. The first half of the page that appears has the points each play has accumlated in the Swiss. The bottom half has the match results by round.
April 2 - Interesting Club Chess Games - Bob Flanagan
I've posted several club chess games from last month. Visit the Club Member Games page to view. If you have an interesting game, from any club meeting, from any Era :), please send to me, bobflanagan1@gmail.com
Mar 22 - Quad results - Donald Anderson
34 players participated in last night's quad (7 quads and a swiss). Next week starts a new swiss tournament with Aaron Biscoe directing.
Mar 15 - Final Kickoff Results - Donald Anderson
This week Faelan McDermott (1453) continued to score impressively this time with a win over Broxie Pace (1745).
Ariv Debmisra won the Open section of the Kickoff Swiss, going undefeated (4-0). Faelan came in second with a score of 3 1/2.
Paul Thomas Martin won the Under 1600 with a score of 3 1/2. Ethan Hinson and Will Sadler were close behind with scores of 3 each.
Next week will be our first Quad of the year. Three games with time of 30 minutes with a 5 second delay. Preset your clocks for this event.
Mar 1 - Round 2 Kickoff Swiss - Donald Anderson
First of all, I’d like to thank all of you who have been putting your chairs and tables back when your games are done. It is not unappreciated, or has not gone by unnoticed.
This is your club. We ask little of you with your club membership so helping out with this task, and putting tables up, shows you appreciate being a WCCC member.
This year the club celebrates its 50th year. We inherited this club from those founding members and one day younger players like Debmisra, Moses, McRee, Millstein, Evans, Hinson, and others, will be your officers and directors.
It is very, very hard to find a great place to play chess. Let’s keep the club going strong, by each of us doing our part, and maybe WCCC will be around for another 50 years.
Notable games last night were Aaron Biscoe (1814) beating Club Champion Denis Markov (2069), Ed Bryan (1676) drawing Loukas Konistis (1961), Ed Snyder (1605) beating Patrick McRee (1742), Anthony Bowden (1598) winning over Ernesto Cachuelo (1700), and Will Sadler (1267) with a quick opening win over Samar Mahmood(1151). Nice job, guys.
New member: Jeff Johnson (1909). Welcome Jeff.
Feb 23 - Kickoff Swiss - Donald Anderson
We've had a great kickoff to the Kickoff Swiss. There were a lot of upsets in the Open last night. Mistra (1662) defeated Christofides (1997), Mateer (1609) defeated Larsen (1900) and Faelan McDermott (1453) defeated McRee (1742).
Tough wins were had by Volpone (1725) over Tim Aivado (Unr) and Millstein (1643) obtained a draw with Loukas Konistis (1961).
Welcome our new player Tim Aivado to some over the board play. Watch out for him as he's been playing on Chess.com for awhile.
Feb 18 - Club Roster by Rating - Donald Anderson
Interested in where you're positioned in the club? See the current club roster by rating. No matter the rating there are no easy games in this club. :)
Feb 16 - 2024 Tournament Schedule - Donald Anderson
The West Chester Chess Club is celebrating it's 50th year. And we are stronger now than we've ever been thanks to all of you. Congrats to us!
Below is the tentative 2025 schedule (minus any unexpected closings).
| Dates | Director | Event | ||
| 1 | Feb 22-Mar 21 | Donald Anderson | Kickoff Swiss/Quad | |
| 2 | Mar 28 - Apr 25 | Aaron Biscoe | April Showers Swiss/Quad | |
| 3 | May 2 - May 30 | Ed Snyder | Blooming Spring Swiss/Quad | |
| 4 | June 6 - July 4 | Donald Anderson | Independence Swiss/Quad | |
| 5 | July 11 - Aug 8 | Aaron Biscoe | Founders' Swiss/Quad | |
| 6 | Aug 15 - Sept 12 | Ed Snyder | Summer Swiss/Quad | |
| 7 | Sep 19 - Oct 17 | Donald Anderson | Halloween Swiss/Quad | |
| 8 | Oct 24 - Nov 21 | Aaron Biscoe | Thanksgiving Swiss/Quad | |
| 9 | Dec 5 - Dec 26 | Donald Anderson | Holiday Swiss Only | |
| Jan 2 2025 | Ed Snyder | Club Championship | ||
| Jan 2 - end of Championship | Donald or Arron | Reserve Swiss for those not in Championship |
We'll have 9 tournaments (same as 2023). Anyone playing in the Open can qualify for the Championship. You only have to attend and play regularly and win 50% of your games to qualify (same as 2023). A lot of new strong chess players joined the club in 2023 and I expect some of you may be there at the end.
Sean is backing up from directing regularly. However, he may be available as a sub. A very grateful thank you to Sean for all his work.
