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Chess Sharkz Coming to Tunnelvision XXXV on Aug. 16, 2025
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The Chess Sharkz are coming to Columbia! 🦈♟️
Join us August 16th for Tunnelvision XXXV at the Columbia Chess Club.
🎙️ GM Kayden Troff will be commentating as Expert Tony Padron competes.
🍕 Afterward: blitz, banter, and a pizza party with the Sharkz!
Don’t miss this epic night of chess and fun. |
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2025-2026 Scholastic Chess Magazine
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| The Columbia Chess Club has published the 2025-2026 Scholastic Chess Magazine to help orient players and schools with the upcoming scholastic chess season. Please use this as a resource to orient potential players, coaches, and school administrators to competitive scholastic chess! |
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2025-2026 Scholastic Season
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The Scholastic Season for the next school year is now set—get ready!
The Columbia Chess Club has officially been approved by the South Carolina Chess Association to host the 2026 South Carolina Scholastic Chess Championship at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center! |
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Kid's Night: We had 20 eager competitors at this week’s Kid’s Night Tournament, hosted by Coach James!
Meanwhile, Coaches Brandon, Tyler, Erik, and Chris had their hands full in the lobby, helping shape tomorrow’s chess masters.
Winners Circle:
A Rated Section: Vivaan took home the medal!
B Rated Section: Kai claimed the top spot!
Unrated Section: Congratulations to Jonathon, who earned a free US Chess membership!
Kid's Night Rating Report
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Thursday Main Meeting: 20 competitors battled it out in our latest Blitz Event, where Arnav Singh stormed to 1st place with a perfect score! Sharing 2nd through 6th were Jason Cheng, Chace Nguyen, Aarush Panda, Thomas Kemp Jr., and James Brandmair.
Blitz Rating Report
Our month-long Classical Event has grown to 32 players, with the final round just ahead! In the Top Section, Aaryav Saha, Tyler Murrah, and Sean Miller lead with 2.5 points each. In the Bottom Section, Larry Feng is the front runner with 3 points, bolstered by a massive 417-point upset win! Right behind him is Edward Gize with 2.5 points, including a 151-point upset victory of his own.
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| Sunday Diamond Swiss: Congrats to Neil5934 for winning a the overall, with speedbro63 winning the u1400 and Viv011 winning the u1000 prize. They have each won a free month of diamond membership from Chess.com! |
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| 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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Hall of S.C. State Champions
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To promote this year's State Chess Championship being held at the Columbia Chess Club on Oct. 3-5, 2025 with a $6000 prize pool, we are highlighting state champions in chronological order each week. For more details about the state championship, visit www.scchampionship.com.
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Rames Grady Brown
(1922-1992)
1957 and 1958 South Carolina Chess Champion
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Born on September 15, 1922 in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Grady Brown graduated from Rock Hill High School and the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in music, playing first bass in the university’s Marching, Concert, and Symphonic Bands. A World War II U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he won the South Carolina State Chess Championship in 1957 and again in 1958, both championships held at the Foster School of Dance in Columbia. By 1964, he had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where he captained several North Carolina teams in an annual NC vs. SC match, organized the Groundhog Open and Carolinas Open tournaments, and served as president of the North Carolina Chess Federation. Notably, in 1979, he drew against Viktor Korchnoi in a simultaneous exhibition in North Carolina. At the time of his state championship victories he was serving as band director at Hartsville High School, and by the the end of his teaching career in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools in 1981 he had taught music to over 10,000 students.
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Corny Jokes from the SCCA Archives
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Beating the Gremlin: My Game vs. GremlinPlaysChess at Tunnelvision XXXIV
By James Brandmair
Round 2 of Tunnelvision XXXIV gave me the rare opportunity to play an opponent I’ve long admired—not just as a chess player, but as a content creator. Alyssa Sullivan, better known on Twitch as GremlinPlaysChess, made the trek to the Columbia Chess Club after I invited her to stream one of our events for her “one OTB tournament a month” challenge.
Read James's Full Analysis |
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| Join our Discord to be part of our community chat. |
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Free Ways to Support the Club
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| The Columbia Chess Club is an affiliate of major chess retailers, like House of Staunton and others, and using our affiliate links can earn us a commission that helps us continue our efforts to enrich and grow the chess community in South Carolina! We also sell our own line of parody scorebooks, if you're looking to buy a notation book. You could also follow us on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media--the Club earns partnership revenue from streaming services, so your viewership helps the club too. Consider also leaving us a Google business review! |
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| Thank you for all the support! Only 8 tables remain available for sponsorship. If you would like to sponsor a table, you can do so on our website. |
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| Saturday, August 16, 2025: |
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| Chess Social with the Chess Sharkz, GM Kayden Troff and Tony Padron to follow, with pizza! |
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| Saturday, September 13, 2025: |
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| Saturday, September 20, 2025: |
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