2023 West Chester Chess Club News and Announcements
To see all completed swiss and quad club events, visit this USCF page.
Dec 29 - Donald Anderson
Happy Chess New Year to all.
Reminder that the Club Championship starts next week. Those not in it will play in the 5-round Reserve and Under 1600. This will be the last year the Reserve will receive a trophy as it was voted on during Pizza Night not to award one next year (2025).
Annual club dues of $20 will be collected next week. Give your cash to our new club Treasurer, Jim Larsen. If he is not present you can give your dues to Aaron Biscoe (President) or to me.
Last night's results: McRee (1546) does it again. This time with a solid win over Aaron Biscoe (1817).
Dec 22 - Ed Synder
I totally enjoy running this event and watching the progress of all our members throughout the year to see who will play well enough to be entered. Last year we had three first timers in the Championship, Nate Bryans, Denis Markov, and Greg Nolan. They are in it again with another newcomer, Preston Ladson. With only one more game to play the final standing/seeding is unsure. As of last night's games here is how it shapes up.
1 Joe Mucerino 25
2 Greg Nolan 24.5
3 Denis Markov 23.5
4 Nate Bryans 22
5 Nick Christofides 21.5
6 Ed Kline 19
7 Preston Ladson 19
8 Aaron Biscoe 18
The advantage of being in the top four means four games as White. To many of us this doesn't mean a whole lot, but to these guys, our club's best players, it is another small advantage in a tight race.
I will provide the schedule to everyone and post the results throughout the seven round "Round Robin" event.
Who will the new contestants be next year? All of us have a chance.
Dec 15 - Donald Anderson
With only 2 games left Ian Millstein has been mathematically eliminated and the top 8 player field is set for the 2024 West Chester Club Championship - a 7 week round robin over 8 weeks (one makeup week).
During this time the Under 1600 will play for the Reserve champion in a 5-week Swiss. All others will play in a regular 5-week Swiss (to be named).
The 3 weeks following that we'll have a flexible schedule. If the championship has no makeup games we'll all come back together sooner and start the 2025 Championship "qualifications schedule". If not, we'll do a 3-week Accelerated Swiss (like rated players will play each other from the start). But I am open to doing another kind of tournament as well during those 2 or 3 weeks. Let me know what you'd like to do.
Dec 8 - Donald Anderson
With only 3 games left and by his absence last night Jim Larsen has been eliminated from the 2023 Championship running.
Holiday Swiss: his is the last 4 week tournament of the year. And we got off with a bang! Upsets, upsets. Anthony Bowden (1606) mated Joe Mucerino (1997) and Patrick McRee (1546) beat Nat Bryans (1839). Three notable games were drawn, Aaron Biscoe(1817) vs Craig Gerland (1508), Robert Flanagan(1501) vs Keith Johnson (1816) and Jake Moses (1752) vs Rob McFadden (1421).
Dec 1 - Donald Anderson
We have one 4-game tournament left to decide the qualifiers for the 2024 Club Championship.
Nov 10 - Sean Pry
Round 2 results:
Oct 20 - Donald Anderson
Here is the latest list of Championship qualifiers. Anyone not on the list have been mathematically eliminated.
No more quads until next year! We have only 9 Thursdays left this year and since we are not open on Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 23) that leaves 8 which we have divided into two 4-week swiss tournaments. After that starts the Club Championship on January 4, 2024.
Oct 13 - Donald Anderson
One upset from last night's games. Todd Guay (1585) upset Aaron Biscoe (1901). Congrats Todd.
Sept 29 - Donald Anderson
No upsets last night but a lot of close games. Misra got a draw against Johnson. McRee, Flanagan and Moses played exceptionally well.
Sept 27 - Bob Flanagan
The YTD player results and the player list has been updated
Sept 22 - Donald Anderson
Here are the latest championship rankings. Top 8 make the cut. 9 to 10 players are still battling for the final spots with the Halloween Swiss coming this Thursday. Traditionally, huge upsets occur in this tournament. Should be fun.
Sept 21 - Ed Snyder
The results of the Autumal Equinox Quads have been posted to the USCF
Sept 18 - Ed Snyder
The results of the Late Summer Swiss tournament have been posted and updated for one minor correction.
Sept 1 - Ed Snyder
Here are the results from last night's games. Some interesting and long ones.
Aug 25 - Ed Snyder
- Here are the results from last night's games. Two BIG upsets. Tony Bowden won over Greg Nolan, a 408 point difference. Good job, Tony. And even better, Will Sadler beat Ed Snyder, a 435 point difference. Good job by Will who totally dominated our game. Ed.
Aug 16 - Sean Pry
- The Founders' Swiss has been rated ! Follow this link to see the final results.
