MCC: Stanley Crowe Awards Ceremony

Since becoming a volunteer at the local chess club (Metrowest Chess Club), I've had the aspiration of bringing a little more history and tradition to the club's membership. As the "Awards/Tournament Director" I took it upon myself to research one of the club's annual tournaments called the Stanley Crowe Memorial which takes place every September.

Stanley Crowe loved the game of chess and faithfully attended the Framingham Chess Club (Metrowest Chess Club) since its inception up until the time of his passing. As a Class B player, he had collected a total of 14 club tournament wins over the course of approximately 10 years. What makes this even more extraordinary, was that this particular feat was done during a time when there was usually only one section to play in. With the likes of certain Masters, such as John Curdo always waiting in the wind to pick up another tournament victory, I'd say that's quite astonishing!

Moreover, what makes the 14 tournament wins even more uniquely special is this; over the 25+ years of the Metrowest Chess Club's history, only four(4) other club members have achieved 14 or more club tournament wins.

With accomplishments and numbers like this, I thought it appropriate to enrich the monthly event with an opening ceremony, honoring club members who have achieved the tournament milestone set by Stanley Crowe. With permission of the club's president and board of directors, I purchased a ceremonial perpetual plaque that will contain the names of those players reaching the 14 win milestone and the year they did it.

Last Tuesday night, that plaque was presented to the players of note and to the club membership with applause and gratitude. It made me feel good to do something worth while for others who love the game as much as I do; to see the smiles of those honored and the jovial appreciation offered by the membership during the presentation. Even more importantly, it feels good to etch into the club's history something a little more tangible and permanent for years to come. Congratulations to everyone who made this award possible and to the membership!

Stanley Crowe Achievement Award
In recognition of club players who have achieved 14 tournament wins.


Stanley Crowe
1995


FM John Curdo
1995


IM Igor Foygel
1999


Neil Cousin
2007


NM Denys Shmelov
2009

Supporting Local Chess: WCC

Waltham Chess Club Wants You!

The Waltham Chess Club is looking for chess players to come join them on Friday Nights. The club is located at 404 Wyman St. in Waltham Massachusetts and their doors are open to the public at 7:00pm. Rounds usually begin around 7:30pm.

So, if you're a chess enthusiast, pro or beginner, come on down and support your local chess club. You can visit them here at www.walthamchessclub.org. Tell them Smitty sent you.

And per the request of organizers at the Waltham Chess Club, this blog will now support a link to their site.

Venting about Chess in Massachusetts

I wish the Greater Boston area or the Metrowest had a chess club like this one in St. Louis!

Damn...I'm tired of church basements or basements in general, college centers, senior centers, poor parking, Burger King joints and every other second rate spot to host a chess club! Massachusetts is considered one of the strongest regions in the country for chess, yet we play chess at 3rd rate locations. Oh well, I guess at least we have these places to play at, which is better than no place at all.

Why can't the BBC find a better location than at the Social Security Center with no parking or parking with the probability of being ticketed? A club with so much tradition and players that are conceivably the best that Massachusetts has to offer deserve a better location. With a better location, I would guess that club membership would rise.

Metrowest doesn't want to publicly promote its club due to the possibility of player overflow, i.e., not enough room at that club to expand.

Sven Brask Club is rather small and last I knew plays in some basement...at least they have decent parking.

The Greater Worcester Chess Club can't seem to get more than a dozen or two participants to play at their club at any one time, and they are operating in the second largest city in New England; having at least eight college campuses to egage or recruit from. There has to be more than 12 to 20, O.K., maybe 30 people in the area that have a love for chess.

If only chess players were not so damn cheap!! Is there anyone out there that would be so kind as to donate a few hundred thousand dollars or million to develop a really nice chess center for Massachusetts Chess? We would name the building after you and donate to your favorite charities.

By the way...where is MACA? I just joined MACA for a very small fee of 12 dollars for a year membership. Hey, I want to do my part for Chess in Massachusetts. But the question is, how the hell do they make any money to promote chess? I mean c'mon...the twelve bucks I just gave them isn't even enough to support their quarterly publication.

I'd like to see the MACA board tackling fresh ideas to bring the organization into the black. Don't tell me they operate on the plus side, cause that's a bunch of crap and status quo just isn't going to do it very much longer!