Jackson School to represent Hillsboro at state chess finals
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
The Hillsboro Argus
The Jackson Elementary School chess team will now represent Hillsboro at the state tournament on March 12 at the Convention Center in Portland. Additionally, the Jackson school 6th grade team went to the middle school tournament early in February.
At that tournament, one Jackson 6th grader, Kyle Hiebel, won first place in the individual category. He will represent Hillsboro at the Middle School State Tournament on March 13. An 8th grader from Evergreen Middle School, Jaydeep Rothitor, won second place at the regional tournament and will also compete at the tournament.
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Is it USCF rated?
No. The tournaments mentioned in the article are not USCF rated (or rated in any other way, either). Neither of the kids mentioned in the article have ever played in any rated event. This is “Chess for Success” (CFS), which runs unrated tournaments in all regions of the state. The regional winners go to the CFS state championship, also unrated.
Most scholastic chess tournaments in Oregon (OSCF) are rated, but most of those use a free and friendly regional NWSRS rating pool with Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and BC scholastic players. NWSRS and OSCF have led to phenomenal growth in chess among Oregon kids, but they usually don’t join USCF until they are strong enough to be rated 900 or so. The USCF membership fee of approx $20 looks absurd to the parents of young beginners; and for the scholastic tournament TD the $40 affiliation fee, $30 adult membership fee (required for TD status), and $0.25 per game ratings fees are a turnoff. They might run one or two tournaments per year, and to have to pay USCF $100+ for the privilege of having the tournament rated looks excessive to many coaches, parents, and TDs.
It’s amazing that USCF takes in such hefty fees and still loses buckets of money each year, while organizations like NWSRS and OSCF charge nothing (or close to it) and are still very successful.