02.02.21 After Maine won the first match vs the Sjakklubb of Tromsø, Norway on 29 November 20 by the score of 22-18, the Norwegians brought out their A Team and won the second match held on lichess.org on 31 January 21 with an impressive score of 24-12. Despite the loss, there were some highlights for the Maine team including an interesting draw earned by current Maine State Co-Champion Wyatt Hendrix in his game vs GM Ben Notkevich.

The thirty-six game match was played on Sunday, January 31, 2021 on the lichess.org platform and held to commemorate 10th World Champion Boris Spassky's 84th birthday. Each participant played two games one with each color at a time control of Game in 30 minutes with no increment or delay.

The 12.0 points scored by the Maine team were garnered by Wyatt Hendrix (0.5), Matthew Fishbein (1.5), Aaron Spencer (1.0), Pavel Sulyandziga (1.0), Derrick Crocker (0.5), Ben Mock (1.5), Zach Brislin (1.0), Bill Nadolny (2.0), Lance Beloungie (0.5), Andrey Savov (2.0), and Michael Dudley (0.5).

The players, results, and games of the second Maine vs Tromsø Match can be viewed on the website of

A fascinating struggle ensued between GM Ben Notkevich playing white and Wyatt Hendrix. GM Notkevich is a 27-year-old member of the Norwegian Olympic Team who earned his title at the 2018 Batumi Olympiad. We congratulate Two-time Maine State Champion Wyatt Hendrix on his fine play and wresting a half point from the GM.

We thank the organizers and players on both sides of the Atlantic and look forward to more exciting matches.