Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

September 8, 2009

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.



Moody Scholastic Tournament (Grades K-12)

Registration is now open for the 10th annual Moody Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, September 26, 2009 at George H. Moody Middle School in Henrico County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday morning, September 24.

This tournament is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Players are divided into 4 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.

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



Other Upcoming Events

A scholastic chess calendar of Virginia and national events for the 2009-2010 school year is available at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar. Several events have been tentatively scheduled, but not confirmed, and are listed in gray on the calendar. We are currently working with the host schools to confirm these dates, and we will update the calendar accordingly.



Richmond Metro Youth Tournament Results

94 scholastic players participated in the Richmond Metro Youth tournament, held at Colonial Trail Elementary School in Henrico County on August 15, 2009.

Players were divided into 3 sections based on their grade in the past school year. Each section played 5 rounds, and trophies were awarded to the top 3 finishers in each grade. There is no team competition at our summer tournaments.

In the K-3 section, Atesh Camurdan won first place in kindergarten by tie-breaks over Kunal Nakka and Kapil Iyer. Atesh, Kunal and Kapil each finished with 4.0 points. Michael Xie won the first-place trophy in first grade with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Pranav Karthikeyan won first place in second grade with 3.5 points, and Matthew Hunderup won first place in third grade with a score of 4.0 points.

In the K-5 section, Caleb Currier, a second grader playing up, won the first-place trophy for fourth grade with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Chico Payne won first place in fifth grade by tie-breaks over Aalok Shah. Chico and Aalok each finished with 3.5 points.

In the K-8 section, Alexander Abramenko won the first-place trophy for sixth grade with a score of 4.5 points. Clark Smiley won first place in seventh grade with a score of 4.0 points, and Cameron Currier won first place in eighth grade, also with 4.0 points.

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 Fee

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 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 after 8:30 am on Saturday may not be paired for the first round, depending on the number of late registrations.



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 by Friday night 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 try to 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.