January 2008 Scholastic Side

    Happy New Year!! We had our last scholastic event of 2007 on December 15th at Prairie High School in Cedar Rapids, the Iowa K-3, K-6, K-9 Individual Scholastic Championships. We had a good crowd of 51 for the tournament which was rescheduled from December 1st due to the big ice storm. Thanks to Jim Jones and Jim Hodina, Prairie coaches for again hosting a great event. Congratulations to our champions Nikalaus Huerter (K-3), Kushan Tyagi (K-6), Garrett Anstreicher and Daniel Johnson(K-9) . I hope you will take the time to see the pictures of the event and our list of scholastic champions on chess.com and perhaps even join the chess.com’s Iowa group.

   January will have plenty of scholastic tournaments. On January 19th, Ankeny High School coach Chuck Lierman and I will be hosting a Youth Trophy Tournament at Ankeny High School. This tournament is open to all players 21 and under and will have 21 trophies on hand. In addition, there will be a free IASCA parents tournament with medal prizes. At the same time as the Trophy Tournament, the 2007-2008 High School Championship will be held at the High School. This tournament is open to Iowa students in grades 9-12 only. There will be 12 trophies with the winner invited to the Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions to be held in August at the 2008 US Open in Dallas. This tournament has been poorly attended in recent years and so I am having a minimal entry fee and waiving the USCF member requirement for a $5 surcharge. I hope you will be able to come to our Ankeny tournaments. Please contact me for more information.

   There will be 3 scholastic tournaments on January 26th. I will be holding the 2007-2008 Iowa Girls Championship at Creston High School. Creston is 70 miles southwest from Des Moines. This tournament is open to all Iowa girls in grades K-12 and will offer 12 trophies. The winner is invited to play in the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls Tournament to be held in August at the 2008 US Open in Dallas. At the same time, Creston chess coach and IASCA tournament director Joe Stull is holding a Creston Youth Tournament. This is an unrated tournament with a minimal entry fee for players in grades K-8 and will have ribbon and chess sets prizes. Please contact Joe or myself for more information.

   To the north in Okoboji, Jodene Kruse will be holding her second Okoboji Youth Tournament on January 26th at the Arrowwood Resort in Okoboji. This tournament is held with the Okoboji Open and is open to players in grades K-12 with ribbon prizes and a minimal entry fee. Please contact Jodene Kruse for more information.