The Best of ChessMaine.net 2007
01.01.08 It was another record-breaking year for chess in Maine. In each of the three benchmark categories--number of tournaments, number of tournament sections and number of players--new records were set. On the 2007 Maine chess scene there were thirty-eight tournaments in seventy-one sections serving 945 players. We've pored over the statistics to bring you this in-depth retrospective of the most active year in Maine chess on record.
Winningest Players
Roger Morin (left) tops the list of winningest Maine players for 2007 with five tournament wins. Roger is pictured here playing one of his top rivals at the Washington County Chess Federation Swisses, Roger Peterson.
Here are the USCF crosstables of Roger's five tournaments wins:
Cullen Edes takes clear second with four tournament wins. Here Cullen plays in the Hampden Harvest tournament on November 3, 2007--one of the four tournaments he won this year.
Here are the USCF crosstables of Cullen's four tournaments wins:
St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Section 1
High School Individual Championship
Four players tied for third with three tournament wins.
Lily Briggs won the Girls State Championship on March 3, 2007 at the University of Maine, Orono.
Here are the USCF crosstables of Lily's three tournaments wins:
All Saints Winter Warm-Up, K-12
Matthew Fishbein on his way to first place in the open section of the Aurora Winter Solstice tournament on December 1, 2007.
Here are the USCF crosstables of Matthew's three tournaments wins:
Ghezai Menelik (right) shakes hands with Brock McDougal to win the All Saints Winter Warm-Up on February 24, 2007.
Here are the USCF crosstables of Ghezai's three tournaments wins:
All Saints Winter Warm-Up, Open
St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Section 1
Roger Peterson (left) battles Lily Briggs in the third round of the Washington County Chess Federation June Swiss.
Here are the USCF crosstables of Roger's three tournaments wins:
Player of the Year
2007 Maine Chess Player of the Year Ruben Babayan (left), plays 2006 Maine Chess Player of the Year Lee Doucette, during their first round encounter at the ChessMaine.net Championship on June 23, 2007 at Colby College.
Babayan shares 1st at Maine Open; wins Player of the Year
Most Active Players
This year's most active player title goes to Matthew Fishbein. Matthew played in a total of sixteen USCF-rated tournaments in 2007.
The second most active Maine player in 2007 was Mark Seedner, who played in fifteen tournaments.
Here's a who's who of the year's most active players in Maine:
Sixteen Tournaments: Matthew Fishbein
Fifteen Tournamnets: Mark Seedner
Thirteen Tournaments: Ezra Briggs, Richard Judy
Twelve Tournaments: Lily Briggs, Lucas McCain, Nathaniel Simpson
Eleven Tournaments: Haley DeLuca Lowell, Aaron Spencer
Ten Tournamements: Hoty Briggs, Derrick Crocker
Nine Tournaments: Ruben Babayan, Murray Bridges, Roger Morin, Bob Nixon, Matthew Reale-Hatem
Eight Tournaments: Max Berube, Mary Bridges, Margaret Bryan, Max DeLuca Lowell, Jack Demeter, Richard Look, David Rice, Andrey Savov
State Champions
Maine State Co-Champion Joseph St. Pierre (right) plays Alan Schalk in a key fifth round match-up. St. Pierre won this game to finish with 4.5 points and tie for the state title with Jason Spector.
Maine State Co-Champion Jason Spector (right), won this game vs Jason Hopkins to earn himself a share of first place.
Crosstable of the 2007 Maine State Championship
Maine Team Champions
Four-fifths of the winning team, The Unnamed Winners/Chess Friends (left to right): Derrick Crocker, Ruben Babayan, Barry Magda and Lucas McCain pose with the Harlow B. Daly trophy. Andrey Savov is not pictured.
2007 Maine Team Championship tournament report
Scholastic State Champions
High School Individual Champions: Cullen Edes, Lucas McCain
Co-champions in the High School Championship section, Cullen Edes (left) and Lucas McCain call it a draw in round 4.
High School Team Champions: John Bapst Memorial High School
Members of the John Bapst championship team (left to right) Zachary Smith, Murray Bridges, and Fritz Eyerer. Not pictured are Zachary LaPierre and Frank Kessler.
Girls Champion: Lily Briggs
2007 Maine Girls Scholastic Champion Lily Briggs.
Junior High School (K-8) Individual Champion: Margaret Bryan
Margaret Bryan of Airline Community School in Aurora notches the K-8 Scholastic Championship.
Junior High School (K-8) Team Champions: Orono Middle School, Deer Isle-Stonington
Orono Middle School, Co-Champions in the K-8 Championship section with...
