Maggie Walker State Scholastic Warm-up Tournament

Maggie Walker State Scholastic Warm-up Tournament

Saturday, March 11, 2023, with Round 1 at 10am.

What: A one-day warm-up tournament for the 2023 Virginia Scholastic Championships

When: Saturday, March 11th, 2023. Onsite Registration from 8am until 9:30. Round 1 is at 10am.

Where: Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, 1000 N. Lombardy St., Richmond, VA 23220

Registration and Fees: Register for $20 at www.vachess.org by Thursday, March 9th. Starting Friday March 10th registration is $25 online and onsite at the tournament. Onsite registration is Saturday from 8am until 9:15.

Format:

• This is a “Swiss System” tournament, it is not an elimination event. The tournament will have 4 rounds, so everyone gets to play 4 games. Click here to read about a Swiss System chess tournament.
• Each player is allowed one, optional half-point Bye. Not sure what a “Bye” is? Click here to learn more about Byes in chess.

Sections: Players can compete in one of four sections: K-3, K-5, K-8, or K-12. All players must be members of the US Chess Federation.

Who can Play: Players in grades Pre-K through 12. The event is open to out-of-state players. FIRST-TIME PLAYERS ARE WELCOME!!! At the close of Registration, we have a 15-20 minute “Introduction to Tournament Chess” briefing.

Awards: There are individual and team awards.

• Individual: 1st through 5th places in all 4 sections. Medals to players in all sections who finish with a 50% score (2 points) or better. Ribbons to all other players in the K-3 and K-5 Sections.
• Teams: 1st through 3rd places in all 4 sections.  A “team” is 2 or more players who attend the same school. A school is not required to have a formal ‘chess club’ to participate or be eligible for a team award. Players on a team must all compete in the same Section of the tournament. Parents or players with questions about home school teams should contact Mike Hoffpauir (Click here to show mail address, 757-846-4805) to understand the options available.

Tournament Schedule:

• Round 1 is at 10am. Follow-on rounds in each section start ‘as soon as possible’ after the previous round ends. For example, it is likely that the K-3 and K-5 players may finish 4 rounds and receive their awards by 1 or 1:30pm, while the K-8 and K-12 sections may be playing until 3:30pm or later.

• We will have a 45-min to 1-hour Lunch Break during the tournament to allow players to eat. The Maggie L. Walker Chess Club usually sells pizza to participants. You are welcome to bring your own lunch or get lunch locally. The start time for the lunch period will be announced at the tournament site.
• You might also want to bring a lawn chair or two because there are a limited number of chairs in the waiting area.

Time Control: For all rounds except the final round, players will use Game-40 + 5 as their time control. This means each player has 40 minutes, plus an additional 5 seconds per move, to make all his/her moves for the game. The final round (Round 4) will use a time control of Game-60 + 5, which is the same time control we will use in Rounds 1-3 at the State Scholastic Championships.

Chess Equipment: We will provide chess sets for all games. Players should bring a Chess Clock if they own one.

Chess Notation:

• Players in the K-5, K-8 and K-12 sections are required to take chess notation. In the K-3 Section chess notation is optional, but highly recommended.
• Players also should bring a pencil or pen and their “chess notebook” if they own one. We have a limited supply of pencils/pens.
• New players should watch a YouTube video on “Chess Notation” and then practice before the tournament so that the tournament is not their first experience with notation. ">This YouTube link provides a reasonably good video explaining Chess Notation.

PRE-TOURNAMENT ZOOM MEETING: There will be a pre-tournament information meeting for players on Tuesday or Wednesday evening before the tournament. The meeting time is usually 7 or 7:30 pm. Watch for meeting time announcements at the VA Chess Federation website (www.vachess.org).

Notes:

• Membership in the US Chess Federation is required for ALL players in this tournament. 
• Membership can be purchased for a one or two-year timeframe. It authorizes a player to participate in any US Chess rated chess tournament in the U.S.A. US Chess membership is not a fee that must be paid for every tournament.
• To join US Chess, or to renew your existing membership, go to www.uschess.org and hover your cursor over the “Join” tab near the top right of the web page. A player who is an existing US Chess member, even if the membership has expired, needs to have his/her US Chess 8-digit ID number handy before starting the membership update process.