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!

Huntsville Chess Club Board Meeting

If you’re interested, the HCC board will be meeting tonight at 6pm in the conference room adjacent to the playing area. We’ll have sets and clocks available for anyone who wants to play some casual chess this week, but probably won’t run an unrated tournament.

Any current, paid members of the HCC are welcome to attend the meeting and participate. If you’re interested in volunteering in any capacity, this will be an excellent opportunity to share your ideas and availability.

The following agenda topics will be discussed:

-Secretary’s report of minutes from last meeting
-Treasurer’s report
-Review action items from 11 Mar 2019 meeting.
-HCC Dues
-Election discussion
-Discuss the Quick and Blitz State Championship scheduled for June 29th
-HCC chess equipment sales.
-Chess in a Cave Tournament Planning
-Historical Chess Fact

Chess Tonight

We hope that you were able to enjoy last week’s chess hiatus with your families and friends. We’ll be back at the library this week. There isn’t anything formal planned, but we’ll probably host a free, unrated tournament and or tactics solving competition.

Historic Chess Discovery!

Who said you can’t get rich playing chess? A single piece (Rook) found is said to be worth over $1,000,000. Check the full article here.

Exchange Student Hosting

Interested in opening up your home to a chess playing student from overseas? Nontapat is a young man from Thailand who plays Makruk (Thai Chess) and also enjoys playing Western style chess. He even on first place in recent Makruk tournament! He also likes to play basketball and watch movies. In the U.S. he hopes to share his culture, learn about your family, and try out some new sports. He is a very smart kid and very excited to live in the U.S. during the 2019/20 school year. Would you be interested in hosting Nontapat? Call Brittany Ortiz at (205) 617-4438. Huntsville Schools are very open to exchange students!

Please email huntsvillechessclub@gmail.com if you’re interested in traveling to Nashville for the tournament. The usual driver will be out of town, but they have 15 players registered already with a cap of 36. We’ll link up any interested parties.

The Vulcan Open is next week in Birmingham.

Tournament details are below:

3-DAY MUSIC CITY OPEN

FRIDAY, MAY 17 – 19, 2019. 

ENTRY FEE: $60 TO NCC MEMBERS, $75 TO NON MEMBERS. 

USCF MEMBERSHIP IS REQUIRED, BUT NCC IS NOT

OPEN TO THE FIRST 36 PLAYERS TO PAY THEIR ENTRY FEE! YOUR ENTRY IS NOT CONFIRMED FOR THIS EVENT UNTIL PAID. YOU MAY PAY ONLINE OR MAIL CHECK TO:

THE NCC
2911 BELMONT BLVD
NASHVILLE, TN 37212

…OR DROP BY THE CLUB AND PAY CASH. 

PRIZE FUND: 85% OF TOTAL ENTRIES – NO MONEY TAKEN OUT FOR TD FEE. EVENT WILL BE DIRECTED BY FM TODD ANDREWS, WHO WILL ALSO PARTICIPATE IN THE EVENT. ASSISTANT DIRECTORS WILL BE ALSO BE PLAYING. 

1ST – 35%
2ND – 20%
TOP FEMALE – 11%
U/1800 – 10%
U/1400 – 09%

PLAYER MAY ONLY WIN ONE PRIZE. MAY USCF RATINGS USED. UP TO TWO 1/2 POINT BYES ARE AVAILABLE FOR ROUNDS 1-4 (NOT THE FINAL ROUND) 

SCHEDULE:

RD 1 – FRIDAY – 7:00 PM
RD 2 – SATURDAY – 12:00 PM
RD 3 – SATURDAY – 5:00 PM 
RD 4 – SUNDAY – 12:00 PM
RD 5 – SUNDAY – 5:00 PM 

3-DAY OPTION ONLY. MAY TAKE HALF PT BYE IN ROUND 1 IF YOU CAN’T MAKE FRIDAY OBVIOUSLY. 

TIME CONTROL: G/90 + 30 INCREMENT PER MOVE