Aug 15 - Donald Anderson
Aug 2 - Sean Pry, Founders Swiss Round 2 results
July 25 - Sean Pry, Founders Swiss Round 1 results
July 13 - Independence Quad results (a quad is played every 5 weeks) - Donald Anderson
July 8 - Donald Anderson
July 7 - Donald Anderson
June 6 - June Quad results (a quad is played every 5 weeks) - Ed Synder
June 1 - Blooming Swing Swiss results - Ed Synder
May 4 - Mayflower Quads Results
April 27 - April Showers Swiss Results
Mar 30 - Kickoff Quad results
Mar 23 - Kickoff Swiss Results
Mar 24 - Donald Anderson
Next week we will play a Quad (4 players similarly rated play each other). G30;d5, 3-round robin. A change of pace and a lot of fun. See you then.
Final round results of the Kickoff Swiss are below.
Mar 23 - Donald Anderson
Feb 23 - Donald Anderson
Final results of the GAP tournament on its USCF Events page
Feb 23 - Ed Synder
The WCCC Championship came to an end last night with the two remaining make-up games being played.
Denis Markov beat Jim Larsen to secure a clear second place.
Nate Bryans and Ed Kline drew their game.
Both games were played with the same intensity as if this was game one of the tournament.
This was a terrific tournament which included three players that have never been in the Championship previously. Perhaps next year we will have other new players in the tournament. That is one thing that makes it even more exciting each year.
Starting next week the race begins for those coveted eight slots. Everyone in the club is eligible to make it to the top eight, but you must play in the Open Section. The easy part is showing up frequently and the harder part is getting enough points to qualify.
Good luck to everyone.
Final results of the Club Championship on its USCF Event page
Feb 18 - Donald Anderson
Gap Round 2 Results:
Feb 17 - Ed Snyder
CONGRATULATIONS TO JOE MUCERINO WHO CLINCHED THE TITLE OF 2023 WCCC CHAMPION.
Joe drew his game last night with Nick Chirstofides to go undefeated against some extremely talented and strong players finishing with a 5-0-2 record. I'm not sure if anyone has completed the club championship with no losses. Great achievement, Joe.
There are two make-up games next week and there is no reason to think that they will be just as interesting as all the games have been so far.
Congratulations are also in order for the other seven members who made it to the Championship. That in itself is an achievement. After next week's games the race for the next Championship begins and everyone that plays in the Open Section has a chance of getting into it.
Feb 10 - Bob Flanagan
The club player match results have been updated for the latest results in the Gap Tournament and the Club Championship.
Feb 10 - Donald Anderson
Gap Tournament results - The Gap is a 3-week event and then everyone will come back together for the start the new chess year. Here is the results from last night.
Gap Open Standings. Round one match results:
Gap U1600 Standings. Round one match results:
Feb 10 - Ed Synder
Here are the results and standings after last night's games. Three more players have lost the possibility of winning the title., but still can spoil those left.
Joe Mucerino beat Nate Bryans in a game that had a very tough, to me, endgame. Joe is still undefeated and only Denis Markov remains to catch him for a possible tie for the crown. Nate's loss knock him out of winning the championship.
Denis beat Nick Christofides which drops Nick out of the running.
Ed Kline won his game with Aaron Biscoe for his first win.
Greg Nolan beat Jim Larsen, but Greg is also mathematically eliminated.
From what I've seen the majority of these games could have gone either way. Many have been extremely close.
Feb 10 - Jim Larsen
Feb 6 - Bob Flanagan
The match results between club players (along with the latest USCF ratings) have been updated for YTD 2023 matchs.
Feb 6 - Aaron Biscoe
The West Chester Chess Club has updated it's vaccination policy.
We are no longer requiring vaccination to attend and play.
We are asking that you let the TD know if you are unvaccinated so anyone uncomfortable playing someone who is unvaxed can opt for a bye
Feb 3 - Ed Snyder
Because I think this is the most competitive Championship we've had, at least in my recollection, I've been surprised that there have been no draws. Well, that changed last night with two games being drawn.
Joe Mucerino is still alone in first place and is still undefeated, but he drew his game with Denis Markov. Denis was down to 26 seconds and had a rook and two pawns against Joe's rook and one pawn. Incredible finish with Joe down to a minute and change.
The other draw was between Nick Christofides and Ed Kline. Their game was down to a Kings and pawns ending with neither being able to secure an advantage.
Greg Nolan managed to beat Aaron Biscoe in another tough battle.
And, Nate Bryans managed to pick up another win against Jim Larsen.
Until last night everyone was still in the running, but now, mathematically, Jim Larsen, Aaron Biscoe, and Ed Kline are out of the running. Any of them can still spoil someone's chances. It remains as interesting as ever.
Feb 3 - Jim Larsen
Great games last night. Mucerino-Markov was extremely well played by both players.
Feb 3 - Sean Pry
Please see the following results of the West Chester Reserve Championship & U1600 section.
The West Chester chess club Reserve Champion is Andrew Fleming! Andrew is clear first with a score of 4.5/5. Notably, Andrew had a victory over former club champion Kevin Chen that helped secure his tournament lead.
