Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

July 24, 2018

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.


North Courthouse Summer Scholastic & Quads (Rising Grades K-12 and Adults)

Registration is now open for the North Courthouse Summer Scholastic & Quads Tournament, to be held Saturday, August 11, 2018 at North Courthouse Road Library in Chesterfield County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, August 9.

This tournament is open to students who will be in kindergarten through 12th grade in the next school year, and includes both rated and non-rated sections. Players who have graduated from high school are not eligible for the scholastic sections, but are welcome to play in the adult quads.

Coach Mike Callaham will be on hand to offer free game analysis and notation training, as well as moderately-priced chess books for all skill levels.

Food and drinks will not be sold at this tournament. Please bring your own lunch and snacks, or plan to visit one of the fast food restaurants in the area. We will have a lunch break during the tournament for the scholastic sections. Quad players should plan to eat between rounds.

The K-5 Not-rated (grades K-5) and K-12 Not-rated (grades 6-12) sections are designed for beginning tournament players (first, second or third chess tournament, with exceptions on a case-by-case basis). Games in these sections are NOT RATED by the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) and players do NOT need to be US Chess members.

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

The Open Quads sections are US Chess-rated sections open to advanced scholastic players (US Chess rating 1200+) 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;d5.

The entry fee for the scholastic sections is $10 for advance (online) registrations, and $15 for onsite registrations. The entry fee for the Open Quads is $20 for all players, whether registered online or onsite. Please read our Tournament Check-in Policy.

Trophies will be awarded to the top 7 individuals in each of the scholastic sections. There are no team awards at our summer tournaments, and players from the same school may be paired against each other. There are cash prizes for the Open Quads, with no trophies or team competition.

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


Other Upcoming VSCA Tournaments

The first VSCA tournament of the new school year will be held in the Hampton Roads area in mid to late September. The date and location will be announced on our website at www.vschess.org as soon as the details are confirmed.

A calendar of VSCA events as well as other scholastic events in Virginia is available at vschess.org/chess-calendar.


Virginia Commonwealth Games Tournament

The annual Virginia Commonwealth Games chess tournament, organized by the Virginia Chess Federation, will be held on Saturday, July 28 at Liberty University in Lynchburg. The tournament features non-rated games for scholastic players and US Chess-rated games for adults and advanced scholastic players (rating 1200+). You can register and pay online, or at the tournament. Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded. For more information, and to register online, visit the event website at www.commonwealthgames.org/sports-listing/chess.


Virginia Beach Tournament Results

53 scholastic and 3 adult players participated in the Virginia Beach Summer Scholastic and Quads tournament, held at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach on July 21, 2018. We sincerely thank Eastminster Church for hosting the tournament.

There were four scholastic sections: K-5 Not-rated, K-12 Not-rated, K-5 Open and K-12 Open. The K-5 Not-rated and K-12 Not-rated sections were combined with separate awards. There were also two Quad sections for adults and advanced scholastic players. There is no team competition at our summer tournaments.

In the K-5 Not-rated section, Eli Marin won the first place trophy with a perfect score of 4.0 points in 4 rounds. Ethan Merry won the first place trophy in the K-12 Not-rated section with a score of 2.0 points in 4 rounds.

There were two perfect scores in the K-5 Open section. Dinari Stokes won the first place trophy by tiebreaks over Lakshmi Nagasuri. Dinari and Lakshmi each finished with 4.0 points in 4 rounds. In the K-12 Open section, Vaibhavreddy Maru won the first place trophy with a perfect score of 4.0 points in 4 rounds.

The first-place winners in the two Quad sections were Mr. Chris Williams and Tyson Brady (seventh grade).

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


Hampton Roads Summer Chess Camp

The Hampton Roads Chess Association, organized by VSCA Board Member Christina Schweiss, is hosting a summer chess camp the week of July 23-27 at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach. The Masters Camp (9 am to noon daily) features lessons for experienced tournament players taught by Expert and Master level coaches. The Beginners Camp (9 am to 3 pm daily) provides lessons for players with little to no chess experience. A Masters Camp Extended Day Option (noon to 3 pm daily) is also available for daycare only (no additional chess instruction). The camp is open to students in grades K-12. Read the camp flyer at vschess.org/chess-calendar/event-flyers/other/2018-07-23-hrca-chess-camp.pdf. For further information and registration, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/hrca-summer-chess-camp-tickets-44435885931.


Championship Chess Richmond Summer Chess Camps

Championship Chess Richmond, headed by VSCA Board Member Brian Garbera, is hosting camps throughout the summer months at several locations across the Richmond metro area. For complete information, visit the Championship Chess Richmond website at http://richmond.championshipchess.net/richmondhomepage/richmondevents/.


Maggie L. Walker Summer Chess Camp

Dragon Chess Camp, organized by the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School Chess Club, will be held at Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Richmond the week of August 13-17. The camp is open to rising 3rd-9th graders. For further information, visit the camp website at teachmechess.com/.


Hampton Roads Chess Association

The Hampton Roads Chess Association, organized by VSCA Board Member Christina Schweiss, meets on Tuesday evenings at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach. Scholastic players meet from 5:00 to 7:30 pm, and adults and advanced scholastic players meet from 7:00 to 10:30 pm. Meetings include training as well as rated tournaments. For more information, visit the chess club's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HRScholasticChessClub.


Richmond Chess Initiative Workshops

The Richmond Chess Initiative (RCI), headed by VSCA Secretary and Board Member Mike Callaham, meets for chess every weeknight, Monday-Friday, 6:00-9:00 pm, at Createspace, 607 Wickham Street, Richmond. Chess lessons are 6:30-7:00 pm daily, followed by free play from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Sets and clocks are provided, and there is free onsite parking. For more information, visit the RCI website at richmondchessinitiative.wordpress.com/clubs-and-places-people-meet. If you plan to arrive later than 7:30 pm, please call 804-426-6058 to let Mr. Callaham know.


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. For complete details, visit the VSCA website at vschess.org/chess-resources/games.

Mr. Callaham is the CEO and founder of the Richmond Chess Initiative, the coordinator and head coach of the Richmond Middle School Chess League, and currently coaches chess clubs at Boushall, Lucille Brown, Thomas Henderson and Thompson Middle Schools in Richmond; Armstrong High School in Richmond; J. B. Fisher Elementary School in Richmond; and Tuckahoe Elementary School in Henrico County. Coach Callaham has also met with chess clubs at many other Virginia schools, and 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.


Visit Us on Facebook

Check out the VSCA Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vascholasticchess, managed by parent and board member Christina Schweiss.


Tournament Registration and Entry Fees

Advance registration for VSCA tournaments is ONLINE ONLY at 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. Entry fees 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 9:00 am on Saturday; entry fees may be higher for late entries. 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.

Please note that the above information applies to most Virginia Scholastic Chess Association tournaments. Some tournaments may have different registration schedules and/or entry fees.


Tournament Check-in

To help start our tournaments on time, we have implemented the following check-in policies:

Players who pay online do not need to check in at the tournament, but they must let us know if they are not coming. Please read the following brief instructions:

All Players: If you are registering and/or paying at the tournament: If you are paying online:

US Chess Membership

Current membership in the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) is REQUIRED in order to play in VSCA tournaments, except for sections specifically designated as not-rated. In order to avoid delays on Saturday, please join or renew directly with US Chess at www.uschess.org/webstore. Please do not mail a paper application form or check to US Chess, 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 US Chess members.


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