Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Top Chess Players Travel to Lubbock for SPICE Cup 2010


October 27, 2010
Top Chess Players Travel to Lubbock for SPICE Cup 2010
Players include youngest American ever to earn Grandmaster title, at age 14.
Written by Karin Slyker

Ray Robson, who celebrated his 16th birthday this week, is among the top Chess competitors scheduled to compete in the SPICE Cup International Invitational Tournament. The event, now in its fourth year, will be held at Texas Tech University.

The 2010 SPICE Cup Festival will take place from Oct. 28-Nov. 7 in the Matador Room of the Student Union Building.

Lubbock Mayor Tom Martin will join SPICE director Susan Polgar for the kickoff to the event. He will also declare Oct. 28 as “Susan Polgar Day” in Lubbock. Round-robin game play will begin immediately after the reception.

Players will be broken into two groups. The six-player A Group will meet in a category 16 event – the highest rated international invitational Chess tournament in U.S. history.

  • Grandmaster Zoltan Almasi, Hungary, 2707
    No. 1 ranked Hungarian on the live rating list, 2010 Olympiad Silver Medalist
  • Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk, United States, 2688
    Former U.S. Champion and No. 1 ranked American, Olympiad Medalist
  • Grandmaster Wesley So, Philippines, 2668
    No. 1 ranked Filipino, member of the 2008-2010 Filipino Olympiad team
  • Grandmaster Georg Meier, Germany, 2659
    No. 2 ranked German, member of the 2008 German Olympiad team
  • Grandmaster Ray Robson, United States, 2539
    Former U.S. Junior Champion, youngest ever American Grandmaster
  • Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn, United States, 2528
    2007 SPICE Cup Champion, 2009 SPICE Cup B Group Co-Champion, winner of multiple National Collegiate Team Championships

Ten players form the B Group tournament, a Category 10 event comprised of mostly grandmasters or international masters:

  • Grandmaster Davorin Kuljasevic, Croatia, 2555
    Texas Tech business major graduate student, 2-time winner of the National Collegiate Team Championship, member of the Texas Tech Knight Raiders, first Texas Tech Grandmaster
  • Grandmaster Ben Finegold, United States, 2534
    2-time U.S. Open Champion, 2-time National Open Champion, 2009 SPICE Cup B co-champion, former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship
  • Grandmaster Gergely Antal, Hungary, 2526
    Texas Tech Economics Major Graduate, 2009 National Collegiate Chess Champion, member of the Knight Raiders, second Texas Tech Grandmaster
  • Grandmaster Andre Diamant, Brazil, 2498
    Top rated Brazilian Junior, former Brazilian National Champion, member of the 2008 & 2010 Brazilian Chess Olympiad team, member of the Knight Raiders
  • Grandmaster Anatoly Bykhovsky, Israel, 2497
    One of the top young players in Israel, member of the Knight Raiders
  • International Master Irina Krush, United States, 2490
    Reigning and multiple time U.S. Women’s Champion, multiple time Olympiad medalist
  • International Master Bryan Smith, United States, 2478
    Highest rated player ever from Alaska, winner of multiple National Collegiate Team Championships
  • International Master Dean Ippolito, United States, 2469
    Prominent chess coach, former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship, 11-time All-American
  • International Master Danny Rensch, United States, 2404
    Prominent chess coach, former National Elementary, Junior High, and High School Champion, 6-time All-American
  • FIDE Master Darwin Yang, United States, 2402
    Currently one of the top rated American juniors, earned first IM norm at the 2010 SPICE Spring Invitational

The Festival will also include a World Chess Federation (FIDE) Rated Open, a Scholastic event and an Open competition. Spectators are welcome, daily admission is free.

