Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

July 28, 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.


Colonial Trail Summer Scholastic Tournament (Grades K-8)

Registration is now open for the Colonial Trail Summer Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, August 14, 2010 at Colonial Trail Elementary School in Henrico County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday morning, August 12.

This tournament is open to students who have JUST COMPLETED kindergarten through 8th grade. (Preschoolers may compete as kindergarteners.) Players are divided into 3 sections based on their grade in school for the PAST SCHOOL YEAR (2009-2010): Each section in this event will play 4 or 5 rounds, depending on the number of entries. Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 finishers in each grade level. Younger players who play up in the K-5 section will compete for 4th grade trophies. Younger players who play up in the K-8 section will compete for 6th grade trophies. There is no team competition at our summer tournaments, and players from the same school may be paired against each other.

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.


Virginia Closed State Championship

The 74th annual Virginia Closed State Championship tournament, sponsored by the Virginia Chess Federation (VCF), will be held on Saturday-Monday, September 4-6, 2010 at the Hilton Garden Inn Richmond-Innsbrook in Glen Allen. The championship event is open to all Virginia residents. The Friday Night Blitz Tournament on September 3 is open to all players, including non-residents. Both events will have an Open section and an Amateur (U1800) section. This is a wonderful opportunity for area scholastic players to participate in an adult tournament without the expense of an overnight trip. Interested students are also welcome to visit and watch the best chess players in Virginia compete for the state championship. For complete tournament information, visit the VCF website at www.vachess.org.


New Mailing Address

The VSCA has a new mailing address:

VSCA, PO Box 29901, Richmond, VA 23242

This address should be used for tournament payments and any other correspondence.


Hampton Roads Metro Youth Tournament Results

42 scholastic players participated in the 2nd annual Hampton Roads Metro Youth tournament, held in Hampton, Virginia on July 17, 2010. We sincerely thank the Hampton Family YMCA for hosting this event.

Players were divided into 3 sections based on their grade in the past school year. Each section played 4 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, Kieran Morales won first place in kindergarten and Ethan Post won the first-place trophy in first grade. There was a four-way tie for the top spot in second grade. Miles Anderson won the first-place trophy by tiebreaks over Joshua Felton, Jacqueline Yu and Jillian Brodie. All four players finished with 3 points in 4 rounds. Jensen Morales won first place in third grade with a perfect score of 4 points.

In the K-5 section, Yuktha Penumala won the first-place trophy in fourth grade with a perfect score of 4 points. Caleb Hunter won first place in fifth grade with a score of 3 points.

In the K-8 section, Jenny Gu, a fourth grader playing up, won the first-place trophy for sixth grade with a perfect score of 4 points. Rakshith Raghu won first place in seventh grade. There were no eighth grade players.

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.


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.