October 9th
tournament here at T. H. Rogers
The kids should wear the black chess club t-shirt. Parents should wear
theirs also, if they have one. T-shirts are available for $10 through the
club.
So far, I think the following children are coming:
Elementary School
Middle
School
1.
AHMED, Fariha
1
1.
AHMED, Tanvir
8
2.
CHEEMERLA, Shantan
5
2.
FENG, Jeff
6
3.
GAY, Chris
4
3.
HUYNH, Christopher
6
4.
GILBERT, Eleanor H
2
4.
KUNCEWICZ, Elizabeth
6
5.
ISDALE, Anderson
2
5.
MICHAELIDES, Matthew
6
6.
JENKINSON, Jim
4
6.
NI, Mengwei
7
7.
KUNCEWICZ, Thomas
4
7.
NICHOL, David
6
8.
LEW, Sarah
3
8.
PAN, Steven
7
9.
LIM, Tristan
3
9.
RESH, Matthew
6
10.
LOUIE, Janine
3
10.
SHARMA, Aman
7
11.
LU, Edmund
2
11.
TAYAL, Kartikeya
7
12.
MUTHA, Ankeet
5
12.
ZHU, Luke
6
13.
NGUYEN, Hoc
4
14.
POBEDINSKI, Vasia
2
15.
ROSCOE, Curtis
5
16.
ROSCOE, Truman
2
17.
SHARMA, Ayush
3
18.
WANG, Kevin
2
19.
WILLIAMS, Fallon
1
20.
WILLIAMSON, Tommy
3
21.
XIANG, Ellen
2
22.
XIANG, Evan
K
23.
YUN, Edward
4
Remember, registration materials must be postmarked by tomorrow (Saturday
the 2nd) to get the cheaper $10 rate. Printable forms are available at:
http://liptrap.topcities.com/hcao04.htm You can still register up
until next Friday at the $12 level, but late registration makes it very
hard on us to plan on how much food and tables etc. to have available.
Online entry is also available for $12 at:
http://liptrap.topcities.com/enter.htm. Please get this done.
I would like to reemphasize that this is a terrific beginner tournament.
I would really like to see several of our K-1's register. It is also a
good opportunity for children who are not on the "team" to try a chess
tournament. Our tournament is much more child (and parent) friendly than
most events.
We are, of course, still looking for more volunteer help. If you can
assist, please contact Yachin Bao, our volunteer coordinator. Her home
phone is 713-839-7229 or you can email
dryachinbao@yahoo.com
State Grade
in November 20-21, 2004 - Plano, TX
It is time to decide whether your child will be participating in the State
Grade in Plano the weekend before Thanksgiving. The entry form is
here.
You need to consider making your hotel reservations soon. I plan on
driving directly from school on Friday, November 19th. That day is early
dismissal and I would like to arrive in time to have dinner and get
settled. If people want to share rides and rooms, we need to get
organized now. We can reserve the rooms as a block. Also, I would like
to know how many are going, so I can decide if a team room is appropriate.
State
Scholastic in February 26-27, 2005 - Dallas, TX
Actually, we don't have to deal with this one yet. We can probably wait
until after the state grade to make reservations.
Nationals - April 8-10, 2005 -
Nashville, TN
While the Nationals are not until April, if
you want to travel at the best rate with the group, you will have to
decide this soon. Southwest Airlines seems to have the best nonstop
flights and the best group policy. Their flight schedule is now open for
booking through March 3rd. As soon as the April weekend opens, we should
be ready to act. Tournament games actually start at 1 pm on Friday. So,
we need to decide between going in Thursday night or early Friday
morning. Traveling Thursday, would be more relaxing and we would not have
to worry if a thunderstorm delays us. Traveling Friday saves us the
Thursday night hotel fee, but adds to the anxiety level if we are delayed
at all. The absolute latest flight I would consider booking is the 8 am
flight out of Hobby that would put us there hopefully by 10 am. The
following is SWA's current schedule and pricing. I did it for the
February weekend as it was the latest one available in the booking
system. The Thursday and Friday schedules are the same. So, this is just
to give you an idea about what is available.
Select
Departing Flight - Houston Hobby To Nashville (Thursday, February 24
2005)
Depart Time:Depart Date:
These fares
do not include government fees and taxes.
Flights
Departs
Arrives
Stops
Refundable Anytime
$177
Restricted Fares
$166
Advance Purchase
$132
Fun Fares
$116
Internet One-way
$114
1495
6:35am
8:20am
N/S
2897
8:05am
9:50am
N/S
2031
9:50am
11:30am
N/S
286
10:50am
12:35pm
N/S
111
2:45pm
4:30pm
N/S
1798
3:55pm
5:40pm
N/S
1562/1641
5:00pm
7:50pm
MSY/1
978
7:45pm
9:30pm
N/S
Select
Returning Flight - Nashville To Houston Hobby (Monday, February 28
2005)
Return Time: Return Date:
These
fares do not include government fees and taxes.
Flights
Departs
Arrives
Stops
Refundable Anytime
$177
Restricted Fares
$166
Advance Purchase
$132
Fun Fares
$116
Internet One-way
$114
325
9:00am
11:10am
N/S
251
9:50am
12:00pm
N/S
1202
12:05pm
2:10pm
N/S
783
2:40pm
4:50pm
N/S
772/2059
2:55pm
6:15pm
MSY/1
300
5:35pm
7:45pm
N/S
905
6:35pm
8:45pm
N/S
1138
8:30pm
10:40pm
N/S
The kids will
miss school on Friday, but they have Monday off, the day we will return.
Of course, most parents will have to take some vacation time to do this.
I will also be reserving a block of rooms at the Opryland Hotel. The
hotel has over 2800 rooms. They expect all of them to be taken by
tournament participants and their families. The last Supernationals (4
years ago) had over 4600 participants! So, by reserving the rooms in a
block, our rooms should be together and we should save the state sales tax
(9.2% or about $30-40 per room for the weekend) because we will
reserve through the school. We will probably want a tournament room here,
due to the size of the hotel/convention center. While you can always try
to get your own rooms and flights, it should be cheaper and more fun to
travel as a team. So you need to start emailing back to me (please use
timartha@swbell.net) if you know now that you are going to go and
travel with the team. If you want to share a room, you need to work that
out with another family, and let me know. Actually, I would like to know
if you are in the group that is definitely "yes", definitely "no",
definitely "we are going but will make our own reservations, thank you
very much" or "Woa! You have got to be kidding. I have no clue."