Saturday's Tournament

Looks like we will be a rather small group Saturday. Registrations will be accepted on site from 9:00-9:20. Here is the list of players so far:

1893 Curtis Cooper
1865 Robert Hampton
1842 Sam Dooley
1823 Jim Johnston
1574 Richard Lass
1506 Chris Hyde
973 Jeff Jones

Also, I drove out to the site from the bypass. Here are some more detailed instructions.

From 599 take CR 62 South, the same exit as the golf course but the other side. Go maybe 100 yards to a dead end, make a left on the frontage road. Go about 1/4 mile to CR 62, also called Caja Del Oro Grant Rd, and make a right. Go less than half a mile to the second Prairie Dog Loop, make a right, and it is the only building in sight.

See you Saturday!

December 4 Tournament

The next Santa Fe Rooks tournament will be held Saturday December 4. It will be a three round, G/75 quad, beginning at 9:30. Please register in advance if possible, via the website www.santaferooks.blogspot.com or by sending a check to SF Rooks, POB 4764, SF NM 87502. Onsite registration is available from 9:00-9:20.

The tournament will be held at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center in the traditional village of Agua Fria. It is located on County Rd 62 between Agua Fria and the bypass (599). Take highway 599 to CR 62 and follow CR 62 south to the center, which is across from the volunteer fire station.

Entry fee is $10, and there is a $30 prize in each quad. Hope to see you there.

Winter/Spring Series

Our next set of tournaments has been finalized and posted in the right hand column of this page. Note that most locations are yet to be determined, for a variety of reasons.

The December 4 tournament differs from what you may have received at the NM Open. We found a new location, the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center near Agua Fria, and were able to lenghten the time control as a result.

There is a lot of good chess coming up this year, including the Memorial Open in January, the FIDE tournament featuring two grandmasters in February, the class championships and Pir Maleki in April, as well as the wired kings series. See nmchess.org for details!

We are looking forward to another fun season of chess, and hope you will join us!

Tournament Entries

As of today's mail, the following people have entered Saturday's tournament. We will be accepting onsite entries from 8:30-8:50 that morning.

Remember, the tournament is at Desert Academy, 313 Camino Alire.

1941 Arthur Glassman
1854 Jim Johnston
1846 Robert Hampton
1665 Charles Gillespie III
1637 Ronald London
1624 Oren Stevens
1575 Rick Lass
1462 Julian Trujillo
1400 Art Bayley
1297 Art Byers
unrated Martin Chavez

October 23 Match Play Tournament

The next SF Rooks tournament will be October 23, at Desert Academy, 313 Camino Alire (last season's site). Registration is 8:30-8:50, first round begins at 9:00.

The format is match play. Players will be paired by rating, and play each other twice, once as black, once as white. Time control is G/120, with 30 second increments. Those with clocks incapable of incremental will play with a ten second delay. We will use the most up to date player ratings.

Entry fee is $10, with no prize money awarded. Onsite entries are allowed. Please arrive by 8:50 even if you are pre-registered.

There are already four class A players signed up, so we expect a good turnout and some good games!

Also, please mark your calendars for Oct 30, the spooky tournament in Los Alamos, and Nov 6-7, the NM Open in Rio Rancho.

Santa Fe Rooks will be taking November off, and we are currently planning our winter/spring series. We welcome input on time controls and formats, location, and anything else.

Upcoming Tournaments

The next SF Rooks tournament will be held October 23, at Desert Academy, 313 Camino Alire. This will be a G/120, with 30 second incremental as the time control. Players who do not have a clock capable of doing incremental time can instead do G/120 with 10 second delay. Incremental time control means that after each move is made, 30 seconds are added to the players remaining time.

This will be the last tournament in this building, as Desert is moving to a new building next semester. We again thank Desert, and faculty liaison Paul Hedrick, for accommodating SF Rooks tournaments, both this month and during last season!

Unlike at the library, we will be able to accept onsite registrations. Please register in person between 8:30 and 8:50. Even if you preregister, please check in by 8:50 so we can prepare the pairings for the day. As this is match play, you will play the same opponent twice, once as black and once as white. Official round times are 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM, but if you do not use all of your time, you can agree with your opponent to begin the second game earlier, with a short break between games. But do please remain quiet while setting up the second game, as others will be in the midst of their games.

For those who can't wait, be advised that Foothills Chess Club is hosting a three round G/90 event this Saturday, October 9. It is a team event, but I believe they can accommodate single players. To register or for more info, see nmchess.org or contact organizer Oren Stevens at 298-2534 or orenvstevens@aol.com.

And of course, the NM Open is the weekend of November 6-7 at the Meadowlark Senior Center in Rio Rancho. The highest scoring players in the open section will be crowned NM Champions. It is a five round tournament with G/120 for the first three rounds and even longer time controls for day two! Again, please see nmchess.org for details.

By the way, if you are not on the SF Rooks email list and want to be, please contact me at ricklass@newmexico.com.

Thanks for your participation.

Santa Fe Open

just want to remind everyone that this coming weekend, Sept 25-6, is the SF Open at SF Community College. It is a 6 round, G/60 event. For more info and to register, go to www.nmchess.org.

hope to see you there!