Chess.com's First Diamond Member!

submitted by jay on Fri, 01/25/2008 at 3:13pm.

As many of you know, Chess.com launched its Premium Membership Program just a short while ago, and yesterday we had our very first Diamond Member sign up! We just wanted to write a short news piece to say "Thanks!" to Frank Alejandro (frank713) for supporting the site.

Frank is an avid chess fan, and has posted more information about his chess club in Hawaii here on Chess.com. Don't hesitate to visit his profile and check out all the interesting content he has contributed to Chess.com, including the various events he's promoting as well.

A small quote from Frank regarding his purchase, "I like so far what I have seen at chess.com and its many and upcoming features sound promising! I purchased my lifetime as a sign of good faith that Chess.com is here to stay."

Thanks again Frank! And we definitely are "here to stay".

Samples of comments at http://chess.com

» posted in Misc

425 reads | 10 comments |

3 votes:

Comments:

by Patzer24 - 7 hours ago
United States

Member Since: Jun 2007
Member Points: 5393

Thanks Frank!

by cdhamm - 7 hours ago
Denver United States

Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 24

Thank you Frank!

by okmrbill - 7 hours ago
Toledo, Ohio United States

Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 35

Way to go Frank... I was wondering if anyone would buy the lifetime...i can't afford the big bucks yet...but look forward to getting the gold membership soon when I come into some extra bucks. This site keeps me alert at my job, and has a personal intrinsic value---diamond membership supports the site for all of us.

by shadowc - 6 hours ago
Buenos Aires Argentina

Member Since: Jul 2007
Member Points: 332

I think the same and I hope to stay here for many years to come as well...

by Am3692 - 6 hours ago
Newbury Park, CA United States

Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 146

Wow, I wish I could get a diamond account. But I am still 15 so I can't spend that much money =P.

by KingFork - 6 hours ago
Chicago, IL United States

Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 76

Yeah, I'm jealous. Although students like AM3692 and myself aren't yet making the big bucks.

by Unbeliever - 4 hours ago
United States

Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 576

While it does not, as it does for others, keep me awake at work, it most certainly does provide the best online chess experience I've ever had.

by bgangioni - 3 hours ago
The best country Argentina

Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 68

(And yet another one who can't afford the big bucks, but soon expects to be able)

Thank you, Frank, as they said. You support the site, and we all enjoy it. And that goes to you too, all premium members - I have seen a lot of golden stars around in the site, and as soon as posible will be owning one, I hope :)

by frank713 - 2 hours ago
Kaneohe, Hawaii United States

Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 56

Aloha & Mahalo,

To all you as well, I didn't realize I was the first! But as I also promote various other chess activities and non related to chess causes and try my best to make good calls! I am very confident that chess.com will be the one of places to be on-line NOW and years to come. As its offers various types of chess games variants as well, real-time, turn-base, vote chess and I'm sure more types will become popular!

I also like to say that its time chess had more then just a simple rating, and have been promoting CXR - Chess Express, Inc. for over the board games in Hawaii, as it too has features that no other present chess rating program gives us. I believe that additional ratings stats such as chess.com has here is helpful to players as well and encourage others to visit CXR web site and see for themselves. Why should only sports games such as baseball, football, basketball, soccer be the only ones that use stats. As Chess Coach an club director I find chess.com and CXR and others that use more then just a chess rating more useful in seeing how players are doing! One day maybe there be a web site that has links to each of the main chess ratings systems we use such as USCF, FIDE, CXR, Chess.com (Internet) ratings and other countries as well and place in each players profile. Now that would be interesting wouldn't it!

If your ever in Hawaii please stop by our Windward Chess & Go Club in at Borders Bookstore, in Kaneohe, Hawaii! To play Chess or Go!

Mahalo,

Frank

by spoji - 2 hours ago
Montreal, QC, CA Canada

Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 24

Way to go Frank!

by Singa - 55 minutes ago
Singapore

Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 112

I would like to be a diamond-member too , but .......................... I would wait and see for a little while longer.