The winner of the U1600 section is club newcomer, Will Sadler! Will scored 4.5/5, with 4 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses.
Following this tournament we will be running the 3 round 'Gap Swiss'. While we wait for the club championship to conclude, we will play a small 3 round tournament directed by Donald Anderson.
Donald shared with me that he will pair the tournament in the following manner:
>Board 1: Player 1 v Player 2
>Board 2: Player 3 v Player 4
>Board 3: Player 5 v Player 6
Sorted by their USCF rating. Frankly, I don't know if there's a name for this style of pairing.Welcome to all the newcomers we have in the new year and I'll see you next Thursday!
Jan 27 - Sean Pry
Here are the results from round 4 of the Reserve Swiss! Next is the final round of the tournament after which we will have a Reserve Champ and U1600 Champ!
The main club championship has 4 more rounds to go and during that time we will be running the 'Gap Swiss', a shorter tournament to fill the time between the conclusion of the reserve and club championship. Donald Anderson will be the tournament director and he shared with me that he plans on shaking up the pairing system a little bit for fun.
Have a great weekend! And see you next time.
Jan 27 - Ed Snyder, Jim Larsen
The following are the results and standings after last night's games. All were interesting and competitive. In my opinion this year's championship is the most competitive one we've had. Everyone is well matched.
0 BRYANS MARKOV 1
0 KLINE MUCERINO 1
0 NOLAN CHRISTOFIDES 1
1 LARSEN BISCOE 0
Joe Mucerino managed to fork Ed Kline's king and rook in their game. Ed resigned at this point and judging by his reaction he seemed totally caught off guard by this move. As a result Joe remains undefeated at 4 and 0.
Nick Christofides won over Greg Nolan and is keeping pace with Joe with 3 and 1. Their game should prove very interesting, which will be played on February 16.
Jim Larsen picked up his first win beating Aaron Biscoe. At one point Jim had two rooks, two knights, and one bishop against Aaron's two rooks. Aaron still played on forcing Jim to work a little to finally use the knights to form a mating net.
Denis Markov won over Nate Bryans in a very long struggle that seemed very close.
Three games and two make-ups remain. It's going to be fun.
Jan 20 - Ed Snyder
Last night's four games were all interesting and a couple were downright shootouts right to the end.
Joe Mucerino beat Greg Nolan and is the only undefeated player remaining in the Championship.
Aaron Biscoe managed to beat Nate Bryans in a real nail biter that went to the wire. Nate was able to hold his clock at 14 seconds for several moves before running out of time. Talk about using all your time, last week he had 8 seconds left when Nick Christofides resigned.
Nick was able to finally win over Jim Larsen in another nail biter that saw Nick with about two minutes and change to Jim's more than 20. When Nick mated Jim each had only seconds remaining. This was the last game to finish at 11:15.
Amazing how chess players can keep their focus for so long during such a tough mental struggle.
More next week.
2023 WCCC CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS & STANDINGS
JOE MUCERINO 3 3-0-0 1.000
GREG NOLAN 2 2-1-0 .666
NICK CHRISTOFIDES 2 2-1-0 .666
DENIS MARKOV 1 1-1-0 .500
NATE BRYANS 1 1-1-0 .500
AARON BISCOE 1 1-2-0 .333
JIM LARSEN 0 0-2-0 .000
ED KLINE 0 0-2-0 .0001 BISCOE BRYANS 0
1 CHRISTOFIDES LARSEN 0
1 MUCERINO NOLAN 0
1 MARKOV KLINE 0
Jan 13 - Ed Snyder, Jim Larsen
WCCC 2023 Club Championship standings - Three more exciting games last night in the quest for this year's club champion. All were interesting and exciting and could have gone either way. It is said that chess is not a spectator sport, but I may have to disagree with that statement.
Here are the results and standings. Ed Kline and Nate Bryans had to postpone their game.
Jan 13 - Sean Pry
Round 2 results of the Reserve Swiss
Jan 6 - Ed Synder
Two of the first games in the WCCC Championship went down to the wire last night and were among the last to finish.
Aaron and Joe played a long and tough game that I think could have gone either way for a long time. In an ending with only a rook and several pawns each Joe finally got the advantage and won. Aaron was down to a minute and change and Joe had around six or seven minutes remaining. Very interesting to watch.
Nick and Nate played an incredible game that also could have gone either way with Nick finally resigning. Nick had four seconds remaining and Nate had eight.
Both of these games were difficult and hard fought by all four players.
Ed and Greg were finished early with Grey winning. I didn't get to see much of it but am sure it was equally tense and hard fought.
The game between Denis and Jim was postponed.
More great games in this struggle for the club Championship next week.
Jan 6 - Jim Larsen
Jan 3, 2023 - Bob Flanagan
The club member and matches page has been updated to have all matches for the year.