Happy Holidays

The Garden State Chess League wishes its teams, players and their supporters the happiest of holidays.

Join us in Kenilworth on January 2nd, where the top 4 teams (Lehigh Valley, Kenilworth, Hamilton and Newark-McDonald's) will face-off!

Updated Standings

Enter round #4 and the new year, Kenilworth and Lehigh Valley head the GSCL Standings with 2.5 points.

5 of the 9 teams remain undefeated.  

Standings (as of December 24)

	Team	MP	W	L	D	Points
1.	Kenilworth	3	2	0	1	2.5
1.	Lehigh Valley	3	2	0	1	2.5
3.	Hamilton	3	2	1	0	2.0
4.	Newark-McDonald's	2	1	0	1	1.5
5.	Rutgers University	2	0	0	2	1.0
5.	Summit	2	0	0	2	1.0
7.	Chess Mates	3	0	2	1	0.5
7.	DOCA Knights	3	0	2	1	0.5
7.	West Orange	3	0	2	1	0.5

Page updates will be uploaded in a day or 2.

West Orange & Rutgers Tie 2-2

On December 17th in New Brunswick, West Orange and Rutgers played to a 2-2 tie.


Here are the board by board results:

1. (WO) Peter Redomskyj   1 - 0 Michael Goeller (RU)
2. (RU) Aleksey Vishnyakov 1 - 0 Jose Fernandez (WO)
3. (WO) Mike Rodriguez 1 - 0 Robert Forney (RU)
4. (RU) Will Talbot + - (WO forfeited)

Thanks to Alexey for the report.

Lehigh Valley 3 Chess Mates 1

On December 11th, in Rahway, Lehigh Valley beat Chess Mates 3-1.

After Evan Betzenberger staked LV to a 1-0 lead and Guido Kampel tied the score, the odd-numbered boards, where the visitors' NM Matthew O'Brien and the hosts' Michael O'Connor held advantages, became the focus.

Both of the aforementioned stumbled and lost exchanges, however. In the end, Chess Mates' Kevin Dresher lost a winning pawn ending that would have drawn the match while Bruce Davis secured the clincher.

Along the wall (from front to back): O'Brien, Kevin Santo, Davis and Betzenberger of Lehigh Valley. Center row: Dresher, O'Connor and Ralph Warrick of Chess Mates. On the right: December G/90 participants Gabe Moreira and Lev Zibermintz observe.

For 3 of the 4 games, visit Bruce Davis' post.

Kenilworth Downs DOCA 3-1

Kenilworth defeated the Dean Of Chess Academy last night 3-1.

Richard Davisson put DOCA up 1-0 but the visitors' rallied, as Geoff McAuliffe tied the score, Paul Gottleib provided a lead and Jackson Hueckel clinched the victory.

Here are a few pictures from the match:

 Marvin Shumowitz playing a Two Knights Tango vs. Hueckel.

 Pauly Walnuts Todd Jobson playing the Sicilian against McAuliffe.

Paul Gottleib playing an Accelerated Dragon against vs. Angelica Chin.

Post-mortems on boards 3 & 1.

Tuesday's Results

In Tuesday's Garden State League matches, Lehigh Valley defeated Hamilton and Newark-McDonald's defeated Chess Mates, by 3-1 counts.

Thanks to Bruce Davis, who posted lineups, games and photos from Hamilton-LVCA on his chess.com blog. You will also find coverage of the Summit-LVCA draw from 10/24 there.

Here are the current standings:

	Team	MP	W	L	D	Points
1.	Hamilton	3	2	1	0	2.0
2.	Kenilworth	2	1	0	1	1.5
2.	Lehigh Valley	2	1	0	1	1.5
2.	Newark-McDonald's	2	1	0	1	1.5
5.	Summit	2	0	0	2	1.0
6.	Rutgers University	1	0	0	1	0.5
6.	Chess Mates	2	0	1	1	0.5
6.	DOCA Knights	2	0	1	1	0.5
9.	West Orange	2	0	2	0	0.0

Site updates will follow on Friday.

LVCA-Chess Mates Postponed Again

Tomorrow's match between Lehigh Valley and Chess Mates has been postponed for the 2nd time.

Kenilworth-DOCA Re-scheduled

The December match between Kenilworth and the DOCA Knights has been re-scheduled.

It will take place on Thursday, December 5th, in Branchburg, at 8 p.m., instead of Tuesday 12/3.

DOCA has also requested that its other home matches, in March vs. Lehigh Valley and in June vs. Summit, be moved from Tuesdays to Thursdays.

This Week's Results

In Garden State League action this week...

• Hamilton defeated the DOCA Knights 2.5-1.5
• Chess Mates and DOCA finished their suspended match, by tying 2-2
• Kenilworth edged West Orange 2.5-1.5

Updated standings & crosstables

LVCA-Chess Mates Postponed

Friday's match between Lehigh Valley and Chess Mates has been postponed.

Chess Mates-DOCA Update

There have been some developments regarding the postponed Chess Mates-DOCA Knights match since Thursday afternoon:

1. At 7:57 p.m., I proposed that Chess Mates forfeit board 4, because it sent just 3 players to Branchburg on October 8th, and suggested that the match be played at a neutral site.

2. At 8:20, DOCA captain Kevin Chen relayed that Chess Mates' board 2, Jennifer Acon had shown-up to play.

3. After learning that DOCA's corresponding player (a 1428-rated) was not present, I suggested that Kevin C. (1956) substitute, so as to not waste Jennifer's 2nd trip to Branchburg. He agreed to play.

4.  The Board 2 result was Chen 0-1 Acon.

5. The current match score, pending league affirmation, is Chess Mates 1 DOCA Knights 1, with boards 1 and 3 to be played at a later date.

Lehigh Valley Ties Summit In Debut

Lehigh Valley made its GSCL debut tonight in Branchburg and tied Summit 2-2.

Here are the lineups & results, courtesy of Kevin Chen.

Chess Mates-DOCA Postponed

Tonight's Chess Mates-DOCA Knights match has been postponed.

Summit vs. Lehigh Valley remains scheduled.