2011 Festival Events
This year's festival features three main events,
the 3-day Blackstone Chess Festival FIDE Open,
the 1-day Festival Class Championship (Saturday), and the
Festival Octads Sunday.
Due to Tropcial Storm Irene, the Festival
Class Championship has been moved to OCTOBER 2.
Blackstone International - FIDE - GPP
5SS · 40/90, SD/45, 5 second delay
August 26-28 (7pm Fri/11-5 Sat/10-3 Sun)
EF: $50 (advance)
FIDE rated, 10 Grand Prix points
Prizes:
$1200 based on 24 entries
$500-300-200,
Under 2100: $125-75
Details→
Enter Festival FIDE→
Festival Class Championship (U2000/U1500)
3SS · Game/65, 5 second delay
Sunday October 2 (12 noon - 2pm - 4pm/ASAP)
EF: $20 (advance)
$25 (on-site)
Sections: Under 2000, Under 1500
Prizes: $400 based on 24
· USCF
Under 2000:
$150-90,
Under 1500: $125-75
Details→
Enter Festival Class→
Festival Octads
Sunday August 28, at noon, we hold the Festival Octads,
3-round swiss, open to all USCF members, Game/35 plus
5 second delay. Entry fee is only
$10,
Players will be divided into rating class in groups of
4 to 8, if there are enough entries.
Highlights from past Chess Festivals
David Griego Simultaneous Exhibition (2009)
No Marshall for you!
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The 2009 Festival opened Saturday, August 22nd, with a simul by David Griego.
Griego played a total of 14 games against 7 players.
Griego, from Providence RI, has won 10 RI State Championships
and 3 New England Championships.
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Griego scored six wins and a draw in the first round of the simul.
Blackstone Chess member Jeff Hall, pictured above,
pulled a draw out of his hat in a tricky position.
Two players lost quickly but got to play a second game.
Griego chalked up one win, Rick Massimo escaped with a draw..
The excitement continued with a Game/20 5-player clock simul
in which David pitched a perfect 5-0.
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In the 2009 Masters Blitz, Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (left) took a point
from David Griego (right) in the first
game, but Griego shut him down in
their second game. The advantage of the
White pieces is amplified when you wear red!
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See the full report on the
2009 Blackstone Chess Festival
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2008 Blackstone Chess Festival
The 2008 Festival featured two super strong tournaments,
the 2008 New England Masters, organized by Chris Bird
(Chess Tournament Services), and the Blackstone Chess
Festival Open, organized by Blackstone Chess, and directed
by Ken Ballou.
The Festival Open featured 4 Grandmasters, with the
Festival Championship going to GM Timur Gareyev by
winning a tie-break game against IM Justin Sarkar.
Gareyev tied for first in the New England Masters
with Sergey Erenburg with a score of 7.5/9.
2010 Blackstone Chess Festival Open
The winner of the 2010 Chess Festival Open was International Master
Justin Sarkar, who ended up with a score of 4/5.
The youth championship went to Kapil Chandran, who also
shared 2nd place with Nelson and Andres Castaneda
with a score of 3.5/5.
Robert Holmgren took the under 2000 Championship,
and William Petrillo won the under 1500 Championship.
A clean sweep for both, at 3-0 in this one-day event,
held Saturday August 23.
2009 Blackstone Masters Blitz
The 2009 Blackstone Masters Blitz took place on August 28, 2009.
The Center was packed with chess enthusiasts who gathered around
the tables to see the exciting fast paced action.
The tournament was a double round-robin with a field of six players:
International Master Igor Foygel (MA),
Senior Master David Griego (RI),
Senior Master Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (RI),
Senior Master and 2008 New England Co-Champion Denys Shmelov (MA),
and two former Rhode Island Chess Champions,
NM Miro Reverby (RI), and Expert James Della Selva (RI).
Della Selva filled in for NM Sinclair Banks (MA),
who had been invited, but was unable to play.
Time control was Game in 7 minutes.
Continued ...
Blitz Kings
2009 Blackstone Chess Festival Open
The Festival Open was the final event of the 2009 Chess Festival. It
took place Saturday, August 29th. The winner of this tournament
is crowned the new Festival Champion. Last year's champion is
GM Timur Gareev of Uzbekistan.
This year's tournament was a single day, 4-round Swiss, with
a time control of Game in 55 minutes, plus a 5 second delay.
The 2009 winner was Zachary Weiner, a senior at Stuyvesant High School in New York. His perfect score of 4-0 advanced him from Class A to Expert. David Harris and John Terrall tied for second at 3-1. A good crowd of spectators was on hand to watch the event.
Full Report...
Festival Champion Crowned
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Zachary Weiner, contemplating the correct
course of action in his round 3 game against
David Harris. Weiner played the Pirc, which
invited Harris to launch an attack against
his uncastled King.
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