Moving day is Saturday...

I imagine most readers of this blog read the Chess Castle website. In case you haven't:

We will start at 12:30 pm. A few items are going to the Bridge Center, some tables and chairs are going into storage, and a lot of stuff is going into the dumpster. We have a commitment for one pick-up truck, and could use some more.

So, this is it. We will be at our new location next week. I will definitely be playing on Thursday. I encourage as many of you as possible to help with the move and/or play at the Castle in January!

This weekend is the 2006 Chess Castle Championship

This is a reminder:

From the Chess Castle website (sidebar):

16,17 December
THE 2006 CHESS CASTLE CHAMPIONSHIP
An invitational event*
Seven games, four Saturday, three Sunday, swiss pairings. Time control is game in an hour + 15 second delay. Entry fee is $15, $20 for two members of the same family. No prize fund, we are playing only for love and glory. You can get two half point byes if they are requested upon entering. Bring your own clock, as our supply is limited. Registration is from 9-9:50 am. Round times are 10, 1, 3:30, 6:30, and Sunday at noon, 2:30, and 5:30. State and national memberships required.
There will be a meeting concerning the future of the club at 11:00 am Sunday morning.

Tags: chess, Twin Cities, chess blog

Minnesota Chess Survey

Jeffrey Ballew and other members of the Rochester Area Scholastic Chess League have created two versions of a chess survey for the purpose of:

• gathering data about existing chess opportunities in Minnesota, particularly for scholastic chess; and
• soliciting opinions about some questions currently of importance in the Minnesota scholastic chess community

I invite everyone to please visit Minnesota Chess Survey and submit one of the two survey versions.

The challenges of the Chess Castle, MSCA and the overall chess community can be better addressed with more members, more tournaments, bigger turnouts, bigger purses, etc., etc.

In my opinion, the first step is understanding we are all interconnected. Thus, by helping build scholastic chess we are also expanding chess opportunities for adults. Accordingly, tournament directors, sponsors, hosts and chess players are asked to help promote the Minnesota Chess Survey at tournaments and elsewhere.

Time is of the essence as the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) is scheduled to have their annual meeting in February. It is our hope we can provide data which reflects wide support for having MSHSL recognize chess as a sanctioned event. We are of the opinion, that in doing so, more high schools would be inclined to provide resources to establish scholastic chess programs and/or further support existing programs. Similarly, additional scholastic programs would surely follow at the lower levels (elementary and middle schools).

Thank you all for your kind indulgence.

This is a team blog!

I see that we are getting quite a bit of traffic between the posting on the Yahoo group and the link on the Chess Castle site. For those who got here from the Yahoo group, you know that you are invited to join as a writer for this blog.

For those who didn't see that notice, I wanted to inform you that this is a team blog. So far, Kevin has joined me, and there are a couple of invites sent out to others who requested to join.

If you want to join as a writer for this blog, please send me an email to either the address in the Yahoo group or the address on my profile here.

Thanks!

Tags: chess, Twin Cities, chess blog

Some Details for the new location

Information concerning the new location for the Chess Castle.
Address: 6020 Nicollet Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN
Off-Street Parking in the back lot and nearby on-street parking available.

Anticipated playing fees $3.00 per player per event-day for the building owner. Play will occur in the small half of the basement. We might be able to move some of the tables depending on player participation

Anticipated equipment to be moved: One upright locker/cabinet, Computer with printer, clocks and sets to fit into one plastic storage container with wheels. That's it. Everything else must be stored elsewhere or liquidated.

Monday Action Quads and Thursday Knighters will continue at the new location. We need tournament directors to run weekend events.

We will be playing at 6020 Nicollet Avenue South

The Chess Castle will be at this new location beginning January. Please join us for Monday, Thursday, and some weekend tournaments at our new digs!

Tags: chess, Twin Cities, chess blog

Welcome to the Chess Castle of Minnesota weblog

My first tournament at the Chess Castle was June 2002. Although I am far from being the best player there, I certainly enjoy my time at the club, which is one of the main places for us Twin Cities chess players to play regularly.

As I mentioned in my blog posting here about a month ago, we are going through a period of change. In January we will be at a new location in the Twin Cities.

Inspired by the blog of the Boylston Chess Club of Massachusetts, I would like to take the opportunity to bring some new energy to the club with the beginning of the new year. I want to work with others to create an interactive, online space for us to display and discuss our games and help build chess in the Twin Cities.

We will soon announce the address of our new location. If you are a past member of the Chess Castle, please come to one of the events in January!

Thank you!

Joe Erjavec

Tags: chess, Twin Cities, chess blog