Deer Isle - Stonington.
Elementary (K-6) Individual Champion: Matthew Fishbein
Matthew Fishbein (left) plays Matt Saunders in round 2 of the K-6 Championship section. Last year Matthew won the K-3 Championship with four points, he did the same this year in the K-6 Championhip section.
Elementary (K-6) Team Champions: Cape Elizabeth, Deer Isle Stonington
After four consecutive second places (2003 - 2006) in the Elementary Championship section, this year Cape Elizabeth comes out on top.
Elementary Champions for nine years running! The Deer Isle - Stonington Dynasty
Primary (K-3) Individual Champion: Wesley Parker
Smooth sailing: K-3 Champion Wes Parker
Primary (K-3) Team Champions: Airline Community School
State Champions in the K-3 division for two years running: Airline Community School. From left to right: Isaiah Massey, Laddy DeLuca Lowell, Hannah Gray and Max DeLuca Lowell. This team scored a stunning 11.5 points out of a possible 12.
Biggest Upsets
1st Place 734 points: Derrick Crocker (1167) scored the biggest upset of the year with his win over Phil Lowell (1901) at the Portland Quick Chess Open.
2nd Place 690 points: Nathaniel Simpson (997) defeated Mike McCabe (1687) at the Washington County June Swiss.
3rd Place 650 points: Danielle Wong-Achorn (100) defeated Reid Horton (750) at the 8th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. tournament.
4th Place 629 points: Lily Briggs (1199) defeated Roger Peterson (1828) at the Washington County Chess Federation April Swiss.
5th Place 602 points: John Soong (729) defeated Lee Doucette (1331) at the Portland Quick Chess Open.
Most Popular Stories
ChessMaine.net has been visited by readers in all fifty states and dozens of foreign countries. With the help of our web tracker and hit counter, we have been able to determine the year's most popular stories. We hope you will enjoy taking a second look at these, the top stories of 2007.
1st Maine Scholastic Team Championships Tournament Report
2nd Maine Scholastic Individual Championship Tournament Report
3rd 2007 Eastern Maine Open Tournament Report
4th Mexico City Round 14: Viswanathan Anand is world champion!
5th National High School Championship Final Report
6th Curdo and Tichenor prevail at Triple Seven Open
7th PVC High School Chess League Match 2
8th Lee Doucette is Maine Chess Player of the Year for 2006
9th Alexander Shabalov wins US Championship
10th Maine Championship Tournament Report
Tournament Directors
This year, there were six active chief tournament directors in Maine. We extend our thanks to these individuals and to all the assistant tournament directors for making 2007 a record-breaking year for Maine chess. To determine the most active tournament director, we used a summation of three indicators: total tournaments directed, total tournament sections directed and total players served. Using this critera, the directors pictured below are listed in order of their tournament directing activity. You can click on a director's name to review their tournament directing history.
Phil Lowell
Tournaments Directed: 11
Tournament Sections Directed: 15
Total Players Served: 276
Summation of Indicators: 302
Average days to USCF Crosstable: 29.5
Dan DeLuca
Tournaments Directed: 8
Tournament Sections Directed: 15
Total Players Served: 190
Summation of Indicators: 213
Average days to USCF Crosstable: 0.125
Steve Wong
Tournaments Directed: 3
Tournament Sections Directed: 12
Total Players Served: 196
Summation of Indicators: 211
Average days to USCF Crosstable: 2.33
Alba Briggs
Tournaments Directed: 12
Tournament Sections Directed: 14
Total Players Served: 125
Summation of Indicators: 151
Average days to USCF Crosstable: 0.42
Tom Sandford
Tournaments Directed: 2
Tournament Sections Directed: 10
Total Players Served: 87
Summation of Indicators: 99
Average days to USCF Crosstable: 21.0
Lee Doucette
Tournaments Directed: 2
Tournament Sections Directed: 5
Total Players Served: 71
Summation of Indicators: 78
Average days to USCF Crosstable: 14.0
Comments
I must say that your state association ranks as one of the strongest per player as you do everything and anything to provide interesting articles such as this one. Very impressive research and keep up the good work!
Posted by: Andrew Tichenor | January 2, 2008 12:39 PM
When I started playing in the 60's, there was only one young player in Maine playing in tournaments that I remember. That was J. Peters who became an International Master now in California and today there are hundreds of young players in Maine. What a great job that tds, directors and teachers have done. To all of you, my sincerest thanks, happy new year,
Roger Morin
Posted by: roger morin | January 2, 2008 11:29 AM
Wonderful spread, Dan!
Posted by: jsmalev | January 2, 2008 7:20 AM