North American Chess Association - Chess for Kids and Adults

October
01
2011

testing the update

March
04
2011

2nd North American Amatuer Open kicks off tonight!

The second installment of the North American Amateur series kicks off tonight. Last month 22 players participated despite being Super Bowl weekend! As of this writing we have 18 pre-registered players ready to do battle. Nearly half of the field does not have a FIDE rating and will be searching for their performance norms on their way to getting an established rating.

Round 1 begins at 7pm tonight at the North Shore Chess Center and the tournament continues throughout the weekend. Everyone is welcome to stop by and watch the action.

Best Regards,

Sevan A. Muradian, Founder
North American Chess Association
International Arbiter and International Organizer

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February
08
2011

Final Results - 1st North American Amateur Open

A long weekend came to a close as we wrapped up the 1st North American Amateur Open. 22 players (plus myself as a house player) came out to support the maiden voyage of this event series. From the mood of the players they were quite happy. A serious time control, a friendly environment, and highly competitive play.

At the very end we had a three-way tie for 1st place between IM Florin Felecan, Sam Schmakel, and Gavin McClanahan (in tie break order) with a score of 4/5. Sam was the only player that was able to scalp not one, but both master scalps. He first took out NM Jon L. Burgess and in the final round took out IM Florin Felecan. Aside from oodles of rating points, he nabbed for himself a copy of the Complete Works of Bobby Fischer and free entry next month to the 2nd North American Amateur Open.

5 of the players also scored FIDE rating performance norms towards their established FIDE ratings:

Matthew Stevens - 5 game performance norm (needs 4 more)
Tony Brown - 5 game performance norm (he now has 8 games total and needs 1 more for his established FIDE rating)
Dean Arond - 5 game performance norm (needs 4 more)
David Peng - 4 game performance norm (needs 5 more)
Bernard Parham - 3 game performance norm (needs 8 more)

Final Standings - 1st North American Amateur Open

#	Name	FIDE Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	IM Florin Felecan	2392	W10	W5	W3	W9	L2	4.0
2	Sam A Schmakel	1945	D18	W14	D15	W4	W1	4.0
3	Gavin Mc Clanahan	1862	W19	W13	L1	W12	W7	4.0
4	NM Jon L Burgess	2217	W23	D15	W11	L2	W9	3.5
5	Christoph Girardo	1780	W8	L1	D13	W18	W16	3.5
6	Krzysztof Flaga	2048	D14	W16	L9	W17	W11	3.5
7	Matthew Pullin	1942	H—	D12	W10	W15	L3	3.0
8	Bernard Parham	unr.	L5	L10	W23	W20	W12	3.0
9	Tony R Brown	unr.	D22	W17	W6	L1	L4	2.5
10	Vytaut Vitkauskas	1718	L1	W8	L7	D16	W18	2.5
11	Jeff Britt	1943	H—	W18	L4	W13	L6	2.5
12	David Tianji Peng	unr.	D17	D7	W21	L3	L8	2.0
13	Matthew J Stevens	unr.	W20	L3	D5	L11	D14	2.0
14	Abe Sun	1659	D6	L2	L17	W19	D13	2.0
15	Dmitri Sergatskov	unr.	W21	D4	D2	L7	U—	2.0
16	Pawel Marcinek	1675	H—	L6	W19	D10	L5	2.0
17	Fredric S Cohen	1742	D12	L9	W14	L6	H—	2.0
18	Dean Arond	unr.	D2	L11	W20	L5	L10	1.5
19	Theodor Mercer Jr	unr.	L3	D20	L16	L14	H—	1.0
20	Joe Delay	1731	L13	D19	L18	L8	H—	1.0
21	Dimitri Kosteris	1827	L15	W23	L12	U—	U—	1.0
22	Sevan A Muradian	1904	D9	U—	U—	D23	U—	1.0
23	Charles Craigmile	1687	L4	L21	L8	D22	U—	0.5

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February
06
2011

Day 2 of the 1st NA Amateur Open concludes

And a long day it was. It seems that we always have 1 game that goes the bitter distance!

Round 2 completed relatively quickly, while Round 3 saw a tooth and nail endgame battle between young gun Gavin McClanahan and IM Florin Felecan. A rook and pawn endgame that lasted 78 moves until Florin capitalized on some endgame mistakes by Gavin.

