Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

October 8, 2013

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.

Thompson National Chess Day Tournament (Grades K-12 and Adult)

Wednesday is the last full day to register for the Thompson National Chess Day tournament, to be held Saturday, October 12, 2013 (National Chess Day) at Thompson Middle School in Richmond. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, October 10.

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. New players may play in these sections if they wish, but they must join the U.S. Chess Federation.

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 NOT be sold at the tournament. Please plan to bring your own lunch, drinks and snacks, or visit one of the nearby fast-food restaurants.

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

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

Registration is now open for the Old Donation Center Fall Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, October 26, 2013 at Old Donation Center in Virginia Beach. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, October 24.

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. New players may play in these sections if they wish, but they must join the U.S. Chess Federation.

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 pizza at lunchtime.

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

Other Upcoming Events

The Maggie L. Walker Fall Scholastic tournament will be held on Saturday, November 23 at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Richmond. The tournament will have K-3, K-5, K-8 and K-12 sections, all USCF-rated. A VSCA membership meeting will be held at this event (see the notice below).

A scholastic chess calendar of Virginia and national events is available at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar.

VSCA Membership Meeting

A Virginia Scholastic Chess Association membership meeting will be held during the Maggie L. Walker Fall Scholastic tournament on Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 10:00 am. The primary purpose of the meeting is to elect new board members and to discuss the tournament schedule for the 2013-2014 school year. The parents of all players who have participated in one or more VSCA events during the past 12-month period, including the November 23 Maggie L. 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

Grafton Tournament Results

65 scholastic and adult players participated in the Grafton Back to School Tournament, held at Grafton Middle School in Yorktown on September 28, 2013.

The K-5 Not-rated section and K-5 Open section had awards for the top players in grades K-3 and grades 4-5. The K-12 Open section had awards for the top players in grades K-8 and grades 9-12. There was no K-12 Not-rated section at this event.

In the K-5 Not-rated section, Jeremy Frank won first place for grades 4-5 with a perfect score of 4.0. Gabriel Vo won the first-place trophy for grades K-3 by tiebreaks over Simon Bustillos and Shreyan Sunkari. All three players finished with 3.0 points in 4 rounds. Shady Grove Elementary School from Henrico County won the first-place team award in the K-5 Not-rated section.

In the K-5 Open section, Nitin Kanuri won first place for grades 4-5 with a perfect score of 4.0. Sriharsha Sambangi won the first-place trophy for grades K-3 by tiebreaks over Emmet King, Srinivasan Kannan and Ritvika Palani. All four players finished with 2.0 points in 4 rounds. Twin Hickory Elementary School from Henrico County won the first-place team award in the K-5 Open section by tiebreaks over Waddell Elementary School from Lexington.

In the K-12 Open section, Loyal Soles won first place for grades 9-12 with a perfect score of 4.0. Pranav Neyveli won the first-place trophy for grades K-8 with a score of 3.5 points in 4 rounds. Grace Academy from Virginia Beach won the first-place team award in the K-12 Open section.

The winners in the three Open Quads were Mr. Joseph McDougall, Mr. Thomas Mundell and Dr. Long Vo.

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

Visit Us on Facebook

VSCA has a new Facebook page, thanks to parent and board member Christina Schweiss. Check it out at www.facebook.com/vascholasticchess.

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. Mr. Callaham has recently issued a Checkmate Challenge to all scholastic players, based on one of his own games. Win a chess book if you can find all the checkmates! For complete details, visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org/chess-resources/games

Mr. Callaham currently coaches chess clubs at J. B. Fisher Elementary School, J. E. B. Stuart Elementary School, Thomas H. Henderson Middle School and Thompson Middle School in Richmond, and he has visited many other Virginia schools. He would like to visit as many other school chess clubs as possible on behalf of the VSCA. 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.

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 online through PayPal (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 payed online. 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 rated sections of a tournament must be current USCF members.

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