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The Castle has a youtube channel for streaming events and the best games!
This page is for news and recent results of the local chess community.
If you have news send it to, Bill at feellikeapawn@comcast.net
April 21 Time to check early entry deadlines for Summer tournaments to get the best rate.
The U.S. Senior Open Championship will be held in Chicago July 25th-27th. There is a camp and other sections. Details not fully posted yet. Entry LINK More information there and there is a camp and Junior tournament.
The Governor's Cup is scheduled for September 19-21st in Sioux Falls. More details later.
April 7 Upcoming events for girls and women. Special entry and prizes. MSCA
April 2 IM Alice Lee won the American Cup for the second year and $49,000. In a must win situation she was able to do just that. The St. Louis Chess Club sponsored the event. You can check all the details on the Chessbase site. With games and commentary.
IM Samrug (Sammy) Narayanan won the Closed playoffs to become State Champion for the second year. Andrew Titus lost in the last round and this allowed Sammy and IM Sean Nagle's draw to secure the title for him. Most of the games can be found here along with standings.
March 14 Details for the the start of the MSCA Grand Prix are posted. St. Cloud is the first event. Alice Lee will be back in action in St. Louis starting on Sat. March 15th. The American Cup is a big money tournament she won last year.
Early entry for the Chicago Open is March 21st.
The U.S. Open will be in Madison, WI.
March 9 The schedule for the State Playoffs is set. LINK and HERE. Monday Action Quads' attendance is up. Check it out.
February 17 The Minnesota Open results are posted on the MSCA site. The State Scholastic Championships is fast approaching. Also Catfish Days tournament will return again this year. The Castle will hold the Minneapolis Open on April 25-26th. If going to the Chicago Open you might want to make hotel reservations.
January 23 Winter Open results are posted on the MSCA site. Lots of winners.
If you are interested in chess lessons here is a program. FLYER. Check it out.
January 8 Joseph Wan from Iowa and Tim Radermacher tied for the Club Champion title. About 30 players competed. The Winter Open has reached its limit. There is a wait list. Contact MSCA. Registration for the MN Open is open and it will be held at Bethel University this year. There are two hotels nearby. Dan Voje was on fire on Monday Beating two Masters and drawing a third to gain 81 points.
December 25 The World Rapid and Blitz World Championships will be held from Dec.26th-31st. Results and pairings can be followed HERE. Also on chess.com and Chessbase. Wishing good luck to Alice Lee. Alice off to a 4/4 start.
December 23 Tim Radermacher was clear winner of the Hall of Fame tournament with 4/5. Draws against Blomer and Timm. They joined Voje and Perry tied for second with 3.5/5. Voje, Blomer and Perry have crossed over the 2000 level after a period of stable performance. Dan and I played our 217th game. It was chaos, as usual.
The MSCA calendar for 2025 is on the MSCA site. There are new Grand Prix events. The Minnesota Open will be held at Bethel College this year.
December 9 The Club Championship will be held on Jan.4th-5th. It is a 5 round tournament this time. Enter by Dec. 29th for best rate.
December 4 Due to the outrageous cost of playing sites, adjustments have been made. Organizers can not pay for space that is not needed. This also assures better prize guarantee. The Winter Open has a 180 player limit. This would be the second highest number ever. Last year was over two hundred and it was too crowded. I advise entering early. Also that is the best rate.
November 18 The Castle Chess Club held the Class Championships. Due to there only being 4 rounds there will be playoffs for the Closed Playoffs. Sammy Naryanan won the top section but the next three will have to playoff as Sammy is the State Champ and is in the Closed already. Michael Perry and Bill Murray will play Saturday (Michael won 2-0) at the club for the Class A spot as Eddie Wasserman is the defending Champ and is in the Closed. All the sections are now rated. Sara Emmons Wahl lead a family team of directors. The whole event went really well. The Hall of Fame will be held here and entries are limited to 60. Best rates by 11/23.
November 3 Dan Voje and Bill Murray had a playoff for the 65+ Senior Title. After 4 rapid games of 2 wins and two draws they played Blitz. Dan won that with a score of 3-1. This is not the first time Dan has won the title.
October 28 NM Leonard Johnson had an easy time cruising to the Senior Championship. With a 4/4 score. Okey Iwu took the weekend off and Tim Radermacher lost to Barry Lazarus. Dan and I were not strong enough to even slow him down. He will be a good representative at the States Championships nest year. Dane, Miles and Eddie tied for first in the Younger event.
October 22 As we know there is no quit in IM Alice Lee. In the tenth round of the US Women's Championship she had the position on the left. It has been assumed a draw for some time but Alice still tries. Alice is White and pushing for a win. Black to move. Is it a win or draw?
The GMs said this was a win for Alice. But wait. Alice will play Rook to f4 and Queen the pawn. Black played 45....Ke5 46.Rf4 Kxf4 47.f7 and the pawn turns into a Queen as the Rook can not get back to stop it.
Black should have played 45...Kd5 46. Rf4 Rb3 47. f7 Rb8 48. f8=Q and the Rook sacrifices it self for the pawn. But now the Black King is close enough to the a pawn and White will have to give up the Rook for the pawn.
Alice showed great technique in converting the Q vs R+p ending. She plays Yip tomorrow going for second place.
She drew Yip and finished in third with a nice payday. Chessbase
September 3 I have been informed that Sammy Narayanan has acheived his third and final norm for the IM title. He played in New York at the same invitational he got his first norm at. FIDE will review things in due course before the IM title is official. I have found a game that he played against IM Rozman Levy of Gotham Chess fame who is trying for a GM title. Congratulations to team Sammy. Narayanan-Levy.
June 17 In this position Alice blundered after an hour of playing on increment at the Cairns Cup. Not one to play for a draw in a bad position she played actively. After the mistake the commentators assumed she was lost. As we all know there is no quit in her. With the tricky Knight she struggles on. With brilliant play she draws the game. To play the GIF just refresh the page. I do not know how to auto replay. Chess.com link to the game.
State Champ Samrug Narayanan
State Champ Samrug Narayanan
FM Samrug Narayanan went undefeated in the Minnesota Open. The State Champ defeated IM Sean Nagle, the speedy Jackson Wahl and now Senior Leonard Johnson on his path to clear first. Sean qualified for the playoffs and will be joined by Radermacher, Richter, Iwu and Wahl for a tough closed tournament to crown the State Champ.
Dan Voje won clear first in the Amateur. MSCA has the crosstables posted already. Pictured below from a file photo.
The Minnesota Open has been rated.
Tim Radermacher was on Minnesota Live plugging chess and the Scholastic Championships.
February 5 At the left is a picture of the remodeling that was done after the accident. A huge amount of sewage fell from a broken pipe and covered the floor, tables, sets and clocks. Dane showed me pictures and it was massive. Southdale took no responsibility and it was left to volunteers to fix the problem. Thankfully Roger Hale once again stepped up with carpeting and other items. This was huge. Dane's Dad, Bruno, volunteered his skills at sheet rock repair and all round handyman to help get the club looking great. Many others helped too. The place looks brand new and more tables will be added to get us back to be able to handle bigger events. I advise you to take advantage of one of the best clubs in the nation.
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