Scholastic Chess at Meadowdale Public Library

Chess at the Meadowdale Public Library

Date: Saturday, Oct 15, 2022.

Place: Meadowdale Public Library, 4301 Meadowdale Blvd, North Chesterfield, VA

Registration: www.vachess.org, or onsite at the library starting at 8:30 am on Saturday. Round 1 in the Quads is at 9:30 am, Round 1 in Scholastics is at 10 am. There is an “Orientation to Tournament Chess” at 9 am for new players.

Round 1 at 10 am.  Registration closes at 9:30 if you want to play in Round 1. We recommend any NEW players show up for our “Orientation to Tournament Chess” to be given onsite at 9 am.

Sections: Play is in 4 Sections as follows …
    + US Chess Rated:  K-12 and K-5. U.S. Chess Federation membership required.
    + Not Rated: K-12 and K-5. This section is for players who are NEW to Chess and want to “test the waters” of tournament-style chess. K-12 players with US Chess ratings that exceed 600, and K-5 players with US Chess ratings over 400, cannot play in this section. U.S. Chess Federation membership is NOT required in this section and players do not receive a rating after their games.

Format: 4 Rounds, Swiss System. This is NOT an elimination event; each player plays 4 games.

Time Control: Rounds 1-3 played at Game-40 with 5-seconds of Time Delay per move. Round 4 played at Game-60 with 5-seconds of Time Delay per move.

Schedule: Round 1 at 10 am. Later rounds will be played “as soon as possible” by section. This means that a player’s next game begins about 10 minutes after the last game finishes in that section in the previous round. In other words, the only round with a pre-scheduled start time is Round 1. Parents should expect K-5 games to last until about 2 or 3 pm, and the K-12 games could easily go until 4:30 pm.

Eligibility: Players in grades Pre-K through 12th Grade. US Chess Federation membership required in the K-12 and K-5 Rated Sections.

Entry Fee: $20 in advance, $25 starting Thursday, Oct 12th and at the tournament site.

Prizes: Trophies. 1st-4th place Player and 1st-3rd place Team in all 4 Sections. Medals to players who score at least 2 points. A "team" is 2 or more players who attend the same school. That school does not need to have a chess club or chess team. Contact Mike Hoffpauir (mhoffpauir@aol.com) if you are unsure whether your players can form a team.

Chess Sets and Chess Clocks: We will provide sets for all games, but we have a limited supply of Chess Clocks. Players should plan to bring their own clocks. 

Chess Notation: Required in the K-12 Rated Section, Optional but very highly encouraged in all other sections. We will provide "score sheets" for players to take chess notation, but players need to bring their favorite pens or pencils.

FREE CHESS COACHING: VA Chess Federation Vice President Mike Callaham will be on hand to provide post-game analysis for players.  BUT, you need to have recorded your game using chess notation!!