| Club Closed for Columbus Day, No Classes. |
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4:45 p.m. Kid's Night
Suited for K-12 players who are new or rated under 1000, we offer a rated tournament with a medal to the winner, an unrated tournament for new players with a USCF membership to the winner, and free casual play. |
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| 6:30 p.m.: Quad Night! G/25+10. Quads place you in a group of four players as closely rated to you as possible, with three rounds to determine the winner. $20 Entry fee can win $40 ($45 for a perfect score). You must be registered by 6:20 p.m. to participate, so don't wait until it's too late! |
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6:00 p.m.: Cheers and Chess
Come join us for a drink at Hazelwood Brewing in Lexington and a game of chess! Open to all skills levels. We love playing blitz and rapid as well as teaching newcomers to game. |
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| 6:00 p.m.: Adults-Only Class (Sign Up). |
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| 7:00 p.m.: Advanced Class (Sign Up) |
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Main Meeting
- 5 p.m. Free Lessons
- 6 p.m. Quick I: 3 rounds of 10+1 quick.
- 7 p.m. October Classical Month Round 3 - one round of G/60+30 each week during the month of October, join any week!
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Tunnelvision XXXVII Results!
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After most of South Carolina's chess community spent three days with the Columbia Chess Club at last weekend's State Championship, our hearts were warmed to find that 31 chess players thought that wasn't enough! In an exciting breakout performance, young Lincoln Boucher went undefeated with the only perfect score of the tournament, and took the Championship section while gaining over 150 rating points and achieving a new peak of 1941! Congratulations to all of our competitors:
Championship Results:
1st: Lincoln Boucher (4.0/4.0)
2nd: Dalton Bridges (3.0/4.0)
3rd (tie): Colin Potts, Paul Copeland, NM Pat Sciacca (2.5/4.0)
U1600 Results:
1st: Nathaniel Rogers (3.0/4.0)
2nd (tie): Daniel Sheaf, Ross Simmons (2.5/4.0)
U1000 Results:
1st: William Moss (3.5/4.0)
2nd (tie): David Chandler, Gordon Miller, Sav Strickland (3.0/4.0)
Photo Gallery
USCF Rating Report
DGT LiveCloud Archive
Chess.com Archive
YouTube Archive
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Kid's Night:
We had 22 students compete this evening at the Columbia Chess Club, hosted by Coaches James, Brandon, and Sean.
 A Section: Logan Santos earned the medal. B Section: Elizabeth Jordan earned the medal.
Kid's Night Rating Report
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Thursday Main Meeting:
We had 23 competitors in this evening’s blitz event, divided into two sections. Congratulations to NM Mike Sailer for taking first place in the top section, followed by Thomas Kemp Jr. and Tyler Murrah. In the B Section, Carson Norton claimed first place, with Oliver Su finishing second.
Blitz Rating Report
The Classical Event also saw 23 players this week. Paul Copeland and James Brandmair lead the top section with 2 points each heading into Week 3. In the lower section, Carson Norton and Oliver Su are tied for the lead with 2 points apiece.
The adults made a clean sweep of the top section this week—no doubt bolstered by the Adult & Advanced Classes hosted by Coach Mike every Wednesday. Learn more about those here: columbiachess.org/classes
James Brandmair – 525 point upset
Oliver Su – 331 point upset
Abhyudaya Raj – 191 point upset
A special shoutout to Michael Reisman, who made his chess playing debut!
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Meet Sean Miller, October 2025 Player of the Month
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Sean has been playing chess since age 6 and even founded his high school chess club. A passionate coach and sharp tactician, he loves helping new players discover “killer tactics” and dynamic openings. Since joining the Columbia Chess Club in 2022 as a 1500-rated player, Sean has steadily climbed toward 1800—and along the way, he’s taught hundreds of students across the Midlands. Sean also leads our Developmental Classes every Monday at 5:15 PM and 6:15 PM—an engaging program designed for beginners and players under 1000 USCF, focused on opening principles, tactics, endgames, and tournament skills.
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Meadow Glenn Middle School Donation!
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| Columbia Chess Club is excited to donate chess sets to Meadow Glenn Middle School! Malai Voravudhi has been an outstanding competitor at the Columbia Chess Club and we're excited to see the growth of chess at her school--where they had completely run out of boards with too many young chess players! If your school needs help with chess equipment or you are interested in starting a club, reach out to us for help! |
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In the month of September we had 73 players play in our 7 classical events for the month. Carson Norton had the biggest gain of the month with 275 points total after winning Tunnelvisions U1000 with a perfect score. Logan Santos was 2nd with 273 after consistent gains in four different classical events in the month. Thomas Kemp Jr. was 3rd with 211 points gained after winning his quad on the 16th with a perfect 3-0 score and a 400 point upset. We also had 4 new players play their first tournament in classical with us. Ramsey Stiles had the best breakout performance after going 3-1 in Tunnelvision and earning a 1015 rating.
In Rapid we had 117 players compete in 14 different rapid events in September. Carson Norton had the most points gained with 376 after winning the U1000 with a perfect score. Robert Mareska was second with 287 after winning two different kids nights in the month. And Kosti Holtzclaw was 3rd with 282 after winning the final kids night of the month. Honorable mentions to other players who gained more than 100 points in September include: Logan Santos, Thomas Kemp Jr., Lucas Encarnacion, Abhyudaya Raj, Malai Voravudhi, Shanaya Panda, and Frank Mueller. We had 12 new players play their first rapid event at the club with Ryan Stiles have the best breakout performer after going 3-1 in Tunnelvision and earning a rating of 1120.
We only had one blitz event in the month of September which had 20 players in it. Jason Cheng had the biggest jump with a gain of 158 points. Tyler Murrah had the second biggest gain of 65 points, and Elizabeth Jordan had the 3rd biggest gains with 12 points! We had two players playing their first blitz event with us. Marc Allouard from France had the biggest breakout performance with a new rating of 1870 after going 3-1.
Paul Copeland
Number Nerd |
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| Get your icon before you join our event so we have time to add it to our system. The Columbia Chess Club's next generation of streaming setup is live, and you can create your own personal icon to have displayed during our events. Follow the link to submit us your photo. |
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| Join our Discord to be part of our community chat. |
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| National Chess Day Highlight: Tamaghna Roy. Chess.com top blogger James Brandmair highlights recent accomplishments of one of the Club's most talented young players and his recent victory over a National Master. |
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| Answer at the end of the newsletter . . . |
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| Saturday, November 1, 2025: |
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| Friday-Sunday, November 7-9, 2025: |
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| Friday, November 14, 2025: |
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| Saturday, November 15, 2025: |
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