Charles Swan Jr. and his father Charles Swan Sr.Charles Swan Jr. received the first Isaac Braswell Memorial High School Chess Prize at Evanston Chess Club on June 8. Swan earned the prize by being the highest-rated African American senior year player in IHSA chess. He played board two for the Whitney Young High School chess team that won the 2013 IHSA championship, and he is an active USCF player with a 1935 regular rating. Swan received the $300 award during the Second Annual Isaac Braswell Memorial Blitz Tournament. In accepting the award, Swan thanked the club for sponsoring an award in honor of Braswell, who Swan knew, respected and played against over the years.

Swan, who is headed off to Ohio State University to study business, started playing chess when he was five. His first major chess win came at the Supernationals, where he tied for 2nd place in the unrated K-8 section as a fourth grader. He has studied the game with his father Charles Swan Sr., Wayne Smith and IM Angelo Young.

University of Illinois student and former IHSA player Michael Auger was the clear winner of the Second Annual Braswell Memorial Blitz tournament with 9.5 out of a possible 10 points. The event drew a strong field of 22 players including six who have attained expert or higher ratings. Matthew Wilber, David Franklin, Jordan Cohen and Robby Hecht all tied for second place with 7.0 points each. Fred Rhine and Rob Eamon were third place with 6.0 points. All proceeds from the tournament will go to future Braswell prizes.

Special thanks go to to Penny Rosemont, who donated a weighted chess set and deluxe travel bag, for first prize. Thanks also to Ted Moon, who also donated chess supplies that we sold to help fund future Braswell prizes.

It's not just a certain sport-played-by-tall-people that goes crazy in the third month of the year. Chess players have their own version of March Madness. They've either just finished the USAT or the IHSA team championship, or they're gearing up for the State K-8, the National Scholastics or the Chicago Open.  At the March 2 Evanston Tri Level, we had 55 players who were either already in fighting form, or working toward it.

Our Gold (1700+) section was won by NM Ken Wallach with a 3.5 score. Right behind Ken were Greg Bungo, Eric Panigua (the only player to draw with Wallach) and Vito Vytkauskas, each with 3 points. Thanks to guest master NM Fred Rhine, who returned to regular rated play "for the first time this millenium" as he put it.

Rahul Dhiman scored a perfect 4 in the Silver section (1200-1699). Jay Kushinsky, ETHS's Xander Nicolson and Edward Zhang (picked up 100 rating points) came in second place with 3 points each.

In the Bronze (U1200) section, Conrad Zborowski also had a perfect 4.0 score, and gained 98 rating points. Four players had 3.0 scores: Clifford Adams, Mariel Rancel, Nicholas Johnson and Matthew DeMario.

The big rating gainer for the event was Nicholas Johnson, who leaped from 634 to 930 regular rating in his second foray into rated chess. Welcome to new player Kevin Hurley who scored two wins in his first tournament.

We had a good turnout of high school players, including a large group from Richards High School, and three players from Evanston Township High School.

by Maret

Crosstables

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Evanston Chess Club usually holds open chess for high school age and over on Tuesday evenings. Problem is, this year Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on Tuesday. But we have a solution! For two weeks only, Tuesday night chess will migrate to...Wednesday night. That's right, you can come to the Levy Activity Center on Wednesday, December 26 and Wednesday, January 2 and play chess from 6:30-9:00 p.m. As always, sets are supplied and there is no entry fee. On January 8, we'll be back to our usual Tuesday night schedule. Look forward to seeing you all there.

Your trusty editor/organizer is ... delayed with the results from the November 3 Tri-Level. Here we go: And the winners are (drum roll) FM Albert Chow and NM Ken Wallach, tied for 3 points out of a possible 4 in the Gold Section. It was a day of draws: Wallach drew Chow and Expert Bill Brock. Chow drew Wallach and Brock. Brock and Vyto Vitkauskas were in second place with 2.5 points. Tough crowd.

In the Silver Section, Rahul Dhiman led the field with a perfect 4 points. Mike Wishner was back to in fighting form to take second place with 3 points.

Bronze Section winner Lorenzo Sampson also had a perfect score. Sampson's been on a roll lately, and this tournament boosted him up to a USCF rating of 1207. Say goodbye to the Bronze section. Adam Wallach (son of Ken) was second with 3 points, losing only to Sampson. (more photos here.)