Player of the Month
Sam Chou - June 2011
Sam Chou is a ChessPalace member with a chess family. His kids Timothy and Alison also play chess. Sam's rating has been on a slow but steady climb. He's up almost 200 rating points since the end of last year. His recent success include taking clear first in the Class C section of the 2011 Memorial Day Classic held at the end of May at LAX and beating a strong Class A player in the May Super Sunday.
Pablo Pena - May 2011
Pablo Pena is an expert who's had much success in April. He's won the Friday Action Quad, April Amateur Open, and Chess Marathon. Notably, he went 9.5/13 in the Chess Marathon that included five experts. He also came close to beating GM Melik in a simul. His recent success comes from a last round victory against 2500+ Roman Yankovsky to tie for second in the April Super Sunday.
Wesley Walsh - April 2011
Wesley Walsh's rating has been on a climb ever since he started chess. He has been playing less than a year of USCF rated chess is already rated 1600. He's earned a spot at the 2011 Junior Open Championship from winning the March Madness Scholastic. Wesley has beaten a couple of class A players and is rated over 2000 in online chess.
Craig Hilby - March 2011
Craig Hilby is another junior making our top player list. Craig first broke through 1900 in February and has maintained it since. His most successful recent victory was a Saturday Ocho with a group of experts and Class A players. He beat a Class A, drew an expert, and beat an expert en route to a clear first victory.
Albert Lu - February 2011
Albert has found numerous success at ChessPalace events recently. His rating is up more than 200 rating points since the start of the year. He has qualified for the 2011 World Youth Championship in Brazil. He has broken through 2100 several times. He manned board 4 for Team ChessPalace in the US Amateur Team West and finished with 5/6, the best board 4 scorer. His recent wins include several regular Saturday events and a victory against a 2300.
Jeff Phillips - January 2011
Jeff Phillips is this month's featured player. He has played consistently well against high rated players including victories against 2500+ and a 2400 International Master in the ChessPalace 2010 Blitz Championship where he finished second. Jeff is becoming more regular at ChessPalace and is looking to successfully represent ChessPalace in the upcoming US Amateur Team West.
Qinhong Chen - December 2010
Qinhong Chen is a junior ChessPalace regular that has put himself into the next level. Just recently, he has been completing and scoring well against the Class A players. Qinhong is only 10 years old and has broken through 1800 a couple times. Once he stablizes in the Class A, he will be a force to reckon with.
Richard Henri - November 2010
Richard Henri is November's Player of the Month. In recent weeks, Rich has been on a short winning streak rocketing off his floor. Rich is a dedicated chess player and ChessPalace supporter. We can always count on him to play in the Saturday events. In recent years, he has missed less than a dozen Saturday events. Richard Henri is also ChessPalace honorary member and a Bronze Donor.
Timothy Chou - October 2010
Timothy Chou, also goes by Timmy, is 13 years old and is currently a freshman at Los Alamitos High School. He is part of a chess-playing family all of whom are ChessPalace members. Timmy started playing in chess tournaments three years ago attending ChessPalace group classes and eventually one-on-one sessions with Anthony. In the beginning of 2010, his rating supplement was 1271 and his October published rating is 1503, but his current posted rating is a whopping 200 points higher.