As we approach the end of another year, the Texas Chess Association staff and I thank our players, parents, coaches, chess tournament organizers, and tournament directors for another successful year and for all you do to make Texas a great chess state!
This, the last issue of Texas Knights this year, is packed with tournament reports, games, and pictures. Thanks to those who contributed to this, and in particular to our Editor, Jeff French. In addition to the tournament reports, I am including an article addressed to the tournament directors. I hope that Texas chess tournament directors and organizers of local, regional, and state events find this article instructive and helpful as they continue to promote the game we love and as tournament directors continue to work on upgrading their US Chess and FIDE certifications.
Speaking of state events, please mark your calendar for the 2024 tournaments, starting with the Regional Championships which are scheduled to be held in most of the 10 TCA regions during January and February. Following the Regional Championships, we will have the Texas Scholastic Chess Championships, both North and South. Players are not limited to one or the other, and they may play in both. The Texas Scholastic Chess Championships North are being organized by the Dallas Chess Club and will be held in Houston, on March 1 – 3. The South Championships are being organized by UTRGV and will be held in Brownsville, on March 15 – 17. We hope to see most of our scholastic chess players in either one of these or both! And since these events will be used to select our representatives for the US Chess National Invitational events (Denker, Barber, and Rockefeller), there will be online playoffs between the first-place winners of the North and South High School, Middle School, and Elementary School Championship sections. In addition, we will have an online playoff between the top female players of those three sections in both North and South events, and they will join the winners of the same sections from the 2023 Texas Girls Championships, to determine the Texas representative to the Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions. Of course, we cannot forget about the Irwin National Tournament of Senior Champions. The Texas representative will be the winner of the 2024 Senior Championship. Information about the last event is not yet available. As you may know, those national events are always held in conjunction with the U.S. Open and in 2024, they will be held at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 27 – 30. So, again, please make plans to attend the TCA events and visit our website as well as the TCA Facebook page for information.
With best regards,
Franc
