Maryland Chess Association

MD 12th Grader Sahil Sinha Becomes International Master!

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by IM-elect Sahil Sinha

2019 North American Junior (U20) Championship, 2019.06.26-30, IM-elect Sinha (White) vs IM Balakrishnan (Black)

I was looking forward to the 2019 North American Junior (U20) Championship, a prestigious event within the North American continent. Kudos to the Charlotte Chess Center for their amazing efforts in organizing these kinds of tournaments. Prior to this, I happened to have played a few norm tournaments at the Charlotte Chess Center and was just there in the first week of June. Unfortunately, my subpar performance was not sufficient to earn the norm, so I was hoping to make amends and turn in a better performance at this event, which I was competing for the first time and the top 3 finishers would achieve at least an IM norm.

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MD Girl Champion 2019

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by John D. Rockefeller V

Congratulations to the MD Girl Chess Champions 2019:

• Girl Champion: Meghana Bhanuprasad (1847), 11th grader at Marriotts Ridge High School
• Girl Team Champion: None

The Girl Champion will receive MD Chess's Girl Chess Champion Stipend of $750 to be Maryland's Representative at the National Girls Tournament of Champions.

Click below for the tournament’s Final Standings (MD Chess's Crosstables), US Chess Crosstables, photos (if any), highlight video (if any), & a list of the 10+ annual open tournaments run by MD Chess to any 3 of which the Champion will receive free Early entry.

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MD HS & MS Champions 2019

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by John D. Rockefeller V

Congratulations to the Maryland High-School & Middle-School Chess Champions 2019:

• HS Champion: Sahil Sinha (2365), 12th grader at Poolesville High School
• HS Team Champion: Poolesville High School
• MS Champion: Jayant Maheshwari (2011), 7th grader at Clarksville Middle School
• MS Team Champion: Cabin John Middle School

The HS Champion will receive MD Chess's HS Chess Champion Stipend of $750 to be Maryland's Representative at the Denker Tournament of High School Champions.

The MS Champion will receive MD Chess's MS Chess Champion Stipend of $750 to be Maryland's Representative at the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions.

Click below for the tournament’s Final Standings (MD Chess's Crosstables), US Chess Crosstables, photos (if any), highlight video (if any), & a list of the 10+ annual open tournaments run by MD Chess to any 4 of which each of the HS & MS Individual Champions will receive free Early entry.

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Ralph P. Zimmer : in Memoriam

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3 Eulogies Delivered at St. Joseph Church in Baltimore, MD on 2019.03.18.

1. by John D. Rockefeller V
I first met Ralph through a mutual friend, John Sprague, at the Maryland Open in 2010. John knew I had been giving my son, John, chess lessons ever since he turned 2; so, he said I had to meet this other Dad who was doing the same thing with his son, Kevin. When Ralph told me that he was a Fide Master and that his wife, Annett, had been the top Under 16 girl in the former East Germany, I joked that John would never be able to catch up because of Kevin’s insurmountable advantage: in-utero chess training. John and Kevin soon became friends, hanging out at tournaments and going to each other’s birthday parties. When Ralph first invited John to 1 of Kevin’s birthday parties, he made it very clear that I should understand what we were agreeing to. Ralph warned me that I wasn’t being invited to some typical American birthday party that lasts only 2 hours; no, we had been extended a European invitation—which meant we should count on being at the Zimmers’ all afternoon and most of the evening. The other thing I remember learning that day during my first visit to the Zimmers’ house, was that Ralph put hot sauce on everything. According to Ralph, there wasn’t anything that didn’t taste better with hot sauce.

Click below for more of the 3 eulogies:

Read more: Ralph P. Zimmer : in Memoriam

MD K-5 & K-3 Champions 2019

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by John D. Rockefeller V

Congratulations to the Maryland Elementary-School (K-5) & Primary-School (K-3) Chess Champions 2019:

• K-5 Champion: Eli Wu (1421), 5th grader at Rockburn Elementary School
• K-5 Team Champion: Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School
• K-3 Champion: Michael Chen (1069), 3rd grader at Stone Mill Elementary School

Click below for the tournament’s Final Standings (MD Chess's Crosstables), US Chess Crosstables, photos (if any), highlight video (if any), & a list of the 10+ annual open tournaments run by MD Chess to any 4 of which each of the K-5 & K-3 Individual Champions will receive free Early entry.

