Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

January 20, 2010

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.



State Scholastic & Collegiate Championships

Registration is now open for the Virginia Scholastic & Collegiate Chess Championships, hosted by the Virginia Chess Federation, to be held on Friday-Sunday, March 12-14, 2010 on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. The event includes two separate tournaments. The blitz tournament at 6:30 pm Friday evening will have five double-blitz rounds and three sections: K-5, K-12 and Collegiate. The main tournament on Saturday and Sunday will have six rounds and five sections: K-3, K-5, K-8, K-12 and Collegiate. Details and online registration are available now at the Virginia Chess Federation website, www.vachess.org/scholastics/09-10 State Ch/Home.htm.



Manchester Scholastic (Grades K-12 and Adult)

There is one more week to register for the 4th annual Manchester Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, January 30, 2010 at Manchester Middle School in Chesterfield County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday morning, January 28. Players are divided into five sections: The scholastic sections will play 5 rounds (time control G/40) with individual and team competition. The Open section will play 4 rounds (time controls G/40, G/40, G/60, G/60) with no team competition; players from the same school may be paired against each other. Scholastic players in the Open section should have a USCF rating of 1000 or above. The number of rounds and time controls may be adjusted based on the number of entries.

Trophies will be awarded to the the top 5 individuals and to the top 3 school teams in the scholastic sections, and to the top 5 individuals in the Open section. Current membership in the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) is required for all players. Please visit www.vschess.org for information and to register online.



Other Upcoming Events

On Saturday, February 27, the Grafton Winter 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 February 10.

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



Cavalier Scholastic Results

90 scholastic players participated in the second annual Cavalier Scholastic tournament at Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach on January 16.

In the K-5 Unrated section, Mehmet Gokus won the first-place trophy with a score of 4.5 points in 5 rounds. Arrowhead Elementary School from Virginia Beach won the K-5 Unrated first-place team trophy. In the K-5 Open section, Jenny Gu won the first-place trophy with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Phillips Elementary School from Hampton won the K-5 Open first-place team trophy by tie-breaks over Oakwood Elementary School of Norfolk. In the K-12 Open section, Chris Williams won the first-place trophy with a perfect score of 5.0 points. The host team from Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach won the K-12 Open 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 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 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.

Please note that this registration and fee information does NOT apply to the Virginia Scholastic & Collegiate Championships in March, which are organized by the Virginia Chess Federation.



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.