Live updates will be available at http://www.chessdailynews.com/.

http://today.ttu.edu/2010/10/top-chess-players-travel-to-lubbock-for-spice-cup-2010/
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SPICE Cup round 1


SPICE Cup Pairings

B Group

Thursday, October 28 2pm Round 1
Krush (US women's champion) - Smith
Diamant - Finegold
Kuljasevic - Bykhovsky
Yang - Antal
Rensch - Ippolito

A Group

Thursday, October 28 2pm- Round 1
Robson - Meier
Almasi - Perelshteyn
So - Onischuk

Meier, Almasi, Antal and So are already in Lubbock. The rest of the players will arrive later on today while Finegold will arrive early tomorrow since he has an event in St. Louis today.
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Friday, October 22, 2010

TX Governor Rick Perry welcomes SPICE players


Greetings:

As Governor of Texas, I welcome everyone to the 4th Annual Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) Cup. We are privileged to have world-class chess champion Susan Polgar and this prestigious event here at Texas Tech University.

Chess requires discipline, strong analytical ability and strategy. These three skills are applicable to many areas of life and show strong intellectual capabilities useful in many disciplines. It is also an international game that allows people from all over the world to come together in a spirit of friendly competition.

First Lady Anita Perry joins me in wishing you a rigorous, competitive and fun tournament.

Sincerely,
Rick Perry
Governor
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Monday, October 18, 2010

Magnificent chess artwork


Fantastic artwork by the incredibly talented artist Serkan Ergün. Click on image to see the full size artwork.

Serkan Ergün, born in Izmir in 1980, has adopted realism. He has rendered “individuals in society” in an attitude of expression in his works. Besides having the talent for visualization of each individual’s character, Ergün tries to provide a unique confrontation for grasping the subject, to the beholder, in all his portraits.

Please feel free to check out his website at http://serkanergun.org/.
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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Tech produces its second grandmaster in the last four months


Tech produces its second grandmaster in the last four months
Posted: October 17, 2010 - 12:24am

International Master Gergely Antal, who just graduated from Tech in August with a degree in economics, has just earned his grandmaster title. He was the first titled chess player to come to Texas Tech in 2008, and he was also the first to capture a national chess title for the Knight Raiders.

In 2009, Antal won the prestigious National Tournament of College Champions and the Southwest Open. In December of the same year, he played an important role in helping the Knight Raiders make the Final Four for the first time in school history.

In March 2010, he narrowly missed his final grandmaster norm by just half a point. But a few weeks later he defended his Lubbock Open title with a perfect 8-0 score in back-to-back years.

At the Budapest First Saturday Chess Championship which has just concluded, Antal scored an incredible 6.5 points in his final seven games, including the final round victory against grandmaster Bui Vinh, to tie for first place and the grandmaster title.

Antal’s teammate and roommate Davorin Kuljasevic, a graduate student in finance, became the first Knight Raider to earn the Grandmaster title just a few short months ago. There are countless countries in the world that could not produce a single grandmaster because it is extremely hard. For SPICE to produce two grandmasters in the past few months speaks volume to the credibility of Texas Tech in the global chess community.

Congratulations to grandmaster Antal. He now joins the rank of only about 1,000 grandmasters in the world. Antal’s next tournament will be the prestigious SPICE Cup B group, which will start on Oct. 28. He hopes to come back to Texas Tech in the near future as a graduate student.

In addition to the SPICE Cup, the most prestigious annual international invitational chess tournament in the United States, there will be many other big events coming up for the local players.

The first one, the sixth “Get Smart! Play Chess!” tournament, will take place on Oct. 23 at the Science Spectrum.

The SPICE Cup Open Chess Championship and SPICE Cup 2010 Scholastic Chess Championship, will take place on Oct. 30 at the Texas Tech Student Union Building.

The SPICE Cup FIDE Rated Open will also take place at the Texas Tech Student Union Building on Nov. 5-7. More information is available on www.SPICE.ttu.edu.

Battle of the gender at the Chess Olympiad

Below is a battle of the gender game which took place just a few weeks ago at the Chess Olympiad.

