Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

October 11, 2012

This newsletter is sent to families who participate in Virginia Scholastic Chess Association tournaments. The VSCA is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to promoting scholastic chess in central and southeastern Virginia. Please email news@vschess.org to subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address.


Maggie L. Walker Scholastic Tournament (Grades K-12)

Registration is now open for the Maggie L. Walker Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, October 27, 2012 at the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Richmond. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, October 25.

Players are divided into four sections based on their grade in school: Trophies will be awarded to the the top 5 individuals and to the top 3 school teams in each section. Current membership in the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) is required for all players. All sections are USCF-rated.

Please visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org for more tournament information and to register online.


Old Donation Center Fall Scholastic (Grades K-12 and Adult)

Registration is still open for the Old Donation Center Fall Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, October 20, 2012 at Old Donation Center (elementary school) in Virginia Beach. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, October 18.

This tournament is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and also adult players, and includes both rated and non-rated sections.

The K-5 Not-rated and K-12 Not-rated (grades 6-12) sections are strictly for fun, and are designed primarily for beginning tournament players. Games in these sections are NOT RATED by the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) and players do NOT need to be USCF members. USCF members with a rating below 400 (K-5) or 800 (K-12) may play in the Not-rated sections if they wish.

The K-5 Open and K-12 Open (grades 6-12) sections are USCF-rated sections. All players in these sections must be current USCF members.

The Open Quads sections are USCF-rated sections open to advanced scholastic players (USCF rating 1000+) and adult players. Quad entries will be divided into groups of 4 (quads) by rating. Each quad will play a 3-round round robin with a time control of G/60.

The entry fee for the scholastic sections is $7 for advance (online) registrations, or $14 for onsite registrations. The entry fee for the Open Quads is $20 for all players, whether registered online or onsite.

Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 individuals in grades K-3 and to the top 3 individuals in grades 4-5 in the K-5 Not-rated section and the K-5 Open section. Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 individuals in grades K-8 and to the top 3 individuals in grades 9-12 in the K-12 Not-rated section and the K-12 Open section. Trophies will also be awarded to the top 3 school teams in each of the scholastic sections. There are cash prizes for the Open Quads, with no trophies or team competition.

Food and drinks will be sold at the tournament, including lunch options (pizza or sandwiches).

Please visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org for more tournament information and to register online.


VSCA Membership Meeting

A meeting of the Virginia Scholastic Chess Association membership will be held during the Maggie L. Walker Scholastic tournament on Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 10:00 am. The primary purpose of the meeting is to elect new board members and to discuss the tournament schedule for the 2012-2013 school year. The parents of all players who have participated in one or more VSCA events during the past 12-month period, including this year's Maggie Walker event, are VSCA members and are eligible to vote in the election. For more information, visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org/chess-news/meeting.php


Other Upcoming Events

The Echo Lake Mixed Doubles Scholastic and Individual Scholastic events will be held November 17 at Echo Lake Elementary School in Henrico County. In addition to K-3 and K-8 individual scholastic sections, the Echo Lake tournament will include K-5 and K-12 mixed doubles sections of boy-girl teams, from either the same school or different schools. The online calendar at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar will be updated as additional dates are confirmed.


It's Your Move!

VSCA secretary and Class A player Mike Callaham has generously offered to analyze and comment on VSCA tournament games which players send him. If you have a game that you're proud of, or a game where you feel you could have played better, and would like Mr. Callaham to take a look at it, all you need to do is send him a copy of your complete and legible scoresheet (game notation). He will respond by email, and games which are especially interesting or instructive will be published on the VSCA website at www.vschess.org/chess-resources/games. Mr. Callaham has recently posted three games which he played against scholastic players (with surprising results) at the Charlottesville Open in July 2012: Scholastic Means Young – Not Weak!

Mr. Callaham currently coaches chess clubs at J. B. Fisher Elementary School and J. E. B. Stuart Elementary School in Richmond. He would like to visit as many other school chess clubs as possible on behalf of the VSCA. Mr Callaham has recently visited chess clubs at Westside Elementary School in Smithfield and Echo Lake Elementary School in Glen Allen. Parents and coaches, if you would like to have Mr. Callaham visit your school club for a free simul, chess clinic or lecture, please contact him at waterman2010kir@aol.com. Be sure to provide contact information for the school chess sponsor/coach. This is a wonderful opportunity for your school to benefit from the help of an experienced chess player and teacher.


