Three of the most anticipated events on the National calendar kick off this weekend from February 13-15: the US Amateur Team East, West and South. The US Amateur Team North will be held the following weekend.
Al Lawrence
will be reporting on the World Amateur Team (aka USATE) in Parsippany, NJ
for both US Chess and Chess Life Magazine. Al, who will also be playing on the team "Attack and Depends", told US Chess:
"The World Team is as big as the Olympiad and the most fun you can have at a tournament. It's a three-ring chess circus. It's a reunion of hundreds of friends from all over the country. It's a chess comedy club of costumes and shticks that teams work on for a year. And, when the clocks start for each round, it's a deadly serious team-on-team competition with dozens of international players teamed up with their more modestly rated buddies. I'm excited to meet both the old-timers and newcomers."
The US Amateur Team West will be held in Santa Clara, California. Three GMs are on the pre-registered list: Melikset Khachiyan, Cristian Chirila (
who recently placed in our Best of US Chess rankings) and Rauf Mamedov.
See a full list of pre-registered teams and players here and also see photos and more info throughout the event on
http://facebook.com/bayareachess.
Abel Talamantez, Director of Enrichment at Bay Area Chess, told US Chess,
"BayAreaChess, which 6 months ago launched a project of weekly weekend classes to train and develop players from beginning to advanced is sending 4 elite teams composed mostly of scholastic players that will be looking to bring home the overall team championship to BAC. Defending champions NorCal House of Chess will be ready to defend their title and will surely have solid teams ready to compete. There will surely also be strong teams from the local chess powerhouse organizations such as Berkeley Chess School, Weibel, Mission San Jose and many more, in addition to strong teams composed of our club and tournament regulars. We have also have many entries of teams composed of various rating averages and we will see a very competetive and fun competition for players of all skill levels.
We will also have our special prizes, such as best family team, best industry and best female team. We are feeling the buzz from everyone and are looking forward to a fantastic weekend."
The US Amateur Team South will be held in Tampa, Florida for the first time. Tournament director Jon Haskel told US Chess that he expects a competitive and happy event, "There are 2 teams very close to the 2200 rating cut-off. It should be sunny with highs in the 70s."
Find a list of pre-registered teams for the USATS here.
If you are playing in a USAT event and have a game, photo or story to share with US Chess, please let us know on twitter, facebook or email jshahade@uschess.org and vwest@uschess.org. Good luck and have fun!
