Year End Wrap Up

For anyone who didn't get a personal communication, we will NOT be meeting for casual chess today due to the New Year holiday.  Have a wonderful and safe new year celebration and hope to see you all Wednesday at Sycamore Library, or back at the church on Monday, January 7th.

Under the advisory of all publicity is good publicity, today's Chronicle has a painful write up of this weekend's Home for the Holiday event. Alas, the reporter totally missed the boat on how USCF ratings work (and a few other details) but what can you do? Anyway, here's the article:

Daily Chronicle article 12/31/12

Speaking of the Home for the Holidays Open, congrats to Howard Cohen, winner of the Anand section (Open), Kyle Mathews, winner of the Lasker section (Under 1750), Gerry Crane, winner of the Nakamura (Under 1500) section, and Armel Peel who won the Rubinstein section, Under 1200.

Here are the USCF results:  USCF crosstable

It was terrific to see Gerry prevail in his first DeKalb event, only his third tournament ever. Congratulations also to our own Aaron Bartelt who tied for second in the Rubinstein section in his very first tournament.

Thank you to everyone who came out... 28 registrants made this the second largest event in our history. It was great to see some old faces (their faces aren't exactly old, but I just hadn't seen them in a while, you know?)

All Systems Go for Home for the Holidays

Despite a "feather dusting" of snow and one of the more challenging weeks of my life, the Home for the Holidays Open will take place today as promised.

With more than 22 RSVP's as of yesterday, this promises to be one of the better-attended tournaments in the DeKalb Chess Club's two and a half year history.

Will we eclipse the Lincoln Penny Challenge of 2011 which included 36 competitors? You'll have to tune in later to find out.

With the strong pre-registration, I've configured the tournament field into four sections: Open, Under 1800, Under 1500 and Under 1200... but as advertised, TD discretion allows sections to be adjusted as registrations dictate. Just trying to make this the most competitive tournament possible for as many entrants as possible, you know?  Special requests are accommodated within reason.

However, the unrated side event tentatively scheduled for the middle of the day will not be held due to the lack of a single advanced entry.

Thanks to Greg Protano for all his assistance with tournament set up and we'll see you after 9am for on-site registration. First round will begin PROMPTLY at 10am and the third round should wrap up neatly by 5:30pm.

Home For the Holidays Open

Squeezed in between Christmas and New Years, DeKalb Chess Club will be hosting the 2012 Home for the Holidays Open on Saturday, December 29th.

This 3-round, USCF-rated event is aimed at preserving the family structure, giving chess players a chance to blow off some steam after the Xmas bunny has left his droppings under the mistletoe or however you observe that day.

Registrations permitting, there will also be an unrated event starting a little bit later in the day, meaning no USCF-membership is required. The DeKalb Winter Classic will feature four rounds with Game/30 time controls.

Sections for both events will be developed based on registrations received.

Check out details posted elsewhere on this site or drop an email to registration@dekalbchess.com with any questions.