Good luck to everyone. May the mate be with you.
Feb 16 - The Gap Swiss - Donald Anderson
Last night was the end of The Gap (2 rounds). Schedule permits us to start our 2025 chess season now.
Feb 16 - Final Club Championship Results - Ed Snyder
Here are the final Championship results and final standings. Ed Kline was unable to play last night and offered to forfeit his remaining two games, Joe Mucerino and Greg Nolan. They each get a point toward the Championship and are recorded as unplayed for USCF purposes.
It was a terrific tournament with all games being extremely competitive.
DENIS MARKOV is the 2024 WCCC Champion with an impressive 6 points out of 7 and going undefeated.
The race for next year's Champion starts next week. We had three new players last year and one this year. Anyone can get into it by being in the top eight players with the most points over the year. I believe the three big things necessary are to come often, win enough games, and beat some very strong players along the way. Will it be you?
Feb 9th - Championship Results - Ed Snyder and Jim Larsen
Good morning Chess Club members
Another great evening of chess enjoyed by a lot of people. The Championship games were as interesting as ever. Aaron Biscoe and Nate Bryans ended with Aaron down to about ten second and Nate at about fourteen. Both were trying not to run out of time and yet keep their composure and not lose. Nate managed to mate Aaron in a really good finish ending with two queens.
Denis Markov remains undefeated with another draw last night against Joe Mucerino. Ed Kline's win over Nick Christofides keeps him in the running for this year's Champion, but it won't be easy. Denis has one more game and Ed has two remaining. Ed and Joe Mucerino will most likely play their make-up game on February 22 after which the race begins all over to see who will get into the 2025 Championship.
Feb 9th - The Gap, round 1 - Donald Anderson
Round 1 is done. The challenge is pairing round 2. Can't explain how this is working but stay with me people. Don't anticipate who you'll play next week as the groups were only valid for pairing round 1.
Feb 6th - The Gap Swiss - Donald Anderson
The next 3 weeks is called the Gap (the end of the Reserve and the beginning of our 2024 schedule while we wait for the end of the Championship). We try to do some different kinds of things during the Gap just to add a twist to the games. I am hoping that we have at least 16 players in each section (or in the combined sections) so we can run Accelerated pairings. Standard Accelerated pairings alter the basic rules of the Swiss System pairings in the first two rounds.
We will pair in the following way:
Round 1:
- Players are divided into four groups from highest rating to lowest. Call them A, B, C and D from top to bottom.
- Group A plays B, and group C plays D.
Round 2:
- Winners from A will play each other.
- Non-winners from A and winners from B play each other.
- Non-winners from B and winners from C play each other.
- Non-winners from D will play each other.
- Byes from round 1 will be seeded in a group at the director’s discretion.
Round 3:
- Everyone is fed back into the normal Swiss System.
- Round 3 might not happen if the Championship concludes the night of Round 2. Then we’ll just start into our 2024 schedule.
- Even if there is a round 3 there is the option of just skipping it and holding a Quad that night. Let me know if that interests you.
- If we don’t get enough players for an Accelerated Swiss then I’ll use the Monrad system for pairings. Players are ranked based on their ratings, then #1 will play #2, #3 will play #4, and so on.
- I am also open to Challenges. There are players who seldom, or have never, played each other. If there is someone you want to challenge let me know and I’ll try to make it happen.
- So, be flexible over the next few weeks. No matter how we pair you “there are no easy games in this club”. You’ll get a good game every night.
Feb 5th - Reserve Swiss Results - Sean Pry
Hey everyone! Here are the final results and standings of the Reserve swiss and U1600 section.
Congratulations to Mel Ross and Patrick McRee for tying first place! Mel and Patrick had a full point and half point bye respectively- and a tournament like this can't be concluded with a bye. I found it very fitting as well that their final round was concluded in a draw.
Congratulations also to Craig Gerland, who I am dubbing the winner of the U1600 section. Although his score is tied with a few others, Craig was volunteered to play in the open section for round 4 - and drew Bob Flanagan. My thanks to Craig for helping balance out the tournament during a hectic round 4 pairing predicament.
The club championship plays on, so the next 3 weeks will be the 'Gap Swiss' run by Donald Anderson.
See you Thursday
Feb 2nd -Ed Snyder and Jim Larsen
Here are the results of last night's Championship games and the updated standings.
Again, all good games.
Denis Markov remains undefeated with only two games remaining.
Interestingly and funny, at the end of the game I heard Aaron Biscoe say draw and they shook hands. Denis and Aaron went out into the hallway and I went over to look at their final position. I thought there is no way that's a draw so I looked at the sheet for results and Denis had marked 1 Markov/Biscoe 0. I went out to talk to them and asked Aaron if he was making a joke when he said "draw?"
