Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

March 23, 2011

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.



Fork Union Scholastic (Grades K-12)

Registration is now open for the Fork Union Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, April 9, 2011 at Fork Union Military Academy in Fluvanna County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday morning, April 7.

Players are divided into four 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 www.vschess.org for information and to register online.



Other Upcoming Events

The 4th annual Hanover Scholastic Tournament will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Hanover High School in Hanover County, Virginia. This event includes K-3, K-5, K-8 and K-12 sections. U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) membership is required for all players. Online registration will be available beginning April 13.

A complete scholastic chess calendar of Virginia and national events is available at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar.



State Tournament Results

467 scholastic and collegiate players participated in the March 19-20 Virginia Scholastic & Collegiate Championships at Grafton Middle & High Schools in York County. 127 players also participated in the March 18 blitz tournament. The state championships were organized by the Virginia Chess Federation.

Trung Nguyen won the K-3 state championship with a perfect score of 6.0 points. Trung and his brother Tan Nguyen played for the championship in the final round. Greenbriar West Elementary School won the K-3 team championship. Akhil Goel, Alvin Cao and William Sun are K-5 state co-champions. The three players each finished with 5.5 point in 6 rounds, and Akhil won the first-place trophy by tiebreaks. Greenbriar West Elementary School won the K-5 team championship. In the K-8 section, Jeevan Karamsetty won the state championship with a perfect score of 6.0 points. Moody Middle School won the K-8 team championship. In the K-12 section, Eric Most won the championship with a score of 5.5 points in 6 rounds. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology won the K-12 team championship. In the Collegiate section, Andrew Samuelson won the individual championship with a perfect score of 5.0 points. George Mason University won the Collegiate team championship.

In the Friday evening blitz tournament, Justin Lohr won first place in the K-5 section with a score of 9.0 points in 10 games (5 double-blitz rounds). Churchill Road Elementary School won the K-5 first-place team trophy by tiebreaks over Lohr Academy. In the K-12 section, Eric Most won the first-place trophy by tiebreaks over Quentin Moore, each finishing with 9.0 points. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology won the K-12 first-place team trophy. In the Collegiate section, Andrew Samuelson won the first-place trophy with a perfect score of 10.0 points.

Congratulations to all of these award winners. 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.