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.: Classical 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 p.m.: Cheers & Chess: We are back for some more Cheers & Chess on Tuesday! We'll be hanging out at Hazelwood Brewing Co. in Lexington from 6pm until 9pm. All skill levels are welcomed. Boards and clocks are provided. |
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Main Meeting
- 5 p.m. Free Lessons
- 6 p.m. Quick I, three rounds of G/10+1.
- July Classical Month, Week 2; G/60+30
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| This summer edition of Tunnelvision is coming in hot! Impress your friends with a competitive performance in our monthly G/45+5 event with $1000 in guaranteed prizes! |
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7:30 p.m. G/5+3 Diamond 5-Round SWISS on Chess.com
Be sure to register before 7:30 so you don't get stuck with zero-point byes for missing rounds!
First place, Top U1400 and Top U1000 win a 1-month diamond membership to chess.com, which can be used to upgrade your free account or extend an existing diamond membership for a month.
Make sure you're a member of the Columbia Chess Club at Chess.com. |
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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: 20 players battled it out in the kids tournament run by Coach James, while a packed lobby of new learners got their start with Coaches Brandon, Tyler and Sean.
 A Section: Charlotte Jordan took the medal B Section: Jayden Arndt claimed his medal
Unrated: Alice Young earned a US Chess membership to join her brother Max in rated play!
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Quad Night: On Quad Night 12 players faced off across 3 competitive quads!
Top Quad: Tyler Murrah
Middle Quad: Larry Feng
Bottom Quad: Mitch Nimmich
Quad Night Rating Report
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Thursday Main Meeting: Hand & Brain Recap + Classical Week 1 Highlights
13 teams battled in our Hand & Brain tournament! NM Mike Sailer & NM Kevin Cotreau took clear first with a perfect 4/4. Tied for 2nd–4th were Sean/Erik, Thomas Jr./Larry, and Arnav/Xavier. Shoutout to Evelyn Brandmair and Mrs. Clements for joining their first-ever event!
22 players competed in our July Week 1 Classical. It was great to see David Lohnes back after a few years! Notable results:
Upper Section:
– Thomas Kemp Sr. scored a 325-point upset win
– Nicholas Susi scored a 285-point upset win
– James Brandmair drew a player 300 points higher rated
Lower Section:
– Larry Feng scored a 188-point upset win
– Jackson Tucker drew an opponent 300 points higher rated
The summer chess heat is on!
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Sunday Diamond Swiss
Congratulations to Count Roy, the winner of this week's Diamond Swiss. U1400 was taken by MastersRicky and U1000 was taken by RSLawrence! Congrats to all our winners of a free month of chess.com diamond!
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We had 77 people participate in classical games at the club in June with four people playing in their first ever classical event. Tory Gassaway was the biggest breakout performer with a rating of 695 in his first classical event ever. The biggest gainer of the month was Larry Feng who won his quad on June 24 and then gained more points from the Thursday night games to finish with 176 points gained. Nina Bahrami won the U1000 section of Tunnelvision to gain 171 points. And Edward Gize had a good month on Thursday nights gaining 135 points. Honorable mentions to those who gained 100+ points include: Jackson Tucker, Nicholas Irons, Charlie Jordan, and Ashton Kumaran.
We had 87 people participate in rapid games at the club in June with 7 people playing in their first ever rapid event. Jason Cheng was the biggest breakout performer with a rating of 931 after winning his section at the last kid’s night of the month. The biggest gainer of the month was Nina Bahrami who won the U1000 section of Tunnelvision XXXIII to gain 170 points. James Brandmair won his quad on the 24th to bring his gains up to 157 points. And Carson Norton had a great performance at Tunnelvision to gain 156 points. Honorable mentions to those who gained 100+ points include: Charlie Jordan, Max Young, Thomas Kemp Sr, Lydia Nimmich, Krithik Kummari, Shanaya Panda, and Ashton Kumaran
We had 39 people participate in blitz games at the club in June with 9 people playing in their first ever blitz event. Nathan Bickel was the biggest breakout performer with a rating of 1387 after scoring a strong performance in the 3+2 event. The biggest gainer of the month was Charlie Jordan had an incredible performance in the 3+2 to gain 184 points on the month. Twins Jackson and Xavier Tucker both had good performance at the 3+2 to gain 95 and 74 respectively.
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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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Ernest E Hoenck
(1931-Living)
1955 South Carolina Chess Champion
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| Ernest Edward Hoenck, born on August 12, 1931, is a distinguished chess player who won the South Carolina State Chess Championship in 1955, scoring four wins and one draw in Swiss match play at the Hotel Wade Hampton in Columbia held on Nov. 25-27, 1955, with Alex Edelsburg as the runner-up. A prominent member of the Charleston Chess Club, Hoenck won the Charleston Chess Club Championship in 1960, defeating Tad Lisicki after being the runner-up in prior years, and successfully defended the title in 1961 and 1962. He lost the championship to Adriano G. Gitana in 1963 but reclaimed it in 1964. Hoenck remained competitive, tying for second place with Mrs. Shirley Strickland in the 1970 Charleston Naval Shipyard Fall Chess Tournament, won by Lt. Robert Bliss. Beyond chess, Hoenck was actively involved with Aldersgate Methodist Church in North Charleston, South Carolina. As of April 3, 2025, Hoenck, now 93, is the oldest living South Carolina State Chess Champion. |
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Corny Jokes from the SCCA Archives
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A puzzle appearing on the Discord. White to move.
Answer at the bottom of the newsletter. |
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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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| Puzzle Answer: The critical line is g7+ Kf7 Re7+ Kxf6 g8=N+ Kg6 h5#. |
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