Category: Club Meetings
Rochester Chess, Tuesday, September 28.
SWISS AND QUADS: The final round of the September 2021 Slow Swiss will be held on Tuesday, September 28. Isaac Sellon and Steve Lange both have 3-0 scores and will be playing against one another for first place. Games start at 6:30 PM. Alternative dates and times can be negotiated if both players agree and they inform me ahead of time. Spectators are welcome.
Master Matt Jensen and Master Thompson tied for first place in the top quad with 2.5 points each that included their hard-fought draw in the final round. Soren Wiedmann continued his winning streak by finishing with a perfect 3-0 score in the second quad. The prizes were $40 for first place in the quads.
Site: Mayo Clinic Harwick Building, South Cafeteria, 201 3rd Avenue SW, Rochester, MN. Park for free on the street after 5 PM or in a nearby parking ramp. Participants must be free of COVID symptoms and wear a mask. If you have not already done so, please get vaccinated for the safety of all.
Other attendees are invited to play in the casual quads.
POP-UP CHESS ON PEACE PLAZA: The final session of Pop-up Chess will be held on peace plaza, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM, on September 28. Stop by anytime and play chess in the fresh air.
Winners of the 2020 Rochester Chess Holiday Tournament. Free Advanced Chess Classes by Woman FIDE Master Jovana Milosevic
Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 Rochester Chess Holiday Tournament! The tournament was held online on Chess.com from December 15-29.
One slow game (G/30+30) was played per week for 3 weeks in 4 sections: 3 quads and one mini-swiss. Cole Hafner finished in first place with a perfect 3-0 score in the swiss section. Cole will receive a 6-month membership to the Rochester Chess. Tied for second place with 2-1 scores were Bob Richardson and Sanvithav Vallurupalli.
Steve Lange finished in first place in the Gamma Quad with a perfect 3-0 score. Steve will receive a 6-month extension to his membership to Rochester Chess. Jack Fulsom finished in second place with a 2-1 score.
Michael Kern finished in first place in Beta Quad with a perfect 3-0 score. Michael will receive a 6-month membership to Rochester Chess. Isaac Sellon and Tim Schimke tied for second place with 1.5 – 1.5 scores.
Soren Wiedmann, Mohamed Omer, and Paul Gabrail finished in a 3-way tie for first place in the Alpha Quad with 2-1 scores. Each will receive a 6-month membership to Rochester Chess.
Women FIDE master Jovana Milosevic is leading an advanced chess class on Saturdays from noon – 1:30 PM. She meets with the participants on Zoom and shares her screen with them during the class. Club members are welcome to join. Tuition will be free for the next series of 4 classes due to a donation to Rochester Chess that was given to support chess improvement among club members. The next series starts on January 9. Send me an email if you want to join the class: dennismays101@gmail.com Jovana also offers individual chess lessons online: jovana51796@gmail.com
New Look for our Website
WFM Jovana Milosevic recently completed her course on web design. She immediately put her new-found knowledge to work by updating our website. Thank you very much Jovana!
In person meetings with Rochester Chess members are still on hold. This situation will likely remain the same until the pandemic subsides. Your membership will be extended without charge by the amount of time the club was closed.
What should you do in the interim? Rochester Chess has held several online chess tournaments on Lichess.org and Chess.com. The most common format is a swiss at a slow time control (G/30+30 or G/60+30). You can register here for the next tournament which begins on Tuesday, November 10. George Paulik and Paul Gabrail won the most recent tournaments with perfect scores (4-0 in the swiss and 3-0 in the quad, respectively).
Master Milosevic is leading a weekly “Online Advanced Chess Class” on Saturdays, noon – 1:30 CDT (soon to be CST). Topics include how to play with different center pawn structures and material imbalances, the importance of centralization, open files and diagonals, and many more. Tuition is $15/class. Send me an email if you are interested in joining the class: dennismays101@gmail.com.
Rochester chess players Matt Jensen and Jesse Buss have created a chess improvement website called ChessGoals. ChessGoals offers study plans that were formed based on study habit data from hundreds of players. They also have weekly blog posts about chess improvement and current events.