Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

November 2, 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.


Echo Lake Scholastic Tournament (Grades K-8)

Registration is now open for the fifth annual Echo Lake Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, November 19, 2011 at Echo Lake Elementary School in Henrico County. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday morning, November 17.

This tournament is open to students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Players are divided into 3 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.


Old Donation Center Scholastic Tournament Results

96 scholastic players participated in the first annual Old Donation Center Scholastic, held in Virginia Beach on October 29, 2011.

In the K-5 Not Rated section, Robert Jiang won the first-place trophy with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Katherine Shi won the trophy for the top K-3 player in the Not Rated section by tiebreaks over Sammy Cutler. Katherine and Sammy each finished with a score of 3.5 points in 5 rounds. The host team from Old Donation Center won the K-5 Not Rated first-place team trophy. Samuel Washburn won the first-place trophy in the K-12 Not Rated section with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Poquoson Middle School won the K-12 Not Rated first-place team trophy. In the K-5 Open section, Andrew Currier won the first-place trophy with a perfect score of 5.0 points. Carter Patten won the trophy for the top K-3 player in the Open section by tiebreaks over his brother, Will Patten. Carter and Will each finished with a score of 3.0 points in 5 rounds. The host team from Old Donation Center won the K-5 Open first-place team trophy. In the K-12 Open section, Cameron Currier won the first-place trophy by tiebreaks over his brother, Caleb Currier, a fifth grader playing up. Cameron and Caleb played to a draw in the fourth round and each finished with 4.5 points in 5 rounds. Currier Home School Academy won the first-place team trophy in K-12 Open.

Congratulations to all of these players, and to all of our tournament participants. Complete tournament results are available at www.vschess.org/results.


Other Upcoming Events

A scholastic chess calendar of Virginia and national events for 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.


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.