Event Update-NM G/15 Championship

Hello everyone,

I have great news, the legendary Master, and 13x State Champion Stephen Sandager has graciously decided to give a simultaneous exhibition to the first 20 players that sign up for the NM G/15 Championship.  So of course this will change the format of the tournament, we will be reducing it from 7 rounds to 6.  The Simul will begin at 10:10 A.M. and the first round of the tournament will commence at 1:45 (rounds 2-6 will be at, 2:25, 3:05, 3:45, 4:25, and 5:05).  This means Charlie’s Chess Club, will be canceling out special event on 9/12/15 in lieu of this simul. 

Of course, if you would just like to enter into the tournament and not play the simul, you can do that too; however, the reverse is not true. 

I will be competing in the U.S. Open over the coming days, so I won’t be creating/updating a players list until my return, however please continue to send in your entries.  I will update the entry form on the site. 

Regards,

Andrew Flores

House Keeping Items

We had a few issues that came about from our last tournament.  

First the website.  A couple of players had trouble finding the players list from the last event.  Usually I post it to this blog, but I have always received complaints from a few people that it’s too small or difficult to read.   This happens, because on this blog site, I can only post picture files, I’m not allowed to post PDF’s.  So I posted it on the website under the Upcoming Events page.   This way I could post it as a PDF, and a person can zoom in and out to view the document if need be.  Also, it’s generally a higher quality image.

Where is this players’ list exactly?   So on the event page (http://www.charlieschessclub.com/events.html) you’ll notice I have two tables, the first one label Chess Events, and the second table Additional Information. 

The first table is a list of National, Charlie’s Chess Club, and NMCO events.  Basically tournaments that a NM chess player would be interested in attending.  I would like to add Santa Fe rooks events, but they seem to change the date and location often.  Probably in 2016, we’ll add Santa Rooks events along with regional tournaments as well.  Eventually, I’ll link the each event to that particular’s tournaments homepage. 

The second table, is where more information about Charlie’s CC events can be found, such as the event flyer, players list, Charlie’s Cup points, and the entry fees for our tournaments.  When you see blue text on the site, it means that particular text contains a link to another page or email address.  For example, click on the blue text under the Registered Players column in the second table.

Then it will take you to a page with the players list for that particular event. 

The second thing, is turning in a copy of your score sheets (to the tournament organizer), when you complete a game is required by USCF.  I need a copy, for example, this past weekend someone entered the results incorrectly and neither he nor his opponent left a score sheet.  So I didn’t know who won the game.  So going forward, please leave the carbon copy of your score sheet behind after you input your result, also if you have an electronic note taking device, email me a pgn of the game. 

Thirdly, I was asked if I was going to get rid of the blog or add the blog to the website.  The answer is no.  I can post things more quickly and easily from the blog than I can on the website, and I can access the blog from any computer, even my phone.  Whereas, the website, can only be updated from my home computer.Additionally, after I created the website, people started inquiring about some of the points that I have made.  I'll be answering some of these questions periodically on the blog.  So I am going to keep the blog.  

Free Matchups – Results & Cup Standings

I would like to start by thanking all who participated, we had a nice turn out for this type of event.   

I would like to congratulate all of those who won their individual matchups.  From what I could tell (during my meandering throughout the rounds), everyone played some intense and hard fought games.  Below, I have updated/created the standing for the inaugural Charlie’s Cup.  The list is sorted first by total points, then by alphabetical order (eventually, I’ll up update charlieschessclub.com, and dedicate a page to the cup standings). 

At the moment Nitant Kenkre and Jonah Romero are leading pack, going a perfect 2/2 in each of their respective matchups this past weekend.  Well done gentlemen!  Now I would like to tip my hat to a true gentleman, Gregory Stricklin.  His second game went down to the wire, he and his opponent each had less than 2 minutes on their clocks. He had an overwhelming winning position, matter of fact his opponent didn’t even have mating material.  Play got frantic, and he made an illegal move (which isn’t a big deal in the least), but he felt bad about it and offered a draw. His opponent, obviously, jumped at the opportunity and shook his hand.  Completely dumbfounded and shocked, I asked Greg, why he offered a draw. To paraphrase his response, he stated, my opponent was better during the first part of the game, but then we both got short on time and started making bad moves.  Then I made an illegal move, so I think all in all a draw is fair…and I’m happy with the outcome; because I feel like I have made progress today.  Personally, a few things would have to freeze over before I ever made such a noble gesture, but I have to say the fact that Greg did, is pretty awesome!!! It tells me, the man simply loves the game and isn’t solely occupied with winning and losing. A man cut from a different cloth than most…

While, I’m still fiddling with my hat, I would like to take it off for the next player, Jim Johnston. As of late, Jim has gone on a real tear!  Scoring a very impressive 6.5/7 in the past 3 weeks.  Winning the reserve section in Albuquerque Open with a clean 5-0, and this past weekend emerging the victor in his match up, simply outstanding!

