Nevada Chess, Inc.

Called to Order by President Alan Losoff, 2:20 PM

Present were Alan Losoff, Jan Losoff, Juan Jauregui, Tom Brownscombe, Allen Magruder, and
Gale Winds.

Alan Losoff called directors Jerry Weikel and Charles Chinnici to participate by conference call, but they were not available at that time.

The first order of business was tabulating the ballots and results of the 2016 Election. Tom Brownscombe, the election chairperson, opened the ballots. Allen Magruder verified that the membership status of each ballot was up to date, and Alan Losoff tabulated the results. All four candidates on the ballot, Charles Chinnici, Allen Magruder, Jerry Weikel and Gale Winds, were approved for the two year term of office from 2016 to 2017. That concluded the members portion of this meeting.

Since a quorum of at least 4 of the 7 elected directors was present, a few issues were presented for consideration, the first of which was determining the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Alan Losoff volunteered to serve as President, Juan Jauregui agreed to serve as Vice President, Gale Winds agreed to serve as Secretary if Juan Jauregui would serve as Assistant Secretary, and Allen Magruder agreed to serve as Treasurer if Tom Brownscombe would serve as Assistant Treasurer. This arrangement was agreed upon by all involved, and will be in effect until the next election is completed.

The next issue was regarding the Nevada State Individual and Team Matches that have annually taken place in the fall of each year in Tonapah, NV. After a lengthy discussion regarding the difficulty in assembling a team willing to travel to Tonapah, the essential conclusion was that the Southern Nevada organizers and most players were no longer interested in the Tonapah event(s) and wanted to consider other options. Three options were mentioned and should be explored by the relevant Northern and Southern Nevada chess organizations and players for all types of Nevada State Championship events: alternate the yearly event between Northern and Southern Nevada sites; conduct the Individual and Team matches on the internet with supervision by qualified tournament directors; and for the individual state championship, hold a Nevada Championship Open Tournament with format and conditions to be decided.

There was some discussion regarding a separate Nevada Girls Chess Championship Tournament that might take place possibly shortly before the Annual Nevada State Scholastic Championship Tournament. Tom Brownscombe made a motion that such an event be considered. Janelle Losoff, who is co-chairperson of the USCF committee dealing with women’s chess, spoke in favor of the motion. The motion was seconded and approved by all directors present.

Alan Losoff asked board members present for approval to explore hiring a webmaster and an administrative assistant to handle some business affairs of Nevada Chess, Inc. That was approved.

Alan Losoff also made a motion that Allen Magruder be given a lifetime membership in Nevada Chess, Inc. for his years of service, and that was seconded and approved.

The meeting was adjourned at about 4 PM.

Editor’s Message

(A. Magruder)

The Annual Members Meeting of Nevada Chess, Inc. will happen on Saturday, April 9th 2016 at the Las Vegas Chess Center, 3160 S. Valley View Drive, Las Vegas NV 89102. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 PM, but please check nevadachess.org for late changes if you wish to attend. The results of the 2016 election will be tabulated from the ballots and announced at that time.

This will be the last Nevada Chess Bulletin mailed to members, except for the January issue which will continue to include a ballot for members to vote in that year’s election of officers. For news about chess in Nevada, please check this website regularly.

Once again, Nevada Chess, Inc. sponsored our Annual Nevada State Scholastic Tournament, hosted by the Las Vegas Day School. There were 191 young players playing in the four sections, K-3, K-5, K-8 and K-12, with many individual and team trophies, medals and certificates distributed during the awards ceremonies. A report can be found below, including a link to complete cross tables of the final results. You might also check out USChess.org for the tournament tables to find pre- and post-tournament ratings of all the players.

Future Events

2016 International Chess Festival, June 22-27, includes

2016 U.S. Game/10 Championship, 2016 U.S. Women’s Open,

2016 National Open, International Youth Championship

See Chess Life and/or NevadaChess.org for details

The 2016 Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship
will be held at the Las Vegas Day School 3275 Red Rock Las Vegas

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Entry Fees increase after February 25th and again after March 7th.

Click Here to Learn more about this event and enter today.

Nevada Chess Bulletin November, 2015

Editor’s Message

(A. Magruder)

This issue of the Nevada Chess Bulletin marks the 26th anniversary of our affiliate becoming the only official state affiliate recognized by the U.S. Chess Federation to represent USCF members in the State of Nevada. Nevada Chess Inc. was formerly known as the Nevada State Chess Association, or NSCA for short, before that name and acronym were stolen from us by scurrilous scoundrels.

I refer you for reports on Nevada chess activities to our website, NevadaChess.org, that might include recent reports on the Nevada State Individual, Team and Quick Chess Championship Events held in Tonopah at the end of September.

Finally, we welcome and encourage, at this time every year, members to throw their hat in the ring for a position on the Board of Directors of Nevada Chess, Inc. There are four (4) positions open this year. You can find a form for such beside the standard membership form near the end of this bulletin. The Election 2016 Ballot will appear in the January issue of this bulletin. We hope to see you there. Click here for full report

The term of service for a Nevada Chess board member is two years. Each year the term of service of either three or four of our seven board members expires. In 2016 the terms of service of four of our current board members (Charles Chinnici, Daniel Conver, Allen Magruder, and Jerome Weikel) will expire. In 2016 there will be an election to fill the four board member positions that will become vacant when these board members’ terms of service expire.