Hawaii MLK Day Top Players and Team Scholastic Results

MLK tournaments had over 150 players in two section Open and Novice the top winners were;
Charles Sonido wins Open section with another perfect 6-0-0 score for 1st place his second this season, John Iinuma with 5-0-1 score wins 2nd place, Tristan Kaonohi with tie breaks wins 3rd place 5-1-0. In the Novice section Jonathan Addiss wins with 7-0-1 score for 1st place, 2nd place Duke Mailolo with 7-1-0 score, and 3rd place two-way tie Ilya Sherstyyuk, Reece Lee 5-2-1 score.

In the Team section the Overall teams were High School: Punahou School, Honolulu with 19 points 1st in High School, In Middle School: Kamehameha Middle, Honolulu with 18 points and Elementary School: 1st place, Mililani Ike Elementary, Mililani, had 16 points!

TD Guy P. Ontai & Asst TD Randy Prothero with special thanks to all the parents and coaches supporting and assisting their respective teams an tournament activities! Also Washington Middle School for providing with this larger venue as our tournaments continue to get larger!

HICL & CXR ratings reports will be updated shortly!

Next tournament is February 18 - President's Day Scholastic.

Next USCF Tournament is February 9th The Hawaii State G/45 Championship!

See www.hawaiichess.org for calendar of events as well as tournament details and entry forms!

Robert Fischer will be remember for his achievements in Chess!

A few days ago the world learn that the 1972 - 1975 -World Chess Championship Bobby Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) passed away at the age of 64! Some of my friends and family members emailed me and called me to inform me, I only met Fischer once briefly in 1972 while still in high school he asked us where the kibitzing room at while visiting a tournament, so did not know him personally! He died at fairly young age matching the total squares on a chessboard, sixty-four. Many have given their opinion of this American Chess player, mostly good for his part in chess history and his style of chess playing at a most difficult time in world history!

True he became more paranoid while away from USA and unfortunately only a few people could reach him, but could not change him! What he said during these later years is not easily forgiven nor his actions later in his life.

His earlier years via his chess playing he influence many including myself, and to this day I play chess and mostly teach the game to our young players at various clubs and classes! And seeing these young players discover the game and its many delights of winning and frustration when losing, they still come back another day with a better plan if they put some effort into learning more about the game's history and the tactic's needed to play a better game.

Not everyone will become a chess champion, same as not everyone will win the Superbowl, but chess being an individual game makes it an even more interesting game as only you can make it better for yourself by studying and playing as often as possible and make new friends along the way, not just over the OTB - over-the-board, but on the Internet and the clubs you take part in.

Chess has been changing besides reading material, as we now have computer programs that can assist us in studying the game, chess does not currently have all the stats like other sports that people can look at, nor is easy to sit and watch chess players play! So most only see and study a players chess notation (of the game played) or find it on the Internet as part of someones else's analysis of another game that is similar. The game it self is limited to only 64 squares so I'm sure it will change again as there many variants out their now, and has changed over 500 years ago when it arrived in Europe. there may be other games more complex but chess as we know it now is a challenge and one that keep us thinking for the next best move!

To this day I still play chess with old friends and new friends on the Internet as well as our local clubs, tournaments and as coach I enjoy teaching and playing chess with our young players as they will be our future chess players and possible leaders of tomorrow. Teaching them about good sportsmanship and playing to have fun and to apply some of the things we learn by playing chess, thinking things throughly is a good thing! As I hear many people say I do not have time to THINK!

Everything we do requires us to think and sometimes its to do something Right or Wrong! Hopefully with chess the process is made easier and people can make better choices for themselves as well as their community and throughout their life! So look for a nearby chess club its never to late to start playing and learning chess or any game you chose to exercise the mind with! So are you ready for a game of CHESS!!

