Hawaii Chess Federation

The 2018 Hawaii State Scholastic Championships were held on 3/31 at Washington Middle School, with the Girl’s Championship held one week earlier.

Many new champions were crowned including Liam Riley, pictured here, who won the High School division with a 4.5/5 score!

For full results, download the pdf crosstables here.

(This file actually includes ALL of the results from the 2017-2018 Hawaii State scholastic schedule!)

Photo Gallery from the Event Here (Shared by Bert Nakagawa)

What: The camps will be conducted by ​Ten​-time Hawaii State Champion Cornelius Rubsamen.  Activities include practice games played under tournament conditions, game analysis, strategic thinking, and tactics training.

Why: This series of mini-camps are designed to continue skill development of our players and to prepare for upcoming tournaments.

Who:  All age groups are welcome.  Cornelius will adjust materials to the skill levels in attendance.

Where:  Jarrett Middle School, Room D1

When:  Camps are scheduled from 2-5 p.m. on the following Sundays, starting with Sunday, February 4th:

04 February

18 February

04 March

18 March

01 April (Easter)

15 April

29 April

Cost:

$10 per participant, payable on site.

More Info/Register:

Guy P. Ontai

Scholastic Director, Hawaii Chess Federation

HawaiianDragon@Chess.com

Mobile:  (808)371-2145

Congratulations to Cornelius Rubsamen (left) for winning the Hawaii State Closed Chess Championships on December 23. This tournament was organized by TD Damian Nash in an effort to crown a Hawaii Chess Champion after the Open tournament unfortunately had to be cancelled.

This is his tenth time! Two wins and two draws were enough to clinch clear first place and the trophy. Here he makes peace with Hawaii chess newcomer Chad Badgett of Kauai who drew all four of his games. Bill Shea is seen in the background.

Chad Badgett nearly defeated Evan Zheng in a brilliant game. He went for repetition of position in time pressure and so both players split the $25 best game prize.

Cornelius accepts the $150 first place prize from tournament director Damian Nash, who was seeded second but finished at 50% along with three others. Kevin Erick earned the full $100 second place prize because he the only other player with a plus score at 2.5 points. Just like last year, Evan Zheng’s hopes for the state title were spoiled in the last game of the tournament when Kevin Erick showed beautiful technique in a R+2B vs. R+B+N endgame.

The tournament participants. Back row: Chad Badgett, Cornelius Rubsamen, Damian Nash, Chris Tyau, Evan Zheng, Kevin Erick. Front row: Charles Sonido, Larry Pagtama. Not pictured: Bill Shea.

Cornelius vanquishes Damian Nash in the third round after Nash played the Advanced Caro Kann aggressively with a kingside pawn storm, going for a win with the black pieces. In the background Bill Shea and Chris Tyau fight to a draw.

Hawaii’s highest rated master, Lloyd Kawamura, came to watch and “share the air” of the strong tournament. HCF board member Larry Reifurth also enjoyed watching the 3rd round games.

Special thanks to Tom Zheng for finding such a beautiful playing site next to the Ala Moana Mall. A huge mahalo also to Robert Welch at the Armchair Adventurer at Dole Cannery and Bughouse Master Fred Haley for making this tournament possible at the eleventh hour.

See the tournament cross table/rating report here.

Mahalo to Damian for organizing this tournament and for this report and pictures!  

We regret to inform the Hawaii chess community that this year’s State Open and Blitz Championship will be cancelled due to us being unable to secure an affordable and appropriate venue in time.

The 2018 Hawaii State Open and Blitz Championships will be held over Labor Day weekend.  Details on that event will be published as soon as they are available.

Aloha Hawaii Chess players!   The 2017 Hawaii State Open and Blitz Championships will be held from 11/24 – 11/26.  Further details are forthcoming.