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Calchess Scholastic Super State Championship: Preview 1

Salman Azhar returns to organize the Calchess Scholastic State Championship for a, record setting, seventh straight year!
Salman Azhar returns to organize the Calchess Scholastic State Championship for a record setting seventh straight year!

Without a doubt, the best scholastic chess tournament in Northern California for the past six years has been the Calchess Scholastic State Championship. Every Spring, nearly one thousand school aged chess players compete in a single weekend of matches to determine who the best chess players and school chess teams are in Northern California. In its 2014 incarnation, Salman Azhar (www.BayAreaChess.com) returns to organize the event for a record setting seventh straight year. For 2014, he has even added a club section for children who participate regular chess groups but do not have a school team to call their own. With the addition of the club section, Salman Azhar believes that this year’s event may be the biggest yet and definitely deserves to be known as the “Calchess Scholastic Super State Championship.”

This year’s tournament has some changes in schedule and structure that I would be remiss if I did not mention. The most apparent change is that the Calchess Junior High State Championships will take place two weeks before the main event in order to allow for Middle School Aged Students to attend the National Junior High School Chess Championships. Another development to be aware of is that all championship sections, excluding kindergarten, will play a two day event in order to allow the higher rated chess players more time to play better chess. However, players of all ages who have lower ratings will only be required to show up for one day of competition. This makes sense because less experienced players tend to play faster and have less time to devote to chess.

This year's k-6 section will be named the "Lonsdale Championship" after the MSJE head coach, Joe Lonsdale.
This year’s k-6 section will be named the “Lonsdale Championship” after the MSJE head coach, Joe Lonsdale.

The Torres Chess and Music Academy will once again be encouraging all of it’s students to participate in this event. For decades, Mission San Jose Elementary School (a Torres Chess and Music Academy program) has been the most dominant school at the State Championship and this year’s k-6 section will be named the “Lonsdale Championship” after the MSJE head coach, Joe Lonsdale.  For more on Joe Lonsdale and Mission San Jose Elementary School’s successes please visit www.ChessAndMusic.com or search past articles on this blog.

Below is the official schedule for the 2014 Calchess Scholastic State Championships. If your child is lucky enough to be a student at a Torres Chess and Music Academy program you can just download the correct application from this page and submit it to your child’s chess coach. I will personally make sure that your child is placed into the correct sections. If you are not affiliated with TCAMA you should visit www.Calchess.org and apply online.

The 2014 Calchess Super State Championship Schedule is as follows:

For players in grades 6-8 with ratings under 1200:

Sunday April 13 at Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport

For players in grades 6-8 with ratings at or above 1200:

Saturday April 12 and Sunday April 13 at Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport

download application

 

For players with rating under 800 and Kindergarten:

Sat April 26 for grades 1-3 at the Santa Clara Convention Center

Sun April 27 for Kindergarten at the Santa Clara Convention Center

Sun April 27 Grades 4-6 at the Santa Clara Convention Center

Sun April 27 Grades 9-12 at the Santa Clara Convention Center

 

download application

 

For players with ratings at or above 800 excluding Kindergarten and Middle School:

April 26-27 at the Santa Clara Convention Center

 

download application

 

 

For more information on this tournament, please visit www.Calchess.org.

 

To find out more about the Torres Chess and Music Academy, please visit www.ChessAndMusic.com

 

 

 

 

 

Published by chessmusings

Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.

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