Paul V. Smith returns to Hawaii Chess Circuit

The Town Center of Mililani

Hawaii had its first Chess tournament today in the new year 2008! And after a eight year absence PAUL V SMITH returned to chess tournament action. he had a little rough start losing to our regular tournament player DATRIS ANTONIO ROBINSON but won the next four games and won the small Mililani Chess Day Tournament. in 2nd place came ARTEMIO DELA CRUZ and 3rd place WILLIAM P SHEA. TD Randy Prothero! Randy mention it was great beautiful day to play chess at the town center!

With the Scholastic Championships around the corner, we would expect more scholastic players to play in these monthly USCF & CXR rated events, hmm as well myself! :-(

Next scholastic tournament is Jan 21 (MLK Day) at (new playing location) - Washington Middle School and next month on February 9th - State Action Championships G/45, see www.hawaiichess.org for details at the Town Center of Mililani! TD Guy P. Ontai for both upcoming events!

Suggestion: So better not only dust off the Chess & Go boards, but those chess & go books and chess & go programs, G/5 minute games is fun, but not good for slow championship games preparing! So the next step is to visit your local chess clubs otherwise the same players will keep winning these tournaments! Just like any other sport the more time quality practice time the better your performance over the chess or go board!

Mark Stitham mention a new (to me) a free web site for playing on-line chess at http://chess.com and Fred Haley mention another new web site for playing Go on 9x9 or 13x13 board program (standalone program) that is also free to download at www.gokgs.com. So no excuses if your not ready for the Hawaii Championships!

Hawaii Warriors were ill prepare for the Georgia football players relentlessness blitz, so don't get caught over the chessboard or go board the same way!

http://chess.com my ID is frank713 as well as at KGS, http;//chess.ac, and ICC

Windward Chess Club Quads & Beautiful Sunset in Kaneohe!

Windward Chess Club in Action!

Sunset in Kaneohe!

2008 has started very well and so has Windward Chess & Go Club as we returned after holidays to Borders Bookstore at Windward Mall, meeting on Mondays 6:00pm to 9:00pm. We had two CXR rated quads (last week) and had players asking why we don't do more, I said we would we get enough players to play on Mondays we will!

We not just play Chess but Go as well, as Windward Chess & Go Club is affiliated, with CXR www.cxrchess.org, AGA www.usgo.org and USCF www.uschess.org Borders has lots of chess books and a few go books, so there is another way to improve your game "reading! "

Please give Rep. Cynthia Thielen a Big Mahalo as she and others assisted us in getting back to Windward Mall via Borders Bookstore who has been very supportive to our group!

This month HCF has two tournaments scheduled USCF rated Mililani Chess Day Jan 12, 2008 at Mililani Town Center, TD Randy Prothero and CXR rated MLK Scholastic Tournament Open and Novice sections Jan 21, 2008, at new location Washington Middle School, TD Guy P. Ontai. See www.hawaiichess.org for additional details.

2007 North American Tournament Results

North American Open 2007
December 26-29, 2007
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Organized by the Continental Chess Association

Over 600 players participated in the North American Open at Bally's Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas. Final standings for all sections are now posted as well as a pgn file of 60 games played in the Open Section at www.chesstournamentservices.com/nao. You can also find some games from this event at Monroi

Hawaii had several players; playing they were: Open Section, Robert Lau, Cornelius Rubsamen, Paul Iinuma, U2100 Pablo D Pena, Ruben Ondangan Jr., U1900: Chet Gionson, U1700 Sean K Lee, Guy P. Ontai, Garyk P Ontai, Beau Mueller, U1500: Tristan Kaonohi, Likeke Aipa, U1200: Irving Weber, you can see their results in the link above! Congrats to all of them as they played some very strong players from across the country and various countries and we hope to see more of them as well as myself playing in our local tournaments as well!

