12.08.12 Thirty-two players competed in the 8th Annual Aurora Winter Solstice chess tournament at the Airline Community School in Aurora on Saturday, December 8th, 2012. Roger Morin topped the open section with a perfect 3.0 points, Andy Vaughn and Matt Spear shared first in the U1400 section with 2.0 points in three rounds, Brendan Penfold went undefeated and untied with 4.0 points in as many games and Rylee Eaton, Ben Penfold and Colyn Rich shared first in the U600 section.

USCF crosstable of this event

Roger Morin won the open section with 3.0 points in three rounds.

Close on his heels were Aaron Spencer and...

Brian Hurst each who scored 2.0 points.

Lance Beloungie engaging in a deep thought exercise.

Yuri Riabkov

Deer Isle-Stonington coach Dick Powell

Andy Vaughn shared the top spot in the U1400 section with...

John Bapst High School student Matt Spear.

Making the trek to Aurora from Scarborough, the highest rated player in the U1400 section, Ian Youth.

Gunnar Heckler

Nicholas Kawamura

David Bickford-Duane

Perfect in four rounds: Brendan Penfold took first in the U1000 section.

Orly Vaughn scored 3.0 points for second place in the U1000 section.

Third place was shared by SooZin Cha...

Lois Morin

and Zach Grindal.

Max DeLuca Lowell

Isaac Vaughn

Oliver Sheehan

Rylee Eaton shared first place in the U600 section with...

Ben Penfold and...

Colyn Rich.

Cody Jones, despite this pose, did quite well and took fourth place.

Kaegan Thompson

Cam Stewart

Addie McDonald

Ian Pomroy

Cole Stewart

Cyrus Grindal

Jacob Peabody

Natalie Sheehan

Independant filmmaker Veronica Young speaks to players in order to gather material for a chess documentary featuring the Deer Isle-Stonington program.

Hard at work: Assistant Tournament Director Andy Bryan

What do you do while your kids are playing in a chess tournament? Catch up on some e-mail and

get some work done!

The feet of a champion?

Outstanding conditions have been a hallmark of the Aurora Winter Solstice tournament. Here the Open and U1400 section play in the well lit and very quiet library annex.

U600 players discuss the competition.

Ian Pomroy was one of three lucky winners of a book give-away. The other two were Yuri Riabkov and Dick Powell.

The U600 group

You win some, you learn some. Thanks to all who participated: players, parents, coaches and volunteers!