Zhu Chen (2480) - Sveshnikov, Evgeny (2494) [D43]

39th Olympiad Men Khanty-
Mansiysk RUS (11.32), March 10, 2010

Zhu Chen used to be one of the stars of women’s chess in China a decade ago. She was the second Chinese player to ever win the Women’s World Championship (in 2001) after Xie Jun. I first saw Zhu play in Timisoara (Romania) in 1988 where she won the World Girls’ Under 12. I was there to help my sister Judit at the World Under 12 (among boys), which she ended up winning.

After Zhu married grandmaster Al-Modiahki, the couple settled in Qatar. At the 39th Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, as already for a number of years, she represented her husband’s homeland. She played all 11 games on board two and scored a respectable 7 points. Zhu along with Judit and Chmilyte were some of the few women who chose to represent their nation in the Open Olympiad competition. Let’s see her overwhelming victory over the legendary Latvian grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov, who most known for a popular opening being named after.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 A rather popular and ambitious choice instead of the more solid 5.e3, which would be the start of the Meran defense.

5...h6 Lately this is more popular than the wild Botvinnik variation, which starts with 5...dxc4.

6.Bxf6 Zhu chose the solid approach to avoid the theoretical debate in the popular and extremely complicated 6.Bh4 dxc4 line.

6...Qxf6 7.e3 It is true that White gave up the pair of Bishops by the exchange on f6, seemingly for no reason. However, Black’s Bishop on c8 is no pride in any case.

7...Nd7 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Bd6 The other more popular, and probably more advisable way to develop the Bishop to g7 starts with 9...g6 10.0–0 Bg7. In the same round, the Miton - Shulman game (in the Poland versus USA match) continued as such: 11.e4 e5 12.d5 Nb6 13. Bb3 0–0 14.Rc1 Rd8 15.Qe2 Bg4 16.dxc6 bxc6 17.Nd1 a5 18.Ne3 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Qxf3 20.gxf3 a4 21.Bd1 Rd2 22.b3 Rxa2 23.Rxc6 Rb8 24.bxa4 Nxa4 25.Bc2 Bf8 26.Ra6 and draw was agreed.

10.0–0 Qe7 11.Ne4 The best plan. 11.e4 e5 12.d5 Nb6 is considered ok for Black, as played in 2000 in the Beliavsky – Sveshnikov game.

11...Bc7 12.Rc1 0–0 13.Bb3 A quiet preventive move. If now 13...e5?, then White continues with 14.d5 cxd5 15.Qxd5 Nb6? 16.Qc5 with a significant advantage. In another game several years ago Sveshnikov faced 13.Qc2 against Bocharov: 13…Rd8 14.Rfd1 Nf8 15.a3 Bd7 16.Nc5 Rab8 17.Qc3 Be8 18.b4 f6 19.e4 Kh8 20.h3 where White also had a small plus.

13...Rd8 14.Qc2 In the Bareev - Anand (Linares 1992) game 14.Qe2 a5?! 15.a3 Nf6 16.Nxf6+ Qxf6 17.Rfd1 was tried and White had a solid advantage. As an improvement for Black 14...Nf8 15 Rfd1 Bd7 was recommended by Dautov.

14...Nf8 The Carlsen - Shirov (Foros 2008) game continued with 14...a5 15.a3 Rb8 16.Rfd1 Nf8 17.Ne5 Bd7 instead, when Magnus made the debatable choice of trading on d7, although he later won the game due to eventual mistakes of Alexei.

15.Ne5 Bd7 16.f4 This is where the game has varied from the Bareev - Dreev game (from 1998), where White continued with 16.Nc5 instead. I personally like White’s position.

16...Kh8 A logical move to get out of the line of fire of White’s Bishop on b3, as the following variation demonstrates the dangers: 16...f6 17.Nxd7 Nxd7 18.f5 (using the pin) 18…Nf8 19.Nc5. However, it results in different problem, as now the f7 Pawn is only protected by one piece.

17.Qc5! Re8 After the Queen exchange with 17...Qxc5 18.Nxc5, Black would have to chose between losing either the b7 or the f7 Pawn.