Five of the players are scholastic players, Robert played in the Open section Sean & Garyk in the u1700 and Tristan and Likeke played in the U1500, all of them had their USCF ratings improved with their results as well as CXR ratings for some of them! Chet Gionson came in tied for 4th in the U1900 section, and Tristan Kaonohi came in tied for 2nd in the U1500 section, only lost was to the U1500 winner!

Reminder Hawaii's next scholastic chess tournament is January 21, at Washington Middle school, see www.hawaiichess.org for tournament details and entry form.

To see one of Cornelius Rubsamen, 2257 games see Monroi link against GM Melikset Khachiyan, 2594.

As of 12/31/2007

* Refer to HICL Standings Roster

CXR Top 100 Active Players

Rank	CXR Rating	Player Name	Affiliate	City	St/Prv	Player ID
1	2680	GM Joel Benjamin	New York Masters	New York	NY	38-V
2	2666	GM Larry Christiansen	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	19-K
3	2628	GM Sergey Kudrin	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7415-R
4	2592	GM Eugene Perelshteyn	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3009-F
5	2585	Yury Lapshun	New York Masters	New York	NY	50-G
6	2569	GM Pawel Blehm	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	6250-E
7	2546	GM Alex Stripunsky	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	37-C
8	2524	IM Davorin Kuljasevic	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	6240-K
9	2499	IM Irina Krush	New York Masters	New York	NY	35-V
10	2497	IM Eli Vovsha	New York Masters	New York	NY	174-B
11	2485	IM Drasko Boskovic	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7403-B
12	2449	IM Lev Milman	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	181-E
13	2448	FM Tegshsuren Enkhbat	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3011-T
14	2441	NM Denys Shmelov	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7426-J
15	2425	FM Oleg Zaikov	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	6237-R
16	2392	Jonathan Schroer	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3043-Y
17	2386	FM Aviv Friedman	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7597-H
18	2363	IM Richard Costigan	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3022-N
19	2359	Robert Hess	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	1007-J
20	2350	Andrei Zaremba	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	1086-M
21	2336	IM Lawrence Charles Kaufman	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3033-F
22	2321	Bryan Smith	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	99803-N
23	2312	IM Ron Burnett	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	77-J
24	2307	FM Marcel Martinez	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3010-W
25	2301	FM James Critelli	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7406-T
26	2295	NM Elvin Wilson	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3023-Q
27	2288	FM Todd Andrews	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	6232-R
28	2269	Eric Rodriguez	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7420-Y
29	2260	NM Mackenzie Molner	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	1022-B
30	2226	WIM Tsaagan Batsettseg	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3014-R
31	2225	NM Michael Khodarkovsky	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7414-Y
32	2195	WFM Bayaraa Zorigt	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7435-Y
33	2186	Aleksander Stamnov	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7591-C
34	2169	Luis Barredo	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	6252-A
35	2157	Udayan Bapat	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	7400-M
36	2132	Isaac Hagerling	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7636-B
37	2128	WFM Irina Zenyuk	New York Masters	New York	NY	163-B
38	2119	NM Ilya Krasik	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	3007-Y
39	2101	NM Jerry Wheeler	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	6236-T
40	2090	Gerald Larson	U. S. Chess League	USA	NY	6515-W
41	2085	Michael Thaler	New York Masters	New York	NY	99804-R
42	1898	Samuel Ford	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7637-C
43	1736	Charles Sonido *HICL 2nd	Oahu Scholastic Chess Group	Oahu	HI	1537-V
44	1735	Isaiah Pettye	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7589-C
45	1731	M-Barrie Richmond-Md	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7655-K
46	1707	John Iinuma *HICL 1st	Oahu Scholastic Chess Group	Oahu	HI	1150-F
47	1690	Tyler Lerner	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7508-H
48	1674	Jiri Kabelac	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7454-W
49	1661	James Demos	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7498-H
50	1648	Dimitrios Kosteris	Renaissance Knights	Chicago	IL	7638-K
51	1592	Frank Alejandro