Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

September 30, 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.


Twin Hickory Scholastic Tournament (Grades K-12)

Registration is now open for the 4th annual Twin Hickory Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, October 17, 2009 at Twin Hickory Elementary School in Henrico County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday morning, October 15.

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

On Saturday, November 14, the 3rd annual Grafton Fall Chess Fest will be held at Grafton Middle School in York County. This event will feature two scholastic sections: K-5 (kindergarten-5th grade) and K-12 (6th-12th grade). In addition, the Virgina Chess Federation will sponsor an Open Quads side event for adults and advanced scholastic players. Online registration for the Grafton event (scholastic sections only) will open on October 28.

A scholastic chess calendar of Virginia and national events for the 2009-2010 school year is available at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar.


Moody Scholastic Tournament Results

79 scholastic players participated in the 10th annual Moody Scholastic tournament, held at George H. Moody Middle School in Henrico County on September 26, 2009.

In the K-3 section, Akshita Gorti won the first-place trophy with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Springfield Park Elementary School (Henrico County) won the K-3 first-place team trophy by tie-breaks over Phillips Elementary School (Hampton).

Jnanadeep Dandu won first place in the K-5 section with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Colonial Trail Elementary School (Henrico County) won the K-5 first-place team trophy.

In the K-8 section, Jonathan Yu, a fourth grader playing up, won the first-place trophy with a score of 4.5 points in 5 rounds. The host team from Moody Middle School (Henrico County) won the K-8 first-place team trophy.

Albert Yeh won first place in the K-12 section with a score of 4.0 points in 5 rounds. Fork Union Military Academy (Fluvanna County) won the K-12 first-place team trophy.

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.