18.Rf3 A smart move, combining the strategical pressure with a straight forward King side attack. The fancy 18.Nd6 Bxd6 19.Qxd6 looks pretty, but questionable if it improves White’s position.

18...f6 19.Nxd7 Nxd7 20.Qh5 f5 21.Ng5 Nf6?! Also after the better 21...Nf8, White’s attack is strong: 22.Nf7+ Kg8 (22...Kh7 23.Rg3) 23.Nxh6+! gxh6 24.Qxh6 Kf7 25.Qh5+ Ng6 26.Qxf5+.

22.Qg6 hxg5 23.fxg5 Ng4 Black’s position was also hopeless after 23...Nd5 24.Bxd5 exd5 (or 24...cxd5 25.Rh3+ Kg8 26.Qh7+ Kf7 27.Qh5+ Kf8 (27...Kg8 28.g6) 28.g6) 25.Qxf5 Qe6 26.Rh3+ Kg8 27.Qh7+ Kf8 28.Rf1+ Ke7 29.Qxg7+ Kd8 30.Rf7.

24.Rh3+ Kg8 25.Qxf5 25.Qh7+ Kf8 26.Qxf5+! would have been a nice touch, although the game move does the job just as well.

25...Nxh2 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Qh8+ Kf7 28.g6+ ! The most precise way which lead to a forced checkmate.

28...Kf6 29.Qh4+ Kxg6 30.Qh5+ Kf6 31.Rf1+ Nxf1 32.Rf3+ and Black gets checkmated on the following move. This is a pretty convincing victory for White and a nice game by Zhu. 1–0

http://lubbockonline.com/columnists/2010-10-17/polgar-tech-produces-its-second-grandmaster-last-four-months
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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Major events at Texas Tech


SPICE Cup FIDE Rated Open
November 5-7, 2010

Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX
806-742-7742

6SS, G/90 with 30 second increment.
FIDE/USCF rated
One Section $2,000 based on 40 paid entries: $1000-$500-250-150-100
Open to all FIDE rated players and USCF 1600 and higher

Limit to the first 50 registrants!

Reg: 9-10:30am 11/5.
Rounds: 11/5 11am and 4pm
11/6 10 am and 3 pm
11/7 9 am and 2 pm
No byes in the final 2 rounds.

Entry Fees: US players with FIDE rating $50 / without FIDE rating $75 if rec'd by November 2. $25 more on site.
Titled players and foreign FIDE rated players free, $50 deducted from prize.

Check payable to:
Texas Tech SPICE
6923 Indiana Avenue (Suite 154)
Lubbock, TX 79413

Players in the SPICE Cup FIDE Rated Open will have a chance to play alongside with the players in the SPICE Cup Invitational A and B Group in the final 3 days!

There is also an open tournament for everyone, including players under 1600, schedule for the weekend before.

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SPICE Cup Open Chess Championship
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A 4 Round Swiss System Tournament (Game/45)

Event Site: TTU (Student Union Building) Lubbock, TX
Contact Info: 806-742-7742 E-mail: Spice@ttu.edu

Description of Tournament: A USCF rated event. Open to all USCF members. You may join online or on site on 10/30 before the start of the event.
Registration: On-site registration and check in 9-10am. All players must check in by 10:15am.
Round schedule: Saturday 10:30am- 12:15pm - 1:30pm and 3:15pm.
Entry Fee: $25 received by 10/25. $35 on site. K-12 or TTU students $10 off.
Prizes: $150-$100-$50 Top Under 1600 $50 Top U-1200 $50 based on 24 paid entries.

Other: Chess sets and boards will be provided. Bring your own clock if you have one.

Please send Entry Blank and Fees to TTU-SPICE at Box 45080 Lubbock, TX 79409-5080.

Entry Form: Please PRINT all information and make check / money order to TTU-SPICE.

