Official Site of the Maine Chess Association
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Fifty-nine players turned out on January 18, 2016 to compete in the 17th Annual (!) MLK Chess Tournament hosted by the Stillwater Montessori School and played in Orono, Maine. Chester Young and Ryan Tripp topped the four-player Open section, Joseph Astumian and Aaron Ben Wilson-McFarlane won the K-12 section, Liam Farrell was perfect in the K-8 section and Ben Mock finished first in the K-6 Non-Rated section. |
Continue reading "17th Annual MLK Tournament Report" »
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It was a great event honoring the greatest scholastic chess coach that Maine has ever seen. Dick Powell was enthusiastically thanked for his monumental contributions to Deer Isle-Stonington chess with some formal remarks, the unveiling of a granite monument and beautiful stained-glass panels, a luncheon, and a quick chess tournament. Here are impressions from the day along with images, and results. |
Continue reading "DIS Quick Chess Tournament Honoring Dick Powell" »
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The George Cunningham Chess Brilliancy Prize Fund has been established thanks to the generous financial support of a philanthropic chess patron who wishes to remain anonymous. This fund honors George Cunningham for his monumental contributions to Maine chess and welcomes further donations to create a self-sustaining principal that would support quarterly awards of $100 to recipients of the George Cunningham Chess Brilliancy Prize. To make a donation, or receive more information on the fund, please contact Dan DeLuca at dcdeluca@yahoo.com |
Continue reading "George Cunningham Chess Brilliancy Prize Fund Established" »
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Less than one month ago, the Aurora Winter Solstice boasted the largest non-state-championship turnout since 2004. That record has already gone by the wayside! Sixty-four players competed in the John Bapst New Year's Tournament in Memory of Bob Solinger played on January 10th at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. There were clear winners in each section: Dan Robbins (Open), Joseph Astumian (U1200), William Xu (U800), and Ben McIntire (U400). Here's the illustrated tournament report with USCF crostables. |
Continue reading "Another Sixty-plus Player Tournament" »
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The chess problem, or chess composition, is a puzzle in which the solver is asked to find or complete a specific task. Unlike tactical exercises, the chess problem does not necessarily seek to find the objectively strongest move in a given position. There are many genres of chess problems; in this post, we will consider a particular type of chess problem know as the proof game. In proof game problems, the solver is given a move or position and is asked to construct a game that ends in that position. |
Continue reading "Deceptively Simple, Fiendishly Difficult " »
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Throughout the history of chess, players have received awards for particularly beautiful games usually featuring sacrificial attacks and unexpected moves. These awards, known as brilliancy prizes, recognize a player's contribution to both artistic and technical aspects of the game. Because the winner of a chess game is, as Savielly Tartakower quipped, "the one who makes the next-to-last mistake," brilliancy prizes do not require strictly sound play or the best moves by either side. Congratulations to Phil Lowell for becoming the first player in a hopefully long list to receive the ChessMaine Brilliancy Prize for one of his games in the 2016 Bangor Open. |
Continue reading "Phil Lowell Receives ChessMaine's Inaugural Brilliancy Prize" »
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The results of the Maine Chess Association election were dutifully tabulated by outgoing MECA secretary Lee Doucette. The Board welcomes two new faces: Eric Dinnerstein (Secretary) and Lucas McCain (Director). Thanks to all who offered their names in nomination, to those who participated in voting, and to outgoing Board members Lee Doucette and Ron Lewis for their years of hard work and dedicated service to the Maine chess community. |
Continue reading "MECA Election Results" »
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Alex Relyea continues to offer Maine chess players opportunities to compete in professionally run tournaments that attract strong players. The Bangor Open, held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor on January 2-3, was Maine's first tournament of 2016. FM Nelson Casteneda of Connecticut took first in the open section with an unbeaten and untied 4.0 points. Maine State Champion FM Jarod Bryan took clear second with 3.0 points and William Ravn, Phil Lowell, and Darrell Salisbury tied for third with 2.5 points. In the U1750 section, Curt Brock, Tom Sandford, and Nathan Gates finished equal first with 2.5 points. Here are crosstables, images, and games featuring our new ChessBase Game Viewer. |
Continue reading "Bangor Open Tournament Report" »
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Lee Doucette is one of the Maine chess community's pillars. He has been active and involved with the Maine Chess Association since the mid 1980's serving as tournament director, MECA board member and, of course, player. After many years of service, Lee is leaving his post as MECA Secretary. He hopes to get more over-the-board time in 2016. We caught up with Lee to get his perspectives on chess, characters, and "showing up" for life. |
Continue reading "ChessMaine Interviews: Lee Doucette" »
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As we approach the ten year anniversary of ChessMaine.net on March 11, 2016, we take our annual end-of-the-year look back at all things chess in Maine for the year 2015. Some highlights include: an academic discussion on the life of Marcel Duchamp at Bowdoin College, chess at Super Bowl XLIX, ChessMaine.net and MECA featured in the Maine Sun Journal, MACC first on USCF's list of Small State Affiliates, a premier screening of the film Algorithms, the Women's World Championship, the US Championship, the Maine Championship, and ChessMaine.net receives its fourth Chess Journalists of America award. And that's just the tip of the chess iceberg! |
Continue reading "The Best of ChessMaine.net 2015" »
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