Scholastic chess players practice for hours and hours to raise the likelihood of finishing near the top of the pack at state or national championship events. Champions do this because they know that once you are competing in an elite event, there are no take backs , no timeouts, no restarts and only one chance to perform at your best.
Most of the time tournament organizers’ efforts go largely unnoticed unless something goes wrong but we also spend hours and hours preparing for our role in prestigious events. Just like chess players, we form a comprehensive plan and double check every move we make. So it stands to reason that when trying something new, tournament organizers would also like to practice.
Last night, Jay Stallings emailed me about the upcoming Eade Foundation Spring Scholastic Chess Classic. He offered to run a practice tournament this coming weekend to prepare for the big event on May 22. I took all of two seconds to respond to him with a resounding “Yes please!” Not only would a practice tournament allow Jay and I to familiarize ourselves more with online event management on Tornelo but it would also allow our students a great opportunity to get in some valuable practice games before playing in The Eade Foundation’s Spring Scholastic Chess Classic.
Our practice tournament will occur on Saturday, May 15’th and will be a seven round blitz event broken into three sections, Under 600, 600-900, & Over 1200. Round 1 starts at 9:00 am Pacific Time. You can join the event by going to: https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/chesshootz/events/eade-foundation-practice-blitz/summary and clicking the “Enter Now” button.
Coach Jay and I will be doing a livestream of the event. You can watch here:
And as an extra bonus, I will be randomly picking three participants for a special 1-on-1 training session to prepare for The Eade Foundation’s Spring Scholastic Chess Classic. So don’t miss out on your best chance to practice before the big event and your chance to train with Coach Chris!