Grafton Back to School Tournament Results

73 scholastic and adult players participated in the Grafton Back to School tournament, held at Grafton Middle School in Yorktown on September 29, 2012.

The K-5 Not-rated and K-12 Not-rated sections were combined, with separate awards. In the K-5 Not-rated section, Eli Price won the first-place trophy for grades K-3 by tiebreaks over Sebastian Morales. C. J. Szczepankiewicz won the first-place trophy for grades 4-5 in the K-5 Not-rated section with a score of 3.0 points in 4 rounds. There were no teams in the K-5 Not-rated section. Sean Delawder won the first-place trophy in the K-12 Not-rated section with a perfect score of 4.0 points. The host team from Grafton Middle School won the K-12 Not-rated first-place team trophy. In the K-5 Open section, Sudarshan Sriniaiyer won the first-place trophy for grades K-3 with a score of 3.5 points in 4 rounds. Carter Patten won the trophy for the top player in grades 4-5 in the Open section with a perfect score of 4.0 points. Hampton Roads Academy from Newport News won the K-5 Open first-place team trophy by tiebreaks over Shady Grove Elementary School from Henrico County. In the K-12 Open section, Zoey Lamb won the first-place trophy for grades K-8 by tiebreaks over Daniel Zhou (a third grader playing up), Kaustav Rajesh and Ankith Laichetty. All four of these players finished with 3.0 points in 4 rounds. Justin Woodall won the first-place trophy for grades 9-12 in the K-12 Open section with a perfect score of 4.0 points. Moody Middle School from Henrico County won the first-place team trophy in K-12 Open. Winners in the 6 Open Quads were Matthew Shih, a tenth grader; Mr. Kevin Connelly; Samuel Washburn, a ninth grader; Nicholas Gu, a fifth grader; Mr. Lee Pitts; and Mr. Brian Williams.

Congratulations to all of these players, and to all of our tournament participants. Complete tournament results are available at www.vschess.org/results.


Tournament Registration and Entry Fees

Advance registration for VSCA tournaments is ONLINE ONLY at www.vschess.org, and closes at 7:00 AM on the Thursday before the tournament. In order to accurately process entries, we cannot accept mail, phone or e-mail registrations. The scholastic advance registration entry fee of $7 may be paid by mail (preferred) or at the tournament. Players who do not register before the 7:00 AM Thursday deadline can register at the tournament between 8:00 and 8:45 am on Saturday, but they will need to pay the late entry fee of $14. Players who register later than 8:30 am on Saturday may or may not be paired for the first round, depending on the number of late registrations.

The entry fee for Open Quads sections is $20 for both advance registrations and on-site registrations.

Please note that the above information applies only to Virginia Scholastic Chess Association tournaments, and does NOT apply to the Virginia Scholastic and Collegiate Championships or other Virginia Chess Federation events.


Tournament Check-in

In order to help us complete registration and start our tournaments on time, please check in at the registration desk by 8:45 am, even if you have mailed in your payment. This will minimize the number of names that we have to call in order to check attendance, and will also allow our volunteers to close registration and balance the books earlier. Players arriving after 8:45 am (8:30 am if you have not registered in advance) will risk not being paired for the first round.

If you have registered online, but later find that you will not be able to attend, please email results@vschess.org as soon as possible so that we can withdraw your name. If you have to change your plans at the last minute and will be absent or late, please email or let someone else know so they can tell us at registration.


USCF Membership

Current membership in the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) is REQUIRED in order to play in VSCA tournaments, except for sections specifically designated as non-rated. In order to avoid delays on Saturday, please join or renew directly with USCF at www.uschess.org/webstore. Please do not mail a paper application form or check to USCF, since this may cause delays in processing your membership. If you are unable to join or renew online, please plan to fill out a membership application at the tournament. You can check membership status at www.uschess.org/msa. The U.S. Chess Federation maintains a national database of ratings (relative playing strengths) for adult and scholastic players. In order to update the ratings following each tournament, all players in the tournament must be current USCF members.


Please visit our website at www.vschess.org for the latest news and information.