Thanks again, and hope to see you at our next event.  

2015 Southwest Autumn Open

We would like to announce our first go at a large tournament, the 2015 Southwest Autumn Open.  Which will be held November 6-8^th, 2015 at the Hotel Cascada (http://www.thehotelcascada.com).  This is the hotel where many New Mexico chess tournaments were held in the early 2000’s (formerly the Radisson), it was one of the best sites that tournaments have been held at in this state, and now it might even better; because now the hotel features an indoor waterpark!  So while you play, the significant other and/or kids can enjoy a day of fun! The Hotel is offering discounted rates on rooms and waterpark passes.  Call the Hotel Cascada for additional information 855-978-7226, mention Charlie’s Chess Club to receive discounts.

The above TLA will run in the September and October issues of Chess life.  For a flyer to enter or additional information please visit charlieschessclub.com.  

A special thanks goes out the Peter Cuneo for his help in creating this TLA and being the liaison with USCF.  

Introducing Charlie's Cup

Today marks the start of a new academic school year, and so I started thinking why don’t I start something new with Charlie’s Chess Club.   

When I took up the game of chess again (a few years back), I was playing in almost every event that came up, and a buddy of mine told me I was leading the New Mexico Cup.  I didn’t know what the New Mexico Cup was, so I looked it up, and I saw the names of the previous winners on the NMCO site.  It was at that point I decided I had to win this cup. I was traveling to places I would never go to before, playing on only 2 hours of sleep (because a friend of mine had a kid and I was at the hospital till 4:00 a.m.). I was going to win this cup, nothing was going to stop me, and sure enough I did.  Then when I went to the New Mexico Open I was so excited, because I was going to get my glorious pewter engraved cup, with its marble base, I had never won a prize like this before.  I have competed in many events before and won many trophies, but never a cup.  I even cleared off space on my mantle where it was to be displayed.  So you can imagine my disappointment when I received a coffee mug with the NMCO logo on it (valued at about $3).  Ouch!

This year a buddy of mine is near the top and trying to win the cup (even though he knows it’s only a coffee cup and his name on a webpage), he’s playing in all different kinds of events he doesn’t like (G/60, G/30, G/45) just to be named the winner.  So this got me thinking, I would like to increase participation in my tournaments, so that going forward we can hold bigger and bigger events, and players don’t currently get points towards the New Mexico Cup for participating in my events, so why don’t I start my own cup!

So how will Charlie’s Cup be different from the New Mexico?  In a couple of ways:

1. The Scoring, NM Cup’s uses participation and performance rating to award points.  This gives higher rated players an advantage. I don’t think any of the previous cup winners were rated below 1700, which is unfair in my humble opinion.  As a result, Charlie’s Cup will award points based on participation and for every win and draw.    The scoring will be, you will receive x amount of points for participating in an event (but to get credit for an event you must play in at least half of the games for that particulate occasion).  Then you will receive 3 points for every win and 1 point for every draw.  You receive points for all of Charlie’s Events.  Points for a particular event will be announced before an event.  The more rounds an event is, the more points it will be worth.  For example, our event Free Matchups is worth 5 points, and our NM G15 Championship will be worth 15 points.  So on the quick and blitz events you can really pick up a lot of points.  This will enable someone who rated 500, who plays in a lot of events and wins quite a few games an equal chance as someone who is 2000 and does the exact same. 

2. The prize, NM Cup’s is a coffee mug, Charlie’s Cup will be a regal trophy, kind of like the picture above.  It will be valued at approximately $50-$150, personally engraved, and something to be coveted. You will also, find yourself on Charlie’s Wall of Fame!  Additionally, the winner will also receive a $250 gift certificate to either ChessBase, USCFSales, ChessCentral or another prominent chess market place, or you may opted for free entry for the upcoming year’s events.    

3. The events for the 2016 Charlie’s cup will run from July 1, 2015-June 30, 2016.   We plan on holding about one event a month. 

First event starts in two and half weeks.  Let the race begin!