For a limited time, register for $10 / year here!

Then, take advantage of your new membership with the opportunity to register for the Huntsville City Championship here now (begins on 8/19)!

At the HCC Board Meeting conducted on 6/10/19, it was decided unanimously to change the membership dues for the club from $10 annually to the following payment structure:

1. Annual Membership – $20
2. Family Membership – $30
3. Lifetime Membership – $200 (Seniors over 60 $100)

The increases will take effect following this year’s Huntsville City Championship tournament, scheduled to start on 8/19 and offer more options that we previously had. The increase to the annual membership for an individual aren’t substantial, but we still want to be transparent concerning the justification behind the change.

The intent behind the increase is to allow the club to continue to offer the benefits we’ve incorporated over the past couple of years. We would also like to offer plans comparable to other clubs (i.e. Family, Senior, and Lifetime memberships).

Membership benefits include:

1. Become eligible to vote in elections and official membership meetings.

2. Receive discounted entry fees to club tournaments (i.e. blitz tournament entry fee of $5 instead of $8).

3. Access to our online chess video library with hundreds of hours of chess instruction.  Note, you must have a gmail account to receive access.

4. Eligible to purchase discounted sets/clocks/bags from the clubs at a fraction of the price of online retailers.

5. Eligible to participate in HCC members only tournaments (i.e. the Huntsville City Championship and other multi-week standard rated events).

6. Carpooling to distant tournaments, with occasional lodging and/or meals included for consistent volunteer efforts.

The dues for our club have always been far less expensive than other organizations in similarly sized metropolitan areas and our individualized benefits are arguably better, in spite of the lack of a similar scholastic pool to aid with fundraising efforts.

We do not want membership dues to be a cost prohibitive factor in bringing more folks to the game of chess. As a basis for comparison, dues are $10 per month in Kansas City and anywhere from $45-65 in Nashville per year for a scholastic or regular membership.

We hope that you’ll find these changes reasonable and we’re always willing to chat in person, over the phone, or via email at huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Huntsville City Championship Only 1 Week Away!

The 2019 Huntsville City Championship G70;d5 tournament will be held from 8/19-9/23 (5 weeks with no round scheduled Labor Day, 9/2). The entry fee for the tournament will be $10. HCC and USCF membership will be required to participate. All rounds will begin promptly at 6pm and take place during our Monday weekly meetings at the library.

Please register below and email huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com if you need to request a bye for any round except for round 5 on 9/23. You can receive a bye for more than one round, if necessary. The champion will receive a plaque as well as a $50 prepaid Visa gift card.

Click here to register for the HCC.

Click here to register for the USCF.

Pictures from last week

It was a great week at the chess club last Monday. The display case (to your left as you enter the library) was put together by Chris and David Hayes and David gave a great lecture on AlphaZero in the auditorium. Willie Sandifer provided great A/V capability for the event.

Chris Bond Memorial Tournament

Tomasz offered to carpool to Montgomery for the tournament and finished with 2.5/4.0 in the Reserve section. Joel Friedman tied for the U1800 prize in the Premiere section.

Alabama State Championship and Scholastic Tournament

The 2019 Alabama State Championship will be held in the Bruno Conference Center in Birmingham, AL from August 31st-September 1st. This tournament will be held in conjunction with a scholastic event. Register now to avoid late fees! Click here for additional information.

Alpha Zero Lecture – By David Hayes

A reminder, the chess club will be meeting in the library auditorium on Monday, August 5th (turn right as soon as you enter the library and proceed down the hall). David Hayes will be providing a lecture on Alpha Zero at 6pm and how its play can help us improve our own games. Don’t miss it! Casual chess games can be played before and after the lecture in the auditorium.

Library Chess Club Display Case

Chris and David Hayes have been working hard to assemble a display case to showcase in the library for the month of August. It will be available for viewing from 6-31 August. Please be sure to check it out! Thank you to all who graciously let us borrow items to be displayed.

Kansas City Chess Club Visit

I had the privilege to stop by the Kansas City Chess Club while travelling this weekend on military duty. I was greeted by Ken Fee, who has operated the club for over 20 years who gave me a brief tour and history of their club. I was able to participate in their weekly Friday night G30 d5 tournament. The walls were lined with photos from past GM simuls at the club. Quickly recognizable names and faces included Josh Waitzkin (of Searching for Bobby Fischer) and Roman Dzindzichashvili.

The club has a heavy scholastic presence across KC and the surrounding areas. Memberships are $10 per month, $50 per year, and required to participate in the club tournaments. They use a different rating system for many of their club tournaments, called ChessExpress. There are no fees for memberships to file ratings reports and statistics are made available to all players. This allows clubs to run tournaments in a similar fashion to the USCF, but without the added fees. It allows players to get rating feedback on their over-the-board chess play without a risk to their standard rating. It’s a neat concept!

It is always interesting to see how other chess clubs around the country run their day-to-day operations, and especially cool when they’re able to operate in their own location. The club was clean, well-organized, and inviting. I’d highly recommend stopping by if you’re ever in Kansas City!

Weekly Meeting – Tournament Continuation

Tonight’s meeting we’ll have the last 2 rounds of our 2-week G30 tournament. If you didn’t play last week, don’t worry. Please show up if you’re interested in playing and we can give you byes for the first two rounds.

Please remember to bring your own sets/clocks if you’re interested in games after 8pm. We’ll be collecting all the equipment immediately following the completion of the tournament games.

