The 2008-2009 chess season started in Rhode Island with the first Pawn Eater held on September 6th at Rhode Island College. Twenty players showed up to do battle over the sixty-four squares. Congratulations to club member Paul Ferreira who took clear first with 3.5 out of 4 in the Open section. Junior player Sam Kirsch won the U1500 section with 3.5/4.0. His rating jumped to 1477 after the tournament was rated.

The 2008 RI Open was played on Nov 8-9, 2008 at RIC. The turnout was somewhat disappointing as only 25 players competed in three sections. The section winners were:

Open - David Vigorito, U2000 - Alex Fikiet, and U1600 - Daniel Ferrer

The photographs posted below show the winners and many action photos of the play in progress. I encourage each club member to give a Pawn Eater tournament a try if they haven't yet participated. The format of four rounds at Game/60 provides a full day of quality chess with guaranteed competition near your playing level.

2009 CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION

The board of club officers met recently to plan upcoming activities for the CWCC. Item number one discussed was the Club Championship. Several ideas and formats were brought forward and their pros and cons weighed. In the end a unanimous decision was reached to conduct the club championship as a swiss tournament with the following rules:

1. The CWCC Club Championship will be an eight (8) round swiss tournament (one section).

2. The dates will be Jan 6 through Feb 24, 2009.

3. Up to two 1/2-point advance byes are available to any participant. No advance byes may be requested after the 4th round of play.

4. To qualify to play, a participant must be a club member in good standing who has played a minimum of eight (8) rated club games in the past year (Jan 08 - Dec 08).

5. The prize structure is still being determined but there will be class prizes for the lower rated players.

We are looking forward to this new format and hope it increases participation and excitement for all of our members.

2009 Annual Club Meeting

We plan on holding the annual club meeting as required by the chess club bylaws on the Tuesday night following the completion of the club championship. (March 3, 2008) March is a month with 5 Tuesdays. We normally hold the casual nights on the 5th Tuesday of the month. As the Club Championship will have just been completed, it will be a better time to hold the meeting and casual night. All club business can be done without having to rush getting things ready before a tournament begins. The following are the major items to be covered at the annual meeting:

1. Treasurer's Report

2. Elections for officer positions

3. Miscellaneous old/new business

Please come to the meeting and provide input, suggestions and ideas. This is YOUR chess club and it will be a better club when more people take the time to get involved.

Good Chess!

Frank Vogel