Hawaii Chess Federation

Hawaii Chess Federation President Randy Prothero was recently invited to discuss chess in the community on Olelo TV.  See the full episode here.

Hawaii Chess Federation President Randy Prothero on Olelo TV

Kevin Erick, Open Champion, Flanked by Polly Wright and Heather Flewelling (= 2nd-3rd)

The 2013 Hawaii Thanksgiving Open was held on November 29-30th at the Atherton YMCA. 15 players of all ages and strengths signed up to play. After 5 rounds of fighting chess, the very small Open section was won by Kevin Erick with 4 out of 5 points. In the reserve section, a very determined John Mussack won all five of his games and claimed the trophy.

John Mussack, Reserve Section Champion

Among the participants was Polly Wright, who came all the way from New York to play.  Ms. Wright is on a mission to play in a tournament in every state.  Hawaii marks her 28th state.  Mahalo for playing, Polly, and good luck in your quest!

Polly Wright, on a Mission to Play a Tournament in Every State!

Check out the photo gallery on facebook.  The cross table/rating report is here.

Mahalo to all who came to play or watch!  A big thank you to tournament director Bob Newell for his superb TDing as well.

2013 Veteran's Scholastic Overall Winners - Evan Zheng, Joshua Kim & Ford Nakagawa

Check out our tournament results page for complete results from the 2013 Veteran’s Scholastic, held on November 11th at Washington Middle School.

We’ve also posted photos from the event on Facebook. Mahalo to chess dad Bert Nakagawa for sharing!

Results from the October Sectionals scholastic tournament, held on Sunday, October 20th at Washington Middle School, have been posted on our Hawaii Chess Tournament Results page.

Labor Day Weekend saw some of Hawaii’s best chess players converge on the Manoa Innovation Center for the 2013 Hawaii State Open and Blitz Championships.

A huge upset occurred in the first round of the five-round Open when Kevin Erick (rated 1795) took down International Master Julien Carron (2391).  Kevin’s victory set the stage for what would be a wild and extremely competitive tournament.  After the upset, the tournament’s was anyone’s to win!

NM Eldon Nakagawa & IM Julien Carron, 2013 Hawaii Chess Champions

After the smoke cleared from the final round games, high school senior Eldon Nakagawa repeats as Hawaii state chess champion!  However, he has to share the title with IM Carron, who fought back from his first round loss and terrorized his 2nd-5th round opponents.  Both the newly minted National Master Nakagawa and Carron ended with 4/5. Huge congratulations to both players!

Other prize winners include:

3rd Place Overall: Stephen Mau (3.5)
M/E: Paul Iinuma (3.0)
A: Ford Nakagawa (3.5)
B: Kevin Erick (3.0)
C: Roy Yang (1.0)
E/: Devin Eagen (3.0)

Hawaii Blitz King, NM Robert Lau

Twenty signed up for the Blitz Championship and after 7 rounds NM Robert Lau took down the title with 10.5 out of 14 points. A look at the crosstable should give the reader a sense of how crazily competitive the blitz was; going into the last round at least six players (maybe more?) had a chance to win or share the first prize!

Check out a photo gallery from both events on Facebook. Thanks to guest photographer Evan Tector for some great shots!

Finally, it should be noted that both tournaments were exceptionally well run; Mahalo to TDs Larry Reifurth and Bob Newell for putting on a great weekend!

Links:
2013 Hawaii Open Championship – Rated Crosstable
2013 Hawaii Blitz Championship – Crosstable
Photo Gallery on Facebook