WCC News 2020 ♔

The 9th and final round of the 2nd annual Cairns Cup was played on Sunday, Feb. 16, at the Saint Louis Chess Club, where GM Humpy Koneru of India emerged the winner, scoring 6-3.
Finishing as runner-up with a 5.5-3.5 tally was world champion GM Ju Wenjun of China, who was deprived of first place and possibly a tie for first place, after she was upset in Round 8 by WGM Carissa Yip, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 2014 and the Boylston Chess Club in 2016.
Tying for 3rd-4th place with 5-4 results were GM Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine and Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia. GM Kateryna Lagno of Russia and GM Harika Dronavalli of India shared 5th-6th place with even scores of 4.5-4.5.
Deadlocked in 7th-9th place with 4-5 tallies were Carissa Yip, who will be awarded the International Master title by FIDE at the end of February, fellow American GM Irina Krush, and GM Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia.
Finishing in 10th place with 2.5-6.5 result was last year's Cairns Cup winner, GM Valentina Gunina of Russia.
This performance places Carissa at #42 on the Women’s live rating list and she is the youngest of the top 50!
A private closing ceremony was to be held Monday evening, Feb. 17, in Saint Louis.

Games can be found in .PGN format at: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=98600.
Each round of the entire tournament with live commentary by
GM Yasser Sierawan, GM Alejandro Ramirez & WGM Jennifer Shahade may be viewed at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnw7GO1E6e4 Round 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CNLVrjNV58 Round 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTICiqBbRGg Round 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e8Nw7hC1wY Typ 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLaUCWvSBPQ Round 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksZGi19qmoY Round 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8HUeXUi2Q Round 6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eReAJ0pLNYw Round 7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM3YyMgMzws Round 8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiUufnpwJPU Round 9

The following ratings are in effect for the George E. O'Rourke Memorial tournament,
which begins Wednesday, February 12th, in Room C-159 of the McKay Complex at Fitchburg State University.
Registration is from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., with Round 1 starting at 7:15 p.m.
Deadline for all subsequent rounds is 7:10 p.m. Players running late who wish to be paired MUST CALL by 7 p.m.

On Sunday, February 9th, seven members from each of the Billerica and Wachusset Chess Clubs traveled to a neutral site at the Billiards Café in Ayer to compete in the Club Match between these two venerable Massachusetts Chess Clubs. This will be a two-round match with the same opponents meeting both weeks with alternate colors.

The Billerica Chess Club entered the tournament with an average player rating of 1868, over 50 points greater than the average Wachusett Chess Club player rating of 1817. Despite their underdog status, the Wachusett Chess Club scored a 4-3 advantage in the first round. This is particularly noteworthy in light of Billerica having the advantage of four White Boards in the first round. Billerica only netted a one-point advantage on the White Boards scoring 2.5 points. Billerica wins on the White Boards were scored by Fred Pearson (over Gary Brassard) and Michael David (over Steve Murray). Paul Baginski, playing for Billerica with White, had a drawn game with Wachusett player, Jim Donahue. Meanwhile, Wachusett scored 2.5 points in their 3 games with the White Boards, netting a 2-point advantage. Wachusett wins on the White Boards were scored by Brett Kildahl (over John Vaughan) and Roger Cappallo (over Joe Kelly). Don Ostrowski, playing for Wachusett with White had a drawn game with BIllerica player, Kaustubh Kislay.

The second, and final, round will be again hosted by the Billiards Café Chess Club in Ayer this upcoming Sunday, February 16th. The Billerica Chess Club will be tasked with closing the 1-point deficit to Wachusett this week with just three White Boards.

All games are being played with a time control of Game/90; with a delay of 10 seconds. Larry Gladding is the Tournament Director.

Michael David
Tournament Organizer

Former Wachusett Chess Club champion Carissa Yip to compete in 2nd annual Cairns Cup in Saint Louis.
Carissa Yip, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 2014, is among the entrants set to compete in the 2nd annual Cairns Cup, which will be contested Feb. 6-17 at the Saint Louis Chess Club. The 16-year-old Woman Grandmaster, who is expected to be approved for the International Master title by the World Chess Federation, more commonly known by its acronym FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs) at the 90th FIDE Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, at the end of February, will engage in a 10-player round robin that will include the current women's world champion, GM Ju Wenjun, 29, of China, rated 2583, and eight other high-rated GMs in addition to Carissa. This field will be the highest-rated all-female tournament in chess history. Rounds will be played daily at 1 p..m. (Central Time) and can be viewed LIVE at https://www.uschesschamps.com/2020-cairns-cup/overview. The tournament, billed as one of the strongest women's tournaments ever, will have prize fund of $180,000.
-George M.

Sixteen-year-old Carissa Yip, champion of the Wachusett Chess Club in 2014, finished as a runnerup in the GM Norm Invitational tournament, held January 16-20 at the Charlotte Chess Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. In a 10-player round robin, Carissa scored 5.5-3.5 to tie for 2nd-4th place - a half point behind tournament winner GM Mark Paragua (USCF-rated 2602) of the Philippines, who inflicted Carissa with one of her two losses. With 4 wins and 3 draws, Carissa missed obtaining a GM norm by a single point, but did manage to defeat reigning US Women's Champ, Jennifer Yu, in the penultimate round.
-George M

The following ratings are in effect for the Reggie Boone Memorial tournament,
which begins Wednesday, November 13th, in Room C159 of the McKay Complex at Fitchburg State University.
Registration is from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., with Round 1 starting at 7:15 p.m.
Deadline for all subsequent rounds is 7:10 p.m. Players running late who wish to be paired MUST CALL by 7 p.m.

Effective January 1st, 2020, the following changes to the USCF rules will go into effect.
https://new.uschess.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/RULESUPDATE-2020-v1.pdf