I am a long time member of the USCF (a life member from the old days)… more than 30 years now. Nowadays I mostly play correspondence chess thru the ICCF, and a few other sites, such as “letsplaychess.com”. I used to play quite a bit of USCF postal chess, but technology seems to have overtaken that mode of play. I still play in USCF events, such as the Electronic Knights and the Walter Muir Quads (hosted on the ICCF server). This gives you a bit of an idea of my background.
Recently, as I sometimes do, I got the itch to play some OTB chess. At first, I picked on family members – but they don’t find it much fun to play with someone as serious about chess as I am. So I took a look at the tournament announcements in the back of my latest issue of Chess Life. Other than some scholastic events at a local elementary school… nothing in my area. I live in Arizona, and in the past, there has always been a Winter season… I looked at a Chess Life from last year, and found an Open listed for Tucson in January 2010. And that was it.
What’s the deal? Is it the economic recession? Is it the recent legal problems? (I noted that one local scholastic website didn’t even suggest USCF membership is required for their tournaments!) Is it the new state law in Arizona concerning immigration? Should I move to New Mexico? They seem to have a much more active chess organization there, but have a similar demographic to Arizona.
There are a few options for AZ chess that don’t advertise in Chess Life. One option is the Unity Chess tournament being held tomorrow in Scottsdale (americanchess.net/events/complet … en-112010/). I hope that you check the forums in time to see this, but if not that web site has dates of future tournaments.
There is also a rated tournament every Saturday evening (6:00 PM) at Game Nightz by Metro Center Mall in Phoenix. There are some weekly quick-chess events in Mesa and the East Valley, but I am not as familiar with those.
Thanks for the link! It looks very promising. Also, I found a Wednesday evening blitz club that meets in Mesa, very near where I live. These will keep me happy. But I do miss the big weekend opens with a more standard time limit. I live in Mesa, just outside of Phoenix, but I have gone several times to Tucson for weekend opens there – and a couple of years ago, I attended a large open in Scottsdale.
The Unity event you pointed out looks interesting, G/60, which is perhaps a good compromise between blitz and regular time limits. I don’t know if I can make it tomorrow, I will have to check with my “better half”, but I have bookmarked that website and will keep their calendar of events under a watchful eye.
A round of golf when the sun is shining and the high temperature is in the 60s (“winter”) is better than golf in the summer, but you’ll need a sweater if you prefer early-morning tee times.
Unity Chess hosts the occasion open (as was previously link)
Chess Emporium runs weekly action events
Tucson
The Southern Arizona Chess Assoc. is the largest affiliate in the area. (DISCLAIMER: I am the vice-president of this organization) We are the ones hosting the Tucson Open that you originally mentioned.
The Catalina Foothills Chess Club is hosting a Trek on Dec. 11.
Thanks for your reply. And yes, as you mentioned, Arizona seems dominated by scholastic chess. Since I am somewhat elderly, I do not feel comfortable attending a tournament held in a school gym. When my children were of school age, I used to take them to participate in these events. The ACE/Unity events are held in a Marriott, I believe, and it is probably much more in tune with my comfort level.
I am upset about what seems to have happened to the Chess Emporium. As far as I can tell, they no longer mention USCF affiliation on their website. And their events are rated by ASCF (I think that is it, I am quoting from memory here). And a certain lady is featured prominently on their website, hence I wondered about their relation with the USCF and the recent legal problems. Years ago, when I first visited the Chess Emporium, they held frequent USCF rated events during the Winter. And I used to buy my Informants there. Now, I see folks leaving feedback that they are unable to even buy a simple chess set from the Emporium!!
I have registered online with ACE for the 12/18 Unity Open. It looks like it will be a fun event for me. I am used to correspondence or G/20, polar opposites… the Unity Open is G/60, which will be a first for me. Will the G/60 games count toward my “Q” rating earned with G/20?
Sincerely,
Ed Meiners
PS: Will there be a “Ye Ole Pueblo Open” this year? If so, I would like to play in it. I have always enjoyed my little trips to play in Tucson.
With a population base the size of Phoenix, I would be quite surpised if this didn’t lead to an unfulfilled demand for some serious chess tournaments. Not to mention some serious chess sets, too.
The key word there is ‘unfulfilled’. It takes an organizer (or more than one) willing to take a risk to fill that void. I see lot of people complaining about the dearth of tournament activity in their area, I don’t see many people eager to make an effort to do something about it.
Yes, you are right. Not many people stepping forward to fill the void here. There is a lot of scholastic activity here, but it gets pretty thin pretty quickly after that. I have, myself, thought of trying to sponsor some sort of activity, but I am getting a bit long in the tooth, and since I have retired, funds always seem in short supply. The poor economy in this area doesn’t help matters. Lastly, the political climate here has gone downhill with the economy.
Things run in cycles though. This is the low point. I am hopful that things will get better from here… on all fronts, chess, the economy, and the politics.
I wish you could have made it to the Az Senior Open (assuming your 50+). I think you would have enjoyed the event. Keep an eye out for it again next year as I intend to organize it again.
Yes, I am 65, so I would qualify. And I would have played, but I found out about the event too late. My OTB chess activity runs in spurts, and I was looking the other way, when the event was held. Now that I know about it, I am looking forward to participation.
Another suggestion: Arizona State University. While their website hasn’t been updated for 2010 yet, the schedule for Dec. 1 shows a Chess Club Info Table in the Memorial Union and Thurs. 12/2 has the meeting at 7PM in MU240 Navajo. Hopefully it would be like the Roleplay and Go groups when I was a student there in the late 80s, and anyone is welcome to attend the meetings (regardless of student status.) The email contact for it is jsemmens@asu.edu, and I’m sure one could email to confirm that.
There are days when I miss the MU, and that life… (Noble Library, Hayden Library…) Hard to believe it’s twenty years gone by since I was a student there.
