Spring is turning into summer but the chess calendar is active year-round.
After everyone had such a good time last June at the free Chess in the Park event at Eastern Market Metro, which drew students from all around the District of Columbia, Maryland and Northern Virginia, we will be hosting an additional three tournaments at the same location this year in partnership with the DC Department of Parks and Recreation. The first such tournament takes place this coming Saturday, April 29. Any student in grades 2 through 8 may sign up to participate.
No membership in any organization is required to play, but students do need to be familiar with all of the rules of chess, including castling, stalemate, and the touch-move rule. We also strongly encourage participants to sign up online in advance to secure their space. We have additional tournaments at Eastern Market Metro scheduled for May 20 and June 24.
On May 21, Chess Girls DC will be staging a USCF-rated all-girls’ tournament at the headquarters of the Institute for Educational Leadership in northwest Washington. The tournament is open to all women and girls, not just those residing in the District of Columbia, and there will be separate sections for children and adults. All players must be, or become, members of the U.S. Chess Federation in order to take part. (NOTE: This tournament has been rescheduled from its originally slated date of May 6 to Sunday, the 21st.)
Finally, two weekends from now is the National K-6 Championship, to be held in Baltimore from May 12-14. It has been many years since the last time a national championship was held in the greater Washington area and we hope that lots of students from our schools decide to go to this year’s competition. Regardless of how many games they win, playing in such a strong tournament is an experience they will remember fondly for the rest of their lives. No formal qualification other than membership in the USCF is required to play.