| "...one
rated game per week..!" by NM Leland Fuerstman Forty years ago, when you visited a chess club most anywhere in the United States, you generally entered a smoke filled room where the same stoic statues played speed chess with each other usually forbidding any unknown challengers from interfering?!? If you were an "Unrated" stranger, you were relegated to pick-up games with beginners or other marginal players who refused to play with a clock?! If you were Class "A" and above, you were treated like a national hero! However, the only way you could establish a rating was to play in one of the rare annual 5 round events or participate in an occasional 3 rounder. Even then, rating supplements were only published every 2 months. Finally, a young, brash, visionary Tournament Director from the Decatur (Georgia) Chess Club came up with the bright idea of playing "one rated game per week for 5 weeks to constitute a 5 round tournament!!" At first, the speed chess crowd resisted and only 6 players participated in the first round. However, when others found out that they could still jump in the following week and that only the games they actually played counted, the number doubled! Amazingly, the trend caught on so quickly that by the 5th round, over 50 players had participated!! As time went by, the TD in question moved back to North Carolina and began using that same system in Charlotte. Soon after, clubs from all over the south, and finally the entire country adopted the one round per week system. Now, players don't pay quite as much attention to the Saturday 3 rounders as they once did. This, we are attempting to change! Membership to the Charlotte Chess Club entitles you to participate in 6 Saturday 3 round events per year and one 5 rounder. The venue at the Dowd YMCA with it's quiet, spacious setting, excellent lighting and comfortable chairs guarantees a great afternoon of chess! (always out by 6pm!). Playing in a 3 rounder is a perfect way to win some cash, accumulate a bunch of rating points and enjoy the day fraternizing with your fellow chess players! Our next 5 round event, the 2013 Charlotte City Chess Championship, will take place on Saturday and Sunday, August 3-4, 2013. In order to place your name on the list of players who "intend to participate," E-mail charlottechessclub@gmail.com Leland |