Name: ______________________________Phone: (_____) ___________ SPICE Cup Open 2010
Address: _____________________________ City/State:______________ Zip:_____________
Email:________________________________ DOB: ____________Section________________
USCF Rating (if any) _______USCF ID#:______________ Amount Enclosed (No cash, please) $____

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SPICE Cup Invitational A & B Group

The 2010 SPICE Cup will take place on Thursday, October 28 - Sunday, November 7 (B group ends on November 5) at the beautiful campus of Texas Tech University. This prestigious event is growing bigger every year. It is the highest rated international invitational tournament in U.S. history to date.

To make the tournament a lot more exciting, the SPICE Cup committee has unanimously voted to adapt the following new rules for the A group:

- No draw offer allowed prior to move 30
- A win = 3 points, a draw = 1 point, and loss = 0 point

The format of the A group will once again be a 6-player DRR (category 16) event. The average FIDE rating of the A group is 2631, which is tied with the 2009 SPICE Cup A group as the highest rated international invitational tournament in the U.S.

GM Zoltan Almasi (HUN) 2707 (#1 in Hungary on the current LIVE rating list)
GM Alexander Onischuk (USA) 2688 (#3 in the U.S., former U.S. #1 and Champion)
GM Wesley So (Philippines) 2668 (#1 in the Philippines)
GM Georg Meier (Germany) 2659 (#2 in Germany)
GM Ray Robson (USA) 2539 (Youngest American GM)
GM Eugene Perelshteyn (USA) 2528 (winner of 2007 SPICE Cup)

The B group will be a 10-player (category 10 - 2485) RR event. The players confirmed for the B group are:

GM Davorin Kuljasevic (2555 - Croatia) Texas Tech Knight Raiders
GM Ben Finegold
(2534 - USA) 2009 SPICE Cup B group co-champion
IM Gegerly Antal
(2526 - HUN) Texas Tech Knight Raiders
GM Andre Diamant (2498 - Brazil) Texas Tech Knight Raiders
GM Anatoly Bykhovsky
(2497 - Israel) Texas Tech Knight Raiders
IM Irina Krush
(2490 - USA) 2010 U.S. Women's Champion
IM Bryan Smith (2478 - USA)
IM Dean Ippolito (2469 - USA)
IM Danny Rensch
(2404 - USA)
FM Darwin Yang
(2402 - USA) One of the most talented young players in the U.S.

GM norm will be 6/9 and IM norm will be 4/9.

SPICE website: www.SPICE.ttu.edu - Texas Tech: http://www.ttu.edu

Monday, October 04, 2010

Chess in Education Success


Chess boom in Turkey

I recently had a chance to sit down with Mr. Ali Nihat Yazici, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, during the Khanty-Mansiysk Chess Olympiad. I first met him in 2004 at the Calvia Chess Olympiad. Since then, he has done tremendous things for chess in Turkey, especially in the arena of scholastic chess. Here is the summary of our chat.

The president of the Turkish Chess Federation (TCF) Ali Nihat Yazici had a dream, which had become a real fairytale story.

In 2002 Ali on behalf of the TCF approached the minister of education of Turkey with the idea of introducing chess in the schools. At that meeting, he was asked, what is his goal with the project?

He made a “blunder” by responding with the question: “Can you imagine Turkey having the next Karpov or the next Kasparov?” His dream was rejected at that time. However, he learned his lesson. He realized that the approach had to be modified.

Ali had to wait over two years before he got the next opportunity to present the “new plan” to the next minister of education. He was asking for an appointment for over two years. One night out of nowhere he received a phone call from a contact to come and meet in ten minutes. The minister was having kebab with the contact and he was willing to give Ali ten minutes! He was on his way immediately. When Ali met the minister, he presented the idea of chess in the schools to help educate the next generation of Turkish children to grow up more intelligent.

After his presentation, the minister said thank you and told him that it sounded very interesting. He said he will be in touch. Ali left the restaurant and thought sure the minister will call…one day.

To his biggest surprise, the next morning shortly after nine, his phone rang. It was an unknown number. It was no other than the minister who he met the previous night. The minister invited him to meet and discuss the idea further. As Ali was driving at that moment, he almost caused a mass accident in his (pleasant) shock.

