01.30.11 On Saturday, January 29th the Deer Isle-Stonington Chess Boosters sponsored the 5th Annual Joe Brown Memorial Tournament for K-8 chess players. Joe's mother Jenny and his two sisters Whitney and Chelsea were on hand to give out the awards in four divisions: K-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. Thirty-two young chess players were on hand to honor Joe's memory with some memorable chess matches. Dan DeLuca from Aurora donated his time coming down to Deer Isle to direct the event for the 5th year in a row.

Thanks to Dick Powell for contributing to this report. There are no USCF crosstables as this was a non-rated event.

As was the case last year there was no trophy for the "top girl scorer." The reason being that the girls took home 8 of the 16 trophies including first place in 2 of the 4 divisions! Starting out with the K-2 division--"The Future of DIS Chess"--the girls took first, second and fifth. Rylee Eaton led the way with a perfect 5-0 record followed by Kaylee Morey in second with 4-1 (her only loss being to Rylee). Andrew Pappianne took 3rd, Myles Brown was fourth and first year chess player McHenna Martin claimed the fifth place award.

In the 3-4 grade division Ben Penfold won top honors with a perfect 5-0 day followed by Gifford Proper in second, Addie McDonald in third, Ashlin Savage in forth and Ella Marshall in fifth only one point in front of newcomer Gavin Davis.

The largest group--10 players strong--was made up of the majority of last year's Maine State K-6 Chess Champions. Soozin Cha, who was undefeated in those 2010 States, was also undefeated Saturday with a clean 5-0 slate. Kinsey Bartlett was second, losing only to Cha, while Orly Vaughn picked up the third place hardware half a point in front of Kylee Atwood and Brendan Penfold and only one point distant from Mason Oliver and Tyson Rice both veterans of the Atlanta Nationals. Talk about close!

Finally, in the 7-8 grade section Krisford Melanio defeated Bethany Humphrey in round five to finish 5-0 for the day. If he lost it would have been a three way tie for first. As it was Humphrey took third while Cameron Wendell, who only lost to Melanio, captured second on the strength of his 4-1 mark. Reid Bartlett tied for third with 3 wins but lost the trophy by computer tie breaks. Isaac Vaughn and newcomer Philomena Mattes were each only one game out of third in the closely contested section. Kathy Marshall spearheaded a host of booster mothers (and some fathers) who kept the Maine Scholastic Chess Food Trophy on the Island for one more year!

Grade 7-8 winner Krisford Melanio

The last round game begins between Bethany Humphrey (left) and Krisford Melanio. Melanio won this one to take clear first in the Grade 7-8 section with a perfect 5.0 points.

Cameron Wendell finished second with 4.0 points.

Current K-6 State Champion Bethany Humphrey took equal third place with 3.0 points tying with...

...Reid Bartlett.

Isaac Vaughn...

...and Philomena Mattes tied for fifth place with 2.0 points.

Alyssa Chesney

Cody Eaton

Whitney Brown (left) and Chelsea Brown (right) with winners in the Grade 7-8 section (left to right): Krisford Melanio (1st), Cameron Wendell (2nd) and Bethany Humphrey (3rd).

Soozin Cha was perfect to win the Grade 5-6 section with 5.0 points.

Kinsey Bartlett tied for second with...

...Orly Vaughn both scoring 3.5 points.

Kylee Atwood scored 3.0 points as did...

...Brendan Penfold.

Mason Oliver scored 2.0 points as did...

...Tyson Rice.

Oskar Mattes

Eliot Nevells

Ennis Marshall

Whitney Brown (left) and Chelsea Brown (right) with winners in the Grade 5-6 section (left to right): Orly Vaughn (3rd), Kinsey Bartlett (2nd) and Soozin Cha (1st).

Grade 3-4 winner Ben Benfold

Gifford Proper took clear second with 3.5 points.

Addie McDonald third place and 3.0 points

Ashlin Savage

Ella Marshall

Gavin Davis

Chelsea Brown (left) and Whitney Brown (right) with winners in the Grade 3-4 section (left to right): Ella Marshall (5th), Addie MacDonald (3rd), Ashlin Savage (4th), Gifford Proper (2nd) and Ben Penfold (1st).

Perfect in the K-2 section Rylee Eaton took first with 5.0 points

Kaylee Morey finished second with 4.0 points.

Andrew Pappianne, third with 3.0 points

Myles Brown took fourth place with 2.0 points

A force to be reckoned with: McHenna Martin finished fifth

Jacob Gell

Henry Penfold

Tom Thompson

Whitney Brown (left) and Chelsea Brown (right) with winners in the Grade K-2 section (left to right): Rylee Eaton (1st), Andrew Pappianne (2nd), McHenna Martin (5th), Myles Brown (4th) and Kaylee Morey (2nd).

All the award winners with Whitney Brown and Chelsea Brown

Thanks to the Deer Isle-Stonington Chess Boosters there was plenty of food to keep those young minds clicking.

Action in the Grade 5-6 section

Tournament Organizer Dick Powell kibitzes a game in the 3-4 section.

Until next time we bid farewell to Deer Isle, Maine.