Day: November 14, 2025

We heard a lot recently about how hard it is to win a second consecutive World Series in baseball. This got me thinking about some of the similarities between chess and the “Grand Old Game.” A pitcher in baseball knows the hitter’s likes and dislikes, and the hitter in turn knows many of the pitcher’s favorite pitches. In baseball they call this a “scouting report.” We chess players do our own scouting report on our opponents. It can be based on past games with that person or researching their recent games in a database. We want to know what opening they play and how we might find a tricky response. Prior knowledge can be a valuable asset in both games.

So, when Candidate Master Leo Wang won his second straight SGVCC Club Championship you had to be impressed.  As the reigning Club Champion, he has played regularly at SGVCC for the past four years and is well known to our members.  But prior knowledge can only take you so far and Leo was up to the challenge if anyone thought they could use it to their advantage.  He turned in an undefeated score of 6-1—winning five games and only allowing two draws. The second draw came in the seventh and final round, where he held off Will Webster’s attempt to force a tie for the top score.  And since he’s just a sophomore at La Canada High, don’t be surprised if he goes for a “three-peat.”

The Club Championship had 70 players in one open section and ran from September 8 to October 27, 2025.  It was SGVCC’s strongest event to date, with 3 masters, 6 experts, and 8 players over 1900. The Champion gets their name inscribed on our perpetual Champion’s Trophy.  There were also Best in Class plaques from Best Expert to Best under 1000.  Will Webster finished clear second with a score of 5.5-1.5 and earned Best Expert.  Wang and Webster also collected a cash prize of $200 and $100 respectively.

Best Class A honors went to Kevin Ludwig with a score of 5-2.  He was the only player to draw both Wang and Webster, so quite a feat. 

In addition to Best in Class there were special prizes.  Ashley Lin won Best Female Player honors with a score of 4.5 out of 7.  She even found time to take a few rounds off and travel to Albania for the World Youth Championship.

Expert Manu Prasad earned Best Game honors for his exciting win over Axel Muller see annotated game here. 

Young Andrew Lu won the Biggest Upset prize for his victory over an opponent more than 300 points above his rating. He was also Best Under 1000. 

See the list below for a complete listing of winners.

Phil Chase and I directed and the Best Game was chosen by a committee of Chase, Randy Hough and myself.

In closing, the entire SGVCC Team would like to congratulate all our prize winners and thank all our players and chess parents for another successful Club Championship.    

We’ll do it again in September 2026!