A big upset of the day was Tony Brown rated 1615 USCF who took down Expert Kris Flaga who is rated 2014. 399 point difference worked against Tony but that did not deter him from his goal. Next round he takes on tournament leader IM Florin Felecan.

I will post the games between McClanahan-Felecan and Brown-Flaga later today if possible.

1st North American Amateur Open - Standings after 3 rounds

#	Name	FIDE Rating	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Total
1	Florin Felecan	2392	W16	W9	W5	3.0
2	Tony R Brown	unr.	D22	W10	W11	2.5
3	Jon L Burgess	2217	W23	D4	W12	2.5
4	Dmitri Sergatskov	unr.	W17	D3	D7	2.0
5	Gavin Mc Clanahan	1862	W20	W14	L1	2.0
6	David Tianji Peng	unr.	D10	D8	W17	2.0
7	Sam A Schmakel	1945	D13	W19	D4	2.0
8	Matthew Pullin	1942	H—	D6	W16	2.0
9	Christoph Girardo	1780	W18	L1	D14	1.5
10	Fredric S Cohen	1742	D6	L2	W19	1.5
11	Krzysztof Flaga	2048	D19	W15	L2	1.5
12	Jeff Britt	1943	H—	W13	L3	1.5
13	Dean Arond	unr.	D7	L12	W21	1.5
14	Matthew J Stevens	unr.	W21	L5	D9	1.5
15	Pawel Marcinek	1675	H—	L11	W20	1.5
16	Vytaut Vitkauskas	1718	L1	W18	L8	1.0
17	Dimitri Kosteris	1827	L4	W23	L6	1.0
18	Bernard Parham	unr.	L9	L16	W23	1.0
19	Abe Sun	1659	D11	L7	L10	0.5
20	Theodor Mercer Jr	unr.	L5	D21	L15	0.5
21	Joe Delay	1731	L14	D20	L13	0.5
22	Sevan A Muradian	1904	D2	U—	U—	0.5
23	Charles Craigmile	1687	L3	L17	L18	0.0

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February
05
2011

1st North American Amateur Open Kicks Off!

On Friday night 22 players battled the frigid weather to converge at the North Shore Chess Center to take part in the 1st North American Amateur Open, some traveling as far as 3 hours away to participate. A tournament open only to those with an established FIDE (international) rating or a US Chess Federation rating above 1599, it provides an opportunity to those without an international rating to achieve one and to everyone an opportunity to continue honing their chess skills.

For the maiden voyage of the event series, we were fortunate to have two local chess masters graciously offer themselves up as targets. International Master Florin Felecan and National Master Jon L. Burgess, current and former members respectively of the Chicago Blaze US Chess League team, joined in the test of skills.

While no cash prizes in the event, “Chess Master Scalping” prizes are available throughout all rounds. Any of the 20 non-masters who successfully scalps (beats) either of the masters will receive a copy of Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion. Should any skilled scalp seeker pocket a scalp from each of the masters, they will receive in addition to the book, free entry to next months edition of this tournament series.

Utilizing a favored time control known as 90 30 or all moves in 90 minutes plus 30 seconds added after each move, the participants began slugging it out at 7pm. At the end of a long night (11:15pm), a number of the young guns in the tournament showed their mettle and made it known they are a force to be reckoned with.

Results from Round 1:

Vitkauskas (1718) vs Felecan (2392): 0 - 1
Burgess (2217) vs Craigmile (1687): 1 - 0
Sun (1659) vs Flaga (2048): 1/2 - 1/2 (Sun is one of the 4 young guns)
Schmakel (1945) vs Arond (unr): 1/2 - 1/2
Brown (unr) vs Muradian( 1904): 1/2 - 1/2
McClanahan (1862) vs Mercer Jr (unr): 1/2 - 1/2 (McClanahan is one of the 4 young guns, Mercer’s USCF rating is 1811)
Sergatskov (unr) vs Kosteris (1827): 1 - 0
Girardo (1780) vs Parham (unr): 1- 0 (Parham drove 3 hours to come play!)
Peng (unr) vs Cohen (1742): 1/2 - 1/2 (Peng is one of the 4 young guns)
Delay (1731) vs Stevens (unr): 0 - 1 (Stevens is one of the 4 young guns)

Round 2 will begin at 12pm on Saturday Feb 5. Spectators are welcome.

Best Regards,

–Sevan

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