Well that was 2005, the year when chess was introduced for the first time in some Turkish schools. Since that time, the number of school children involved in the chess program grew to 2,250,000 in over 10,000 schools, with around 50,000 chess teachers! Mind boggling numbers!

The TCF chess in the school project currently receives 1.5 million euro in governmental support. That is a huge number! However, through the various forms of taxes, the project also generated 1.8 million in revenues for the government.

In addition to the support from the public sector, the TCF succeeded in attracting major contribution from the private sector. Since 2005 IS Bank supports scholastic chess with 1.6 million Euros to enable schools in need to also introduce chess to underprivileged children.

The TCF has developed its own teaching manuals and recommended learning materials for students. 300,000 of the first edition of the student “source-book” was printed by the non-profit branch of the TCF, Satranc. Many doubted Ali’s decision at the time, asking “what will we do with all those copies?” Since then, over two million copies were sold, and it became a major source of revenue for the project.

In Turkey, chess for the past five years has been a part of the curriculum as an elective. There are only four elective subjects: art, painting, religion (general) and chess. The children who chose chess as an elective learn it two hours a week throughout the entire 32 week school year.

This year in the city of Burdur (west of Turkey) the Turkish Chess Federation started a pilot project with kindergarten age children, starting at age four. So far it was very well received, and the TCF has donated already 10,000 chess sets and boards to the project.

While the above project mostly focuses on the social benefits of chess as a side effect, a certain percentage of kids naturally will take a more serious interest in the game and desire to compete. At Turkey’s 2009 scholastic championship, 30,000 school children took part. There are around 1,300 chess clubs in Turkey today. 14 of them compete in the first division. Each of those clubs receives 12,500 euro support yearly from the TCF. The TCF currently has 200,000 paid members, including 60,000 rated players.

In the first division team league, many of the players have contracts guided by the template designed by TCF. The league is designed after the most successful professional sport in Turkey, which is soccer.

While historically Turkey hasn’t been known as a country with much chess traditions, in the past decade or two it made leaps of progress. Today Turkey can pride itself with having 4 home-grown Grandmasters and 12 International Masters.

A very impressive story! Certainly today Turkey is a place to learn from and an example to follow for any country which would like to see chess being a part of the curriculum.

Congratulations to the Turkish Chess Federation and personally to Mr. Ali Nihat Yazici for the job well done!
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Friday, October 01, 2010

TEXAS GIRLS SCHOLASTIC CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP


TEXAS GIRLS SCHOLASTIC CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP
October 1-3, 2010
Hosted by Central Catholic Elementary Chess Team
Sanctioned by Texas Chess Association
Under U.S. Chess Federation Rules and rating system

What: 5 round Swiss Style Tournament in 5 sections: K-1, Primary(K to 3), Elementary (K to 5/6),
Middle School (6 to 8/9), High School (9 to 12).
Round 1: Saturday 9am Game/30 , Round 2: 10:30 Game/30, Round 3: 12:noonGame/45
Round 4: Sunday 9am (Game/45), Round 5: 11:30-(Game/60) followed by awards.
Who: Only Texas female residents or students enrolled in secondary or primary schools (including home
schools) in Texas. Per ( TCA bylaws art.IX,Sec.1,R)

Additional: A Parent/ Daughter Team Tournament will be held Friday Night Oct. 1st at 6pm (4)round
Game/30 ss, Team Trophies to the top three teams, Medals to the next 3 teams.

All Girls Blitz Tournament will be held on Saturday Night Oct.2nd beginning at 6pm (5) rounds
Game/5 Trophies to the top 3 finishers and medals to the next 3.

