Labor Day has come and gone. Before we plunge into the fall frenzy, let's take a quick look back on our chessic summer.

July Tri-Level

NM Sam Schmakel scored 3.5/4 (drawing with Expert Bill Brock) to win first place in the Gold section of this four-round event. Joe Fennessey, Adrian Zolkos and Jiri Kabelac were second with 3.0 scores. In the Silver section, Caelan Burke-Kaiser won with 3.5 points and also picked up 200 regular rating points in one of the more impressive personal chess growth spurts the club has seen. Brian Gilvary and Mike Wishner tallied 3.0 points for second place. Bronze section first place honors were shared by Stephen Horvath and Philip Acquah, each with 3.5 points. Michael Monsen was the sole player in second place with 3.0 points.

Chess in Fountain Square

Evanston Chess Club teamed up with the Downtown Evanston merchants organization to run a "Chess in Fountain Square" event on Saturday, July 27. Passersby had the choice of playing on a giant chess set on the pavement, or sitting at tables and playing on standard sets, and Evanston Chess club members were on hand to help out with explaining the game or supplying sparring partners. All kinds of people paused for a game or two or simply to watch. Even though it was a cool, overcast day, the six boards and the big set were pretty busy. Thanks to Penny Rosemont, Tom Kirk, Keith and Nathan Holzmueller, Lisa Amoroso and and Nate Tracy-Amoroso for helping out. We'll definitely do this again, if you're interested in helping out some summer evening or weekend day in 2014, contact Maret Thorpe, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..