Schedule Correction

The 2009-2010 schedule, originally posted with erroneous dates for March & April, has been corrected. It now reads as follows:

• Tuesday 3/2 at West Orange 8 p.m.

Hamilton-Kramniks; Karpovs-Sparta; Summit-Staten Island; W.Orange-Kortchnois

• Tuesday 4/6 at West Orange 8 p.m.

Kortchnois-Hamilton; Sparta-Staten Island; W.Orange-Summit

• Thursday 4/8 at Kenilworth 8:30 p.m.

Kramniks-Karpovs

1st Round Games

7 games from Thursday's matches at Kenilworth have been uploaded in java-replay and zipped PGN.

Scores from the other matches would be appreciated. They can be posted as a comment or submitted via e-mail.

Hamilton 2 West Orange 2

On Tuesday, in the 2009-1010 season opener, Hamilton and West Orange played to a 2-2 draw.

The 1st round wraps up next week with Sparta vs. Summit.

Kramniks 2 Staten Island 2

Jim Cole and NM Mark Kernighan rallied the Kenilworth Kramniks from a 0-2 hole and into a draw against Staten Island. It was the first half-point for the former Maplewood franchise, which went 0-5 last season.

The club from N.Y., which had the honor of fielding the league's first female, Melissa Biegel, got middle-board victories from Ed Selling and unrated Alexander Negron.

Several games from this match and the Karpovs-Kortchnois tilt will follow.

Karpovs 2.5 Kortchnois 1.5

John Moldovan and Max Sherer won on the bottom boards to lead the Kenilworth Karpovs to a 2.5-1.5 win over the defending champion Kenilworth Kortchnois.

Sherer won quickly & easily against out-matched Bill Sokolosky. Then, after a draw between Masters Steve Stoyko & Yaacov Norowitz, Moldovan broke through Richard Lewis's defense by returning an Exchange for a winning endgame.

Michael Goeller's victory versus Ian Mangion was the only bright spot for the Kortchnois, who went 5-0 last season.

Next month, the Karpovs play West Orange while the Kortchnois visit Staten Island.

Moldovan-Lewis
after 32...Nh5

2009-2010 Season Opens Tonight

The 2009-2010 Garden State Chess League season opens tonight with Hamilton visiting West Orange.

On Thursday, Staten Island visits the Kenilworth Kramniks while the Kenilworth Karpovs battle the defending champion Kenilworth Kortchnois.

Next Tuesday (10/13) at W. Orange, Sparta plays Summit.

Good luck & good chess to all the teams!

GSCL Story In The Star-Ledger

Sunday's Newark Star-Ledger chess column by Peter Tamburro featured a story on the 2009 GSCL season and Steve Stoyko's 1st-round win against Jackson Hueckel.

That contest (with notes by The Kenilworthian) and 26 others can be downloaded here, in ChessBase format. For PGN, go to the sidebar, 2009 Season In Review and follow the links.

Maplewood Replaced By 3rd Kenilworth Team

Maplewood, which featured 3 or 4 Kenilworth players in every 2009 match, has been renamed the Kenilworth Kramniks.

Jim Cole will remain as captain.

Rule Changes

Here are GSCL rule changes for 2009-10 :

• Players rated <1000 will be considered to have a 1000 rating
  
• Ties in the standings will be broken as follows : 1. head to head result; 2. total game points; 3. games won

For a complete list, see the Rules link in this blog's sidebar.

Site Finished

The GSCL blog/website is done! - just in time for the new season. All the 2009-10 match reports and games will be posted here. The Chess Coroner blog will only feature headlines and links.

Blog Replacing GSCL's Geocities Site

This blog is replacing the Garden State Chess League site at Geocities, which will be closing on October 26th.

Nearly all the data from the 2009 season has been transferred & the framework for the upcoming 2009-2010 season is in place.