Virginia Scholastic Chess Association Newsletter

November 1, 2016

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.


Veritas Fall Scholastic (Grades K-12)

Registration is now open for the Veritas Fall Scholastic tournament, to be held Saturday, November 19, 2016 at Veritas School in Richmond. This will be our first tournament at Veritas, and we are very happy to have them as a new host. Advance registration is online only, and closes at 7:00 AM Thursday MORNING, November 17.

This tournament is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and includes both rated and non-rated scholastic sections.

The K-5 Not-rated and K-12 Not-rated (grades 6-12) sections are designed for beginning tournament players (first, second or third chess tournament, with exceptions on a case-by-case basis). Games in these sections are NOT RATED by the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) and players do NOT need to be US Chess members.

The K-5 Open and K-12 Open (grades 6-12) sections are US Chess-rated sections. All players in these sections must be current US Chess members.

The entry fee is $10 for advance (online) registrations, and $15 for onsite registrations. Please read our Tournament Check-in Policy.

Trophies will be awarded to the top 5 individuals and the top 3 school teams in each section.

The annual VSCA membership meeting will be held at this tournament. Please see the announcement below.

Please visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org for more tournament information and to register online.


VSCA General Membership Meeting

The annual VSCA membership meeting will be held on Saturday, November 19 at 11:30 am at the Veritas tournament in Richmond. VSCA members are parents or guardians of VSCA scholastic players, and other interested individuals age 16 and older who have done significant volunteer work for the VSCA. During the meeting, VSCA president Mike Hoffpauir will answer questions, and members will be able to bring up any concerns that they wish to discuss. Voting for VSCA Board of Directors positions will be held online in January 2017.


Other Upcoming VSCA Tournaments

The annual Hopkins Scholastic at Hopewell tournament will be held at Hopewell High School in Hopewell on December 10. The Hopewell tournament includes K-3, K-5, K-8 and K-12 sections, all US Chess-rated. The tournament is named in memory of VSCA founder and longtime president Peter Hopkins. This will be the 24th consecutive year of scholastic chess tournaments at Hopewell High School, beginning in 1993.

A calendar of VSCA events as well as other scholastic events in Virginia is available at www.vschess.org/chess-calendar.


Richmond Metropolitan Grand Prix Tournaments

The Richmond Chess Initiative (RCI) and the Richmond Public Library are hosting a series of Saturday tournaments for scholastic and adult players. The next tournaments are November 5 and December 3, 2016 at the Richmond Public Library Main Branch. For more information, visit the RCI website at richmondchessinitiative.wordpress.com/the-richmond-metropolitan-grand-prix/busline-grand-prix-schedule/.


Meadowdale Tournament Results

51 scholastic and adult players participated in the Meadowdale Fall Scholastic and Quads Tournament, held at Meadowdale Library in Chesterfield County on October 15, 2016.

In the K-5 Not-rated section, Tom Liu won the first place trophy by tiebreaks over Sam Sears. Tom and Sam each finished with a score of 3.5 points in 4 rounds. The first-place team in K-5 Not-rated was Winterpock Elementary School from Chesterfield County.

There were no entries in the K-12 Not-rated section.

In the K-5 Open section, Saket Sambaraju won the first place trophy with a perfect score of 4.0 points in 4 rounds. Colonial Trail Elementary School from Henrico County was the first-place team in K-5 Open.

In the K-12 Open section, Ankith Laichetty won the first place trophy by tiebreaks over Joshua Nichols. Ankith and Joshua each finished with a perfect score of 4.0 points in 4 rounds. Maggie L. Walker Governor's School from Richmond won the K-12 Open first-place team trophy.

In the Small Swiss section for adults and advanced scholastic players, the first-place winner was Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz.

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


State Scholastic Preview Tournament Results

44 scholastic and adult players participated in the State Scholastic Preview Tournament, held at the Holiday Inn Virginia Beach-Norfolk Hotel and Conference Center in Virginia Beach on October 29, 2016.

The K-5 Not-rated section and the K-12 Not-rated section were combined with separate awards.

