Visit to the 2017 Texas State Scholastic Chess Championships - South on 3/12/17

Chessalutations! (Chess + Salutations),

     Though I did not have a team competing this weekend, or my own children (next year), I decided to go by the 2017 Texas State Scholastic Chess Championships - South on Sunday, March 12.  This year I discovered, the scholastic event was to be split into two events:

(North on March 3-5: http://dallaschess.com/2017%20Texas%20Scholastic/index.htm)
(South on March 10-12: http://www.utrgv.edu/chess/tournaments/south-texas-scholastic-chess-championship/index.htm)

     It is my understanding that next year will be split again, then a united one the following year possibly in the Dallas area.  I will have to verify this.  Just from a quick count using a standings sheet, I counted about 1433 students competing across K to 12.  Once final standings are posted, I'll run the numbers again (being a math person and chess enthusiast) to compare to estimates I saw for the Regionals events from Region 8 and 10 (roughly 1400+ and 1000).

     Any big event like this is a challenge to run and host, and UT-RGV this year utilized several buildings around the east side of the campus for the playing halls and team rooms.  The weather was unusually cool for this time of year... below 70 with a brisk north wind blowing and a chance of rain in the forecast. Parents, coaches, and students were stationed inside classrooms and outside in the main gazebo area as well as making their own outdoor tents for the teams to hang around outside.  A couple of chess vendors and several food vendors were around as well.

     One of the nice ideas that I saw was the use of e-mail to send out pairings to individual teams in addition to the traditional posting at a table near results.  Online pairings were utilized as well, though maybe not as efficiently as the e-mails or checking the pairings posting outside the tournament halls.  Another nice feature, which I took advantage of on Saturday to follow round 4, was the top 6 boards of the high school section (I presume) broadcasting the moves live on the host website.

     It was good to run into many of the chess coaches and directors of the event and meet a few new faces as well.  Many of these people have been running chess events for well over 20 years since I first started to coach and become involved in the chess community of the RGV and our neighbors from Region 7 (our home region many years ago).  Also wonderful to see is the generation of students who are now the adults coaching and continuing the chess traditions and legacies of chess here in South Texas.  We are truly the capital of scholastic chess activity in the nation.

     May your kings always have a safe square!