Actually, he wasn't. Aaron thought his King couldn't move and all his pawns were locked up. The Knight that Aaron thought was preventing his King from moving was on a different square. Aaron did have a move and Denis had two passed pawns. Everyone had a good laugh but Aaron thought we should have waited until this morning to tell him.
It's all good.
Jan 31 - Ed Snyder and Jim Larsen
Ed Kline and Preston Ladson played their make-up game tonight at Media.
1 KLINE/LADSON 0
I corrected the standings based on percentage of points with games played. It may look confusing but is more a more accurate representation because some member have played less games than others. It will all work out in the end once everyone has played seven games.
This PDF will give everyone a better idea of how things shape up.
Jan 26 - Ed Synder and Aaron Biscoe
Aaron Biscoe made an announcement last night that I think everyone in the club should be aware.
Drew Fleming, one of the clubs longest members, going back to I think when he was in high school, has been accepted by the Pennsylvania State Police as a Cadet. He will begin his academy training in June. He could have started in February but deferred due his wife's expected delivery of their second baby in March.
This is quite an accomplishment for anyone. It is an arduous journey encompassing many steps, all of which must be successfully passed, beginning with a written test and ending with an extensive background investigation.
Drew has another tough task ahead of him; getting through the six month training and then a three month "coach-pupil" assignment after graduation with a senior Trooper at his assigned station.
Be sure to congratulate Drew when you see him and wish him all the best
Jan 26 - Championship update - Ed Snyder
Good morning everyone. All three games last night were long and, I'm sure, grueling for the players. Ed Kline and Aaron Biscoe did not play and will make it up.
Preston Ladson and Nate Bryans had almost the exact time on their clocks throughout the entire game. Every time I checked on it this was the case which I thought unusual. Preston prevailed in the end.
Nick Christofides was low on time which seems to be normal for him and he pulled out the win over Joe Mucerino.
Denis Markov won over Greg Nolan to remain in first place.
Players that have missed games are making them up at Nick Lampros' Media Chess Club. This makes making up games extremely convenient.
Jan 24 - Ed Snyder and Jim Larsen
Denis Markov and Nate Bryans played their make-up game last night at the Media Chess Club with Denis winning. The latest standings are below.
Jan 19 - Ed Snyder and Jim Larsen
Here are the results from last night. As usual some very interesting games and two, Mucerino/Bryans and Christofides/Markov were the last games to end. The Christofides/Markov game ended with Nick having 8 seconds and Denis 13. There was a lot of clock slapping and fast moving pieces. The Bryans/Mucerino game had Nate down to only a few seconds with Nate trying to win with a Bishop and two Pawns against Joe's Bishop and King. Both were well played, in my opinion, as was Aarons win over Greg.
Jan 19 - Donald Anderson
What a night. Great games by all. Most notable is the upset by Bob Flanagan (1526) over Preston Ladson (1883).
Open round 3 resuls:
U1600 round 3 results
Jan 18 - Ed Snyder
Here is the updated championship schedule.
Jan 14 - Bob Flanagan
A new page has been added to the site: Club member games! If you have any game you would like to add, please send to Bob Flanagan, bobflanagan1@gmail.com. I just added the three games that Sean mentioned below. Enjoy reviewing them!
Jan 14 - Sean Pry
All and sundry, greetings!
Here are the round 2 results and standings from the Reserve Swiss so far. A lot of nice chess has been played in this tournament- I'd love to give that a try someday.
Congrats to Ed Snyder who bested me, Bob Flanagan for his draw with Murcerino, and Ian Millstein who won an endgame while down a queen!
Mel Ross also had a notable game, but when I downloaded the .pgn it was only 3 bytes. Maybe he can demo the game in person next week.
See ya Thursday and have a nice weekend!
Jan 12 - Jim Larson
Below are the club championship match results thru round 2:
Jan 12 - Ed Synder
Here are the results of the WCCC Championship games from last night and the standings.
1 Biscoe/Ladson 0
1 Nolan/Christofides 0
Nolan 2
Biscoe 1
Christofides 1
Ladson 1
Markov 1
Bryans 0
Kline 0
Mucerino 0
Jan 12 - Ed Synder
Here is the championship schedule:
Jan 7 - Sean Pry
Here are the round 1 results from last Thursday. A lot of nice games to watch, including the championship.
Round 1 Reserve Swiss Open results
Round 1 Reserve Swiss U1600 results
See you next Thursday,
Sean
Jan 4 - Bob Flanagan
Tonight is the first night of the club championship for the 8 qualifying players. And the first night of the Reserve Swiss, open to all players!