Nevada Chess is now seeking nominations for these four board positions that will be available in 2016. Nominees must be or become members of both the United States Chess Federation and Nevada Chess, Inc. on February 1, 2016. Nominees must also be at least 18 years of age. The deadline for nominations is December 31, 2015. If you would like to nominate yourself or some other person for a position on the Nevada Chess, Inc. board of directors please send an e-mail to tkbrownscombe@hotmail.com or send a letter to:

Nevada Chess BoD Nominations
c/o Tom Brownscombe
1213 East Saint Louis Avenue #3
Las Vegas, NV 89104

In 2016, the list of nominees will be published on the Nevada Chess website. A ballot will be sent to all Nevada Chess, Inc. members. Ballots will be counted at the annual membership meeting in the spring of 2016.

On Saturday March 21st, 2015, a record setting 206 young chess players came to the Learning Village in downtown Las Vegas to play in the 2015 Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship. The tournament had four separate sections. The K-12 and K-8 sections were played in one building with a five round schedule, while the K-5 and K-3 sections were played in a nearby building with a six round schedule.

Twelfth grader Cameron Patterson from Advanced Technologies Academy managed to improve over his impressive 2014 performance in the K-12 section. In 2014, Cameron won the Nevada State High School Individual Chess Championship with a 4.5/5 score. But this year he repeated as Nevada State High School Individual Chess Champion with a perfect 5-0 score. Twelfth graders Jett Marcos, Jonathan Mikolic, and Jesstin Estavillo tied with ninth grader Royce Pereira for second place in the K-12 section with 4 points each. Patterson, Mikolic, Estavillo, and Pereira are all students at Advanced Technologies Academy. This means that Advanced Technologies Academy dominated the team competition, winning the 2015 Nevada State High School Team Chess Championship with a tremendous team score of 17 points, 6.5 points ahead of the second place team, Spring Valley High School. Ninth grader Naomi Santiago was the top scoring girl in the K-12 section with 3 points.

In the K-8 section, seventh grader Michelangelo Barozzi of the Meadows School matched Patterson’s achievement. Barozzi won the 2014 Nevada State Middle School Individual Chess Championship with a score of 4.5/5. And this year Barozzi defended his title in style by winning the K-8 section with a perfect 5-0 score. Grant Giovannetti, Richard Zhou, Rishabh Saran, Ricardo Vazquez, Nicholas Isacoff, Diego Santiago, Pancratius Ventura, and Ethan Silva tied for second through ninth place with 4 points each, with Reno resident Grant Giovannetti taking the second place trophy on tie breaks. Giselle Kimball, Amber Hankins, Katherine Van Voorhis, Nadya Perez-Martinez, and Aisha Sanwal were the top scoring girls in the K-8 section with 3 points each, with Kimball taking the honor of most successful girl in the K-8 section based on tie breaks. Richard Zhou, Rishabh Saran, and Diego Santiago led Hyde Park Middle School to the 2015 Nevada State Middle School Team Chess Championship with an impressive team score of 15 points, 1.5 points ahead of the second place team from The Meadows School.

Fifth graders dominated the K-5 section, winning all ten individual trophies. Top seeded Samira Prieto earned the title of 2015 Nevada State Elementary Individual Chess Champion by achieving a perfect 6-0 score in the K-5 section. Ryan Ornstein, Tanush Saran, Alexander Chang, Carson Abbott, and Zala Quinn tied for second place with 5 points each. Saint Viator Catholic School scored 16.5 total team points to win the title of 2015 Nevada State Elementary Team Chess Champions, narrowly defeating the second place team total of 16 points earned by The Las Vegas Day School.

In the K-3 section, second grader Chris Bao of the Las Vegas Day School showed all of the third graders who is boss by winning the title of 2015 Nevada State Primary Individual Chess Champion with a perfect 6-0 score. Third graders Sanjeev Chundu, Kyrus Huang, and Ben Garber tied for second place with 5 points each. The Las Vegas Day School dominated the team competition with a whopping 20 points to earn the title of 2015 Nevada Primary Team Chess Champions, 6 points ahead of the second place team from Saint Viator Catholic School. Unfortunately, a computer operator error, followed by a proof reading failure, led to a few mistakes during the K-3 individual awards ceremony. Sanjeev Chundu should have received the second place trophy due to his superior tie breaks. Chase Giovannetti should have received the ninth place trophy, and Angelina Huang should have received the tenth place trophy. Everyone associated with the tournament would like to apologize for these mistakes, and all three of these players will be properly recognized for their achievements during one of the youth awards ceremonies at the 2015 Las Vegas International Chess Festival.

Cameron Patterson has been nominated to represent the state of Nevada at the 2015 Denker Tournament of High School Champions. In the event that Cameron is not able to attend, second place finisher Jett Marcos will take his place. Michelangelo Barozzi has been nominated to represent Nevada in the 2015 Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions. Unfortunately, Michelangelo can’t attend due to a prior commitment. So Grant Giovannetti will represent Nevada at the 2015 Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions. Naomi Santiago has been nominated to represent Nevada at the National Girls Invitational Tournament, and Giselle Kimball has been nominated to represent Nevada at the 12th Annual Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational Chess Tournament.

Al Losoff, Janelle Losoff, Juan Jauregui, and Sabrina Jauregui organized the 2015 Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship on behalf of Vegas Chess Festivals, LLC and the Las Vegas Chess Center. Tom Brownscombe, Al Losoff, Juan Jauregui, Allen Magruder, and Janelle Losoff served as the tournament directors, while Gale Winds served as chief score keeper for the K-5 and K-3 sections.

For complete individual and team results in tie break order, please visit our results page. For complete individual results in rating order with official USCF rating changes, please visit the member services area of the US Chess Federation website.

The Nevada Chess Board of Directors has voted to hold the 2015 Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship at the Learning Village in downtown Las Vegas. The Learning Village is the regular meeting place for the Las Vegas Chess Center and the site of several recent weekend chess tournaments including the Las Vegas Open. More information about the 2015 Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship will be posted soon.