Washington State Elementary

 Chess Championships

 

Policy Board Statement

 

Statement About the 2011 State Tournament

The Washington State Elementary Chess Policy Board meeting held on October 31, 2009 in Tacoma reviewed the progress of the 2010 and 2011 Elementary State Chess Championship Tournaments.  The policy board is taking a more active role in the state chess tournament in fulfilling the dual role of facilitating and overseeing the organizing of the state tournament.

The policy board toured the Tacoma Convention Center (the site of the 2010 tournament) and was very impressed with the planning of the tournament by the tournament organizers and the convention center’s willingness to help make the tournament a big success!  While there is still much work to be done and planning to take place, they are progressing nicely.

The 2011 tournament planning had a couple of setbacks.  The Washington Convention Center site fell through when the additional space could not be procured (due to the tournament’s combination of size and inability to legally promise to fill enough hotel rooms.  These are common problems faced by the state tournament organizers.)  The organizers proposed holding the tournament at the Bellevue Community College (BCC), but the available dates were not ideal.  Working around Easter, USCF Nationals and the college’s available dates was a challenge.  At the time of the meeting, the exact dates that would be available with BCC were in progress and not known.  The 2011 organizers asked if the policy board would grant an exception to allow the 2011 tournament to be held outside of region 2.  The proposed site would be the Tacoma Convention Center.  Since the board was favorably impressed by the site, the convention center’s willingness to be flexible, and the location of the convention center being close to region 2, the board considered this to be acceptable.  However, the board approved the Bellevue Community College if it was available on April 30th.  If BCC was not available at this time, the 2nd choice could then be the Tacoma Convention Center on April 30th.  Later, the 2011 organizers informed the board that BCC was not available on April 30th, so the official site would be the Tacoma Convention Center.  While the board does not feel this is perfect, we do feel this is the best solution and will offer the best tournament environment for the players and their families.  And that is what it is all about!

-- The Washington State Elementary Chess Championship Policy Board

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