Where: Central Catholic Elementary (Cafeteria) 1218 Comanche—Corpus Christi, TX. 78401
When: On-Site registration Friday, Oct. 1st, 2010 from 6:00 pm to 8pm.
(Onsite Registration Saturday Morning $21 and ½ point bye 1st round)

Entries: $16 Fee-- Must be post-marked no later than Sept. 29th, 2010, or received before Oct. 1st, 2010 in order to be eligible for the $16 fee. Entries without payment will not be considered officially registered. For school groups contact: Cris Deleon (361) 883-3873 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (361) 883-3873 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or e-mail coachcris@yahoo.com. e-mail entries will be accepted but not Official until payment has been received.
BISD, LFCISD, ECISD schools make P.O. payable to: South Texas Chess Center

Requested Byes: One, ½ pt bye available if requested before round 2. Byes are irrevocable. All additional
byes 0 points.

Refunds and Cancellations: No later than Thursday, September 30th, 2010. No substitutions allowed.

Equipment: bring your own clock if you have one—notation pads and pencils will not be provided

Prizes: Scholastic K thru 12 awards as follows: 1st thru 6th Trophies, Medals to next 10. Team Trophies to Top 3 Teams (a team score considers the top four scorers but can consist of two or more players).

*Texas Tech University will award a scholarship to the top High School player.
(winner must met all Texas Tech University entrance requirements)

October supplement will be used—no changes to ratings will be done—ratings for pairings will be taken from USCF supplements for September.

Hotel Accommodations: Airport Holiday Inn ,(361) 289-5100 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (361) 289-5100 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, 5549 Leopard St. Corpus Christi, Tx. 78408
Shuttle service from airport, Pick-up and deliver to Tournament available upon Request.
Bayfront Inn Hotel, (361) 883-7271, 601 N. Shoreline Blvd., Corpus Christi, Tx. 78401. Pick-up and deliver to Tournament available upon request.
Omni Bayfront Hotel, (361) 880-6738 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (361) 880-6738 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, 900 N. Shoreline Blvd. Corpus Christi, Tx. 78401. Airport Shuttle service available, pick-up and deliver to tournament available

Make checks payable to: Central Catholic Elementary For B.I.S.D. Schools checks can be made payable to: South Texas Chess Center
B.I.S.D. vendor.

Mail registrations to:

Central Catholic Elem., 1218 Comanche St., Corpus Christi, Tx. 78401
For questions call: Cris Deleon at (361) 883-3873 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (361) 883-3873 end_of_the_skype_highlighting after, 6pm - cell phone (361)633-1572 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (361)633-1572 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email: coachcris@yahoo.com

TEXAS GIRLS SCHOLASTIC CHESS TOURNAMENT ENTRY FORM
PLEASE WRITE CLEARLY SO WE CAN PROCESS ENTRY CORRECTLY.
USCF Membership Status (Please circle one): Current - Need to Renew - Not a Member –need to join
USCF Number:_______________ Rating:________ Expiration Date:_____________
Last Name:____________________ First Name: ___________________ MI:______
Address:__________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip:______________________________________________________
School: __________________________________ Grade:___ Birth date:_________
Section (circle one): K-1 , Primary , Elementary , Middle School , High School Collegiate
Phone Number: (_____)_________________E-mail address: ___________________
Requested Bye Rounds, if any: _____________ (½ pt for first bye requested, 0 pt for subsequent byes)
ADA accommodations requested:
(Please allow 48 notice to prepare for any accommodations) ______________________
Amount enclosed: Entry fee: Total:__________
Note: No entry will be processed without the funds included. Unless otherwise instructed.

Friday Night Parent/Daughter ($ 5.00 per Team) or Saturday Night Blitz Championships ( $5.00 per player)
PLEASE WRITE CLEARLY SO WE CAN PROCESS ENTRY CORRECTLY.
Daughter/ Last Name: __________________First:___________________________
Parent / Last Name: _________________ First:____________________________
Section(circle one or both): Friday Night Parent/ Daughter or Saturday Night Blitz Championships
(Girls Only)
Phone Number: (_____)____________E-mail address: ___________________________
ADA accommodations requested:
(Please allow 48hours to prepare for any accommodations)___________________________
Amount enclosed: Entry fee ___________ Total:__________