U.S. Amateur South Championship – Memphis TN on Saturday and Sunday

Please email huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com if you’re interested in carpooling to the tournament. The ChesSuv’s AC is out, but the backup vehicle is fully functional and better on gas. It just can’t haul as many people. We’d plan to travel up on Friday and back on Sunday.

JULY 27-28   2019 U.S. Amateur South Championship

5SS, G/90 d5. Lausanne Collegiate School, 1381 W. Massey Rd., Memphis, TN 38152. 3 Sections: Championship (U2200), 1st: “River Cup” Championship trophy plus commemorative hat, 2nd–5th places: plaque plus commemorative hat. Reserve (U1600) & Booster (U1200), 1st: Championship trophy plus commemorative hat, 2nd–5th places: plaque plus commemorative hat. EF: $40, $10 less to juniors under age 18 or seniors age 50 or over, $50 at site. Reg.: 9-9:45am. Rds.: Sat.10-2-6, Sun. 10-2. Byes: One requested half-point bye allowed, any round, must request before start of round 2. HR: Several hotels nearby site, ranging from $60-$165/night. Scholastic Side Event for K-12 players rated U800. Additional details and Online Entry at: www.shelbycountychess.com. Info: Email Arlene Kleiman at midsouthchess@hotmail.com or mail registration to Shelby County Chess, Attention: Amateur South, 1614 Vance Ave., Memphis, TN 38104.

Alpha Zero Lecture on August 5th

A reminder, David Hayes will be discussing Alpha Zero in the main auditorium at the library during our regularly scheduled meeting on August 5th. Please make plans to attend!

2 – Week G/30 d5 Tournament

Tonight, we’ll host rounds 1-2 of a 4 round, free unrated G30; d5 tournament kicking off at 6pm. Notation will be required and score sheets will be provided. This is an excellent opportunity to practice some games at a longer time control. If you haven’t played in an official USCF tournament yet, this will be the same format that those tournaments will use.

General Club Conduct Clarification

We wanted to take this opportunity to discuss some things that haven’t been made clear, or where there hasn’t been guidance communicated at all.

1. When entering a tournament, it is a standard courtesy to tell the Tournament Director if you need to leave prior to the last game being completed. The pairings use software that doesn’t make it easy to adjust (after-the-fact). If you leave and don’t let anyone know, you inconvenience all of the other participants. If you enter a tournament, please plan to complete it.
2. We are happy to provide chess equipment for our members and even happier when members would like to stay to keep games going until the library closes. If you plan to play past 8pm, please bring and use your own set/board/clock combo for any games that will go beyond 8pm, so that the equipment can be packed up as close to that time as possible. If you don’t have a equipment, anything you need is available for purchase at discounted rates at:
   https://www.huntsvillecc.com/products/ Chess equipment will be provided for all tournaments at the HCC library meetings and will be packed up immediately following the conclusion of those events.

Hope to see you this evening!

This week, there are no special events planned, though we may host a free, unrated tournament if enough of those in attendance are interested. During meetings like this, it’s always recommended to play a game with a longer time control and post-game analysis with your opponent afterwards. We’ll have scoresheets available if you need them.

Balagee Govindan from ChessKidsNation sent the following information, regarding some training for all players 1500+ in September. If you’re interested, the POC info and details are provided below. See you this evening!

We are extremely delighted to bring an International Master to Birmingham. He will be conducting a two day Chess Event. Please find below a brief profile of IM Saravanan and Event Details. 

International Master Saravanan Venkatachalam (FIDE peak rating 2428) is playing competitive chess since 1984. He has been part of the Indian National team since 1993. IM Saravanan has been involved in training of Grandmasters and players of similar strength since 2007. He has been preparing players for specific tournaments and on a retaining basis (notably GM Shyam Sundar, GM M.R.Venkatesh and GM G.A.Stany). He has great experience giving chess lectures and playing in Simultaneous Chess Exhibitions for several years. IM Saravanan has been involved in preparation sessions and training with almost all the leading players for the past 20 years. He is also a Columnist, Reporter and Writer on Chess since 1987 for chess magazines and international chess news sites. He has many years of experience as a Live Television commentator apart from Event management and Social Media support for Chess tournaments since 2012.

ChessKidsNation will be organizing a two day Chess Event by IM Saravanan in Birmingham on September 7th and 8th. This intense Training is limited to 20 chess players only who have minimum USCF rating of 1500. Individual exceptions can be made on special request for serious players. 

Please send us an email (Contact@ChessKidsNation.com) to register for this event and further details about this event, location in Birmingham will be sent in the next few weeks.

This Week’s Plan

To kick off the first meeting of the month, we’re going to have a 2 vs 2 free, unrated tournament of a Quick or Blitz time control. Coordinate ahead of time or just show up and grab a teammate. As always, there will be those not participating in the tournament who will be playing casual chess.

2019 AL Quick and Blitz is in the Books

For those who haven’t heard, the Huntsville Chess Club hosted the 2019 AL Quick and Blitz Championship tournaments on Saturday, June 29th at the Hampton Inn in Hampton Cove. Participants came from as far away as Knoxville, TN. Yury Barnakov, from Birmingham was crowned the Quick and Blitz champion. HCC members Logan Richey, Joel Friedman, and Victor Lundy split the Reserve championship 1st place spot, with Logan winning on tie-breaks. Congratulations to the winners!