Read more: MD K-5 & K-3 Champions 2019

2019 Maryland Sweet 16 - Jason Daniels is Champion!

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by Chris Y Kim

Day 2 of the 2019 Maryland Sweet 16 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country (UMBC) exhibited some excitement at the top in addition to the snowy weather. In Round 3, co-leaders Jason Daniels and Bijan Tahmassebi (the top 2 rated players) met on the top board. Daniels prevailed in a tight game with the black pieces. This set up a round 4 matchup with the other co-leader Jeffery Du, who had won his 3rd round match with Ryan He. Both Daniels (White) and Du (Black) fought in a tense match that ended in an agreed draw - leaving both players tied for first at 3.5 points.  

An Armagggedon quick game playoff followed with White having 15 mintues (increment 5) and Black having 10 minutes (increment 5). Daniels (leader on tiebreaks) chose to be Black. With an audience of around 20 watching, Du started with an English opening, and 20 minutes later Daniels emerged as the victor and the recepient of a tuition scholarship to UMBC.  

In tiebreak order, here are the final standings with the USCF ratings:

3.5: Jason Daniels (2187), Jeffrey Du (2043)

3.0: Bijan Tahmassebi (2107)

2.5: Douglas Malcolm (2014), Chen-Chen Ye (1927)

2.0: Andrew Diep (1964), Ryan He (1937), Bradley Guo (1841), Max Mathura (1834), Ariel Joshi (1686)

1.5: Sean Power (1950), Joseph Tarantin (1874), Anthony Granruth (1778)

1,0: Ritz Ballares (1871), Satvik Lolla (1888)

0.5: Emerson Holcomb (1746)

2019 Maryland Sweet 16 - Day 1

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by Chris Y Kim

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Day 1 (2 rounds) of the 2019 Maryland Sweet 16 tournament has a 3-way tie for the lead - the top 3 seeds Jason Scott Daniels, Bijan Tahmassebi, and Jeffrey Du. It has been a competitive two rounds so far in this annual invitational tournament showcasing the top Maryland scholastic players and is increasing in strength every year. [Former winners of the tournament are not allowed to compete.] Half the field played last year. This has a potential for an exciting Day 2 tomorrow with the top two seeds meeting on Board 1 in Round 3! There is a threat of snow for Round 4, which may make the finale interesting.

In Ratings order, here are the standings with the USCF ratings:

2.0: Jason Scott Daniels (2187); Bijan Tahmassebi (2107); Jeffrey Du (2043)

1.5: Ryan He (1937)

1.0: Douglas Malcolm (2014); Andrew Diep (1964); Sean Kee Power (1950); Chen-Chen Ye (1927); Joseph Tarantin (1874); Bradley Guo (1841); Max Mathura (1834)

0.5: Ritz Ballares (1871); Emerson Holcomb (1746); Ariel Joshi (1686)

0.0: Satvik Lolla (1888); Anthony Granruth (1778)

Here are the pairings for Round 3 that will start at 10:30 Sunday morning (White listed first):

1: Bijan Tahmassebi (2.0) vs Jason Scott Daniels (2.0)

2: Ryan He (1.5) vs Jeffrey Du (2.0)

3: Douglas Malcolm (1.0) vs Joseph Tarantin (1.0)

4: Chen-Chen Ye (1.0) vs Andrew Diep (1.0)

5: Max Mathura (1.0) vs Sean Kee Power (1.0)

6: Ritz Ballares (0.5) vs Bradley Guo (1.0)

7: Emerson Holcomb (0.5) vs Ariel Joshi (0.5)

8: Anthony Granruth (0.0) vs Satvik Lolla (0.0)

MD-Sweet-16 2019 FINAL STANDINGS 2019.02.24

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by John D. Rockefeller V & Chris Y. Kim

Welcome to the 2018-2019 qualifying season for the Maryland Sweet 16 2019 on 2019.03.02-03. Since 1995 this annual invitational tournament has featured 16 of the top K-12 Maryland players competing in a separate section of the UMBC Open at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The MD-Sweet-16 tournament-announcement page contains all tournament details, including qualification rules & Varsity-Points scoring rules. The MD-Sweet-16 Champion will receive a MD-Sweet-16 UMBC Chess Scholarship, valued at $47,112. (There are 2 additional types of UMBC Chess Scholarships for which high-school seniors from any state are eligible.)

9 of the 9 scheduled MD-Sweet-16 Qualifiers in this qualifying season have been completed. The Final Standings include the results of MD Chess Roland Park February II on 2019.02.23.

Click below for the current MD-Sweet-16 Qualifiers, 2 Alternates, Backup Alternates, & Full Standings.

Read more: MD-Sweet-16 2019 FINAL STANDINGS 2019.02.24