CCC 2022 Year-End Review
Author: Peter Giannatos
I would like to start by thanking all of our members and supporters for what has been an incredible post pandemic year of chess! Below you will see a some of our highlights and a few of our plans going forward.
Events
Major Weekend Events
2022 US Chess National Online Scholastic Quick Championship
More than 1250 players participated
An official US Chess National Event
2022 Carolinas Classic
385 players from 20+ States
Won by GMs Naroditsky, Moradiabadi, Shabalov, Brodsky
2022 NC K-12 Championship
450+ players in grades K-12
The first OTB state championship since the pandemic
At Least Twenty-One (ALTO)
107 players from 13 states and Mexico
An innovative concept featuring an adult friendly atmosphere
CCC's Unrated Team Challenges
Held twice in 2022
Featured 280+ players from more than 40 local area schools
2022 North Carolina Open
Ran alongside the record breaking US Masters
434 players (636 total festival participants)
Largest open tournament in NC history.
2022 US Masters
202 players - 30 GMs, 40 IMs
Largest Masters in history
36 federations and 32 states represented
Norm Round Robin Invitationals
4 norm invitational events this year
Our fall norm event was the largest norm RR ever held in the US which featured (6) 10-player sections.
Fun Fact: The CCC began organizing norm round robin events in 2015. Since then, 94 norms and 45 titles have been achieved. In addition, 246 unique players have played in a CCC norm invitational, representing 52 federations and 29 states.
Local Club Events
Tuesday Night Action
1 US Chess rated game every week and free for members
Aug/Sept 2022 TNA had a record breaking 116 players.
Wednesday Action Quads
3 US Chess rated games every Wednesday
Added to give both adults and students another opportunity to play
Averages 31 players a week
Friday Action Quads
3 US Chess rated games every Friday
The largest weekly Friday event in the United States
Nearly 60 students play the rated quads every Friday
Fun Fact: 3064 unique players played a rated CCC event in 2022
North American Corporate Chess League (NACCL)
Season 6 was conducted in Q4 of 2022
40+ corporate teams and 400+ players participated throughout the year
Well known companies involved such as: Deloitte, Google, SIG, Uber, Lyft, PwC, Qualcomm and many more!
Instruction
School Programs
The CCC taught chess to over 2,000 students weekly in 40+ area schools
500+ students participated in a chess tournament outside of their school.
Nearly 30 coaches work tirelessly to provide our students with quality chess education.
See school program information here
Academy Classes
175+ of students enrolled in CCC academy classes and learn chess weekly at the CCC.
Classes lead by highly skilled and experienced teachers: GM Naroditsky, GM Jayaram, FM Giannatos, FM Fawole, NM Myers, NM Biernacki, Alex Velasquez, and Geoff Charles.
Summer Camps
More than 600 students have participated in summer camps this year.
Camps held both at the CCC and at school partner locations.
Local camps led by CCC top instructors
Elite Summer Camp - led by GMs Topalov, Aagaard, PH Nielsen, and Naroditsky
50 top players from 20 states participated in the camp.
Instructors also gave evening lectures to CCC club members.
See all camps planned for 2023 here
Club Member and Staff Highlights
Tianqi "Steve" Wang earned IM title
Donald Johnson earned FM title, National High School Co-Champion
Vishnu Vanapalli earned FM title, National High School Co-Champion
Advaith Karthik earned the NM title
James Chirilov earned NM title
Alex Sedlock and Jack Zhang, National Kindergarten Co-Champions
Maya Myers earned FIDE International Arbiter (IA) title
Ali Thompson as CCC Club Events Manager
Daniel Schipper as CCC Media Coordinator
Peter Giannatos earned FIDE International Organizer (IO) and US Chess National Tournament Director (NTD) titles, featured on cover of UNC-Charlotte Magazine.
Many CCC members have eclipsed class rating barriers, too many to name!
National rankings by CCC members (December 2022)
#3, Age 11 - Andrew Wu
#4, Girls Age 10 - Anagha Sinkar
#5, Age 10 - Krishna Rallabandi
#8, Age 15 - Vishnu Vanapalli
#8, Girls Age 9 - Celine Atassi
#10, Age 9 - Alex Chu
#11, Girls Age 10 - Zoey Moore
#13, Age 14 - James Chirilov
=#14, Age 16 - Donald Johnson
#15, Overall - Daniel Naroditsky
#19, Age 12 - Ethan Liu
#20, Girls Age 10 - Nishita Jaikumar
Social/Sponsorship Outreach
Arbor Glen Outreach Fun Day - Charlotte
Partnered with Charlotte Parks and Rec
A totally free event which featured prizes, music, food, and chess!
Over 100 players and enthusiasts participated in a day of fun.
Freedom School Partners - Charlotte
FSP is Charlotte non-profit that promoted the long-term success of children by preventing summer learning loss.
The CCC teaches chess at over 25 of their summer learning campuses.
Raise Chess Academy - Uganda
Partnered with New in Chess and Chessable to provide learning resources.
Books, sets, teaching materials, and more were provided.
Raise Chess is an outreach program that uses chess to assist refugee children.
Sponsor of the 2022 Fischer Random World Championship
The CCC sponsored the qualifiers that seeded GM Hikaru Nakamura into the final
Nakamura become 2022 Fischer Random World Champion!
Partnered with Chessable to provide top level chess events
Pro Chess League
The CCC is proud to announce that we are sponoring a team in the 2023 PRO Chess League on chess.com
The Cobras will be one of 16 teams vying for a $110,000 prize fund. The league will attract top players including Magnus Carlsen.
The Road Ahead
Major Events on the Calendar
2023 Charlotte Open - January 14-16
2023 Carolinas Classic - June 9-11
2023 NC Open - November 24-26
2023 US Masters - November 22-26
In addition to the events above, we will continue to conduct norm events and add many regional events to the calendar. ALTO will be back, we promise!
Club Events
Plans to reinstate the adult learner series
Plans to add more open and scholastic weekend tournament options
Plans to create a robust girls program in an effort to increase female participation
Plans to add additional learning opportunities in various nearby regions
Content
The CCC plans to regularly add to its YouTube channel. Videos may include OTB blitz, instructional content, and more! We currently have over 100 videos on our channel!
Final Thoughts
The CCC could not function without our amazing and well rounded staff. Without all of their efforts, both in front of and behind the scenes, the CCC would not enjoy the growth and success it has today. We have a great team of tightly knit staff members who all wish to build a more professional and welcoming chess ecosystem for all. While they are not always front and center, they are pivotal to our organization.
The CCC always has big plans for the future. Expect more options on both the play and learn side on a local, regional, and national scale. Our mission driven approach is to elevate chess education and organization to a higher standard. While we have certainly done that, the journey continues.
Thank you for all your support!
Peter Giannatos
Founder and Director
