Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

September 9, 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.


Peter H. Hopkins (1926-2011)

Mr. Peter Hopkins, founder and longtime president of the Virginia Scholastic Chess Association, passed away peacefully at his home on August 7, 2011. Mr. Hopkins almost single-handedly brought scholastic chess to the Richmond area. He remained active in the VSCA and regularly assisted with tournaments through 2009. None of us who knew Mr. Hopkins - players, parents or volunteers - will ever forget him.


Moody Scholastic Tournament (Grades K-12)

Registration is now open for the first event of the new school year. The 12th annual Moody Scholastic tournament will be held Saturday, September 24, 2011 at G. H. Moody Middle School in Henrico County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday morning, September 22.

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.


VSCA Membership Meeting

A meeting of the Virginia Scholastic Chess Association membership will be held during the Moody Scholastic tournament on Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 10:00 am. The primary purpose of the meeting is to elect new board members and officers. The parents of all players who have participated in one or more VSCA events during the past 12-month period, including this year's Moody event, are VSCA members and are eligible to vote in the election. For more information, visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org/chess-news/meeting.php


Other Upcoming Events

A scholastic chess calendar of Virginia and national events for the first half of the 2011-2012 school year is available at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar. Some 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 be updating the calendar accordingly.


Colonial Trail Summer Scholastic Tournament Results

57 scholastic players participated in the 4th annual Colonial Trail Summer Scholastic tournament, held at Colonial Trail Elementary School in Henrico County, Virginia on August 20, 2011.

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, Kyle Phillips won first place in kindergarten by tiebreaks over Nikhil Chintalapati. Kyle and Nikhil each finished with 3.0 points. Sanjana Dasari won the first-place trophy in first grade by tiebreaks over Arya Shah. Sanjana and Arya each finished with a score of 2.5 points. Sam Fromer won the first-place trophy in second grade with a perfect score of 4.0 points. Joshua Felton won first place in third grade with a score of 3.5 points.

In the K-5 section, Daniel Zhou, a first grader playing up, won the first-place trophy for fourth grade by tiebreaks over Caleb Lunsford. Daniel and Caleb each finished with 3.0 points. Zoey Lamb won first place in fifth grade with a score of 3.0 points.

In the K-8 section, there was a five-way tie for first place in sixth grade. Jeremy Curtis, a fifth grader playing up, won the first-place trophy by tiebreaks over Nicholas Gu, a third grader playing up; Jenny Gu, a fifth grader playing up; Matthew Houff; and Apurv Shah, a fifth grader playing up. Each of these five players finished with 3.0 points. Will Overman won first place in seventh grade with a perfect score of 4.0 points, and Ben Schenck won the first-place trophy for eighth grade with 2.0 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 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.