In the K-5 Not-rated section, Nicholas Crank won the first place trophy by tiebreaks over Vikram Goudar. Nicholas and Vikram each finished with a score of 3.5 points in 4 rounds. The first-place team in K-5 Not-rated was Grace Academy Homeschool Co-op from Virginia Beach.

In the K-12 Not-rated section, Perrin Sullivan won the first-place trophy with a score of 3.0 points in 4 rounds. There were no teams in the K-12 Not-rated section.

In the K-5 Open section, Aneesh Desai won the first place trophy with a perfect score of 4.0 points in 4 rounds. Brickell Academy from Virginia Beach was the first-place team in K-5 Open.

In the K-12 Open section, Bruce Flores won the first-place trophy with a score of 3.5 points in 4 rounds. Providence Elementary School from Virginia Beach won the K-12 Open first-place team trophy.

In the Open Quads section for adults and advanced scholastic players, the first-place winner was Mr. Bryan Flores.

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


Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club

The Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club, organized by VSCA Board Member Christina Schweiss, has merged with the Hampton Roads Chess Club and the Virginia Beach Chess Club, and meets on Tuesday evenings at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach. Scholastic players meet from 5:00 to 7:30 pm, and adults and advanced scholastic players meet from 7:00 to 10:30 pm. Meetings include training as well as rated tournaments. For more information, visit the chess club's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HRScholasticChessClub.


Maggie L. Walker Free Chess Clinics

The Maggie L. Walker Governor's School Chess Club in Richmond holds chess clinics at the school on one Monday evening each month from 5 to 7 pm. The next clinic will be Monday, October 17. The clinics are free to scholastic players of all experience levels, from beginner to advanced. For further information, visit the chess club's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MLWGSChess.


It's Your Move!

VSCA secretary and Class A player Mike Callaham has generously offered to analyze and comment on VSCA tournament games which players send him. If you have a game that you're proud of, or a game where you feel you could have played better, and would like Mr. Callaham to take a look at it, all you need to do is send him a copy of your complete and legible scoresheet (game notation). He will respond by email, and games which are especially interesting or instructive will be published on the VSCA website. For complete details, visit the VSCA website at www.vschess.org/chess-resources/games. Mr. Callaham has recently posted his analysis of an extremely interesting game from the Virginia Scholastic Championships in Ashburn.

Mr. Callaham is the CEO and founder of the Richmond Chess Initiative, the coordinator and head coach of the Richmond Middle School Chess League, and currently coaches chess clubs at Binford, Boushall, Lucille Brown, Thomas Henderson, Albert Hill, and Thompson Middle Schools in Richmond, J. B. Fisher Elementary School in Richmond, and Tuckahoe Elementary School in Henrico County. Coach Callaham has also met with chess clubs at many other Virginia schools, and he would like to visit as many other school chess clubs as possible on behalf of the VSCA. Parents and coaches, if you would like to have Mr. Callaham visit your school club for a free simul, chess clinic or lecture, please contact him at waterman2010kir@aol.com. Be sure to provide contact information for the school chess sponsor/coach. This is a wonderful opportunity for your school to benefit from the help of an experienced chess player and teacher.


Visit Us on Facebook

Check out the VSCA Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vascholasticchess, managed by parent and board member Christina Schweiss.


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. Entry fees may be paid online through PayPal (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 9:00 am on Saturday; entry fees may be higher for late entries. 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 the above information applies to most Virginia Scholastic Chess Association tournaments. Some tournaments may have different registration schedules and/or entry fees.


Tournament Check-in

To help start our tournaments on time, we have implemented a new check-in policy. Players who pay online do not need to check in at the tournament, but they must let us know if they are not coming. Please read the following brief instructions:

All Players: If you are registering and/or paying at the tournament: If you are paying online:

US Chess Membership

Current membership in the U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) is REQUIRED in order to play in VSCA tournaments, except for sections specifically designated as not-rated. In order to avoid delays on Saturday, please join or renew directly with US Chess at www.uschess.org/webstore. Please do not mail a paper application form or check to US Chess, 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 rated sections of a tournament must be current US Chess members.


Please visit our website at www.vschess.org for the latest news and information.