Silicon Valley becomes chess central this weekend as the CalChess State Championship takes place at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara. Defending champion IM Sam Shankland will face stiff competition from veterans GM Jesse Kraai, IM Ricardo DeGuzman, IM Dmitry Zilberstein and the red hot teenager FM Steven Zierk. With 142 players registered in advance, the attendance will likely top out between 160 and 180. BayAreaChess.com organizer Salman Azhar should be pleased (and relieved) with the turnout at his first big money tournament!Players will be divided up into three different regions of the hotel: Master, Expert, A, B and C all play on the second floor (Bayshore room). The D and E sections (Mendocino room) and Friday scholastic tournament (Napa room) are on the ground floor. Hopefully the rowdy young kids stay far away from where the big boys do battle. We'll kindly allow an exception for 8 year old FIDE Masters. ;-)..
FINAL RESULTSI will try my best to provide limited internet coverage throughout the weekend, most likely on Twitter and perhaps by uploading photos to Flickr. No promises! I should be quite busy with over 20 students in attendance, all who want part of my attention. Hopefully my own games won't take too long, so that I have enough time to socialize, eat and still look at a few games between rounds. Wish me luck, both on and off the board!
2 comments:
LOL! Relieved is the right word! I won't have to cash in my wife's 401k. :)
I am projecting 171 entries as the last few days have been slow (after late fee kicked in).
The staff is arriving at Hyatt Regency and getting fired up and ready to go.
Do I count as 'staff' too? My job is to keep the TDs on their toes.
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