Exciting News for the Villages Chess Club
This summer The Villages Chess Club (TVCC) submitted a proposal to the USCF to host the 2024 U.S. NATIONAL AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - SOUTH. A few months later, we were selected to host the event and the work began.
Within The Villages (55+ retirement community) residents are able to play chess at different recreational centers at a set scheduled time, 5 days a week. Around December 2016 TVCC hosted their first USCF event. Since that time, the number of tournaments and entries have increased year by year. TVCC has been honored to host the Florida State Senior Championship on two occasions. Currently we conduct an average of 7 USCF tournaments each year.
The typical chess player in The Villages have similar profiles in which they learned chess in elementary school and played through high school/college and then went to work for 40 years during which time, they played once in a blue moon. Once retired the appetite to play chess again becomes strong. Most of us become chess junkies and we can't get enough of casual and tournament chess. Now that we are retired, we have more free time and want to go to chess camp but sadly we learned that almost all camps are for school age children. Most of us say we could be rated 300 points higher if we had the tools that the youngsters have today including DVD's, YouTube, Chess.com, Coaches, Books (easy access), Engines, Camps, etc. The only book most of us could find growing up is Fred Reinfeld's "The Complete Chess Course". Now in retirement, we have access to some of these tools like DVDs, YouTube and online instructors, however we tend to fall asleep while listening! Additionally, we no longer have the capability to absorb and remember the information presented. At the end of the day, we still love the game, enjoy the time together and the jocularity. Some of us enjoy volunteering, teaching chess at schools and libraries to the younger generations. We get a true sense of accomplishment watching a young tournament chess player grow both in rating and their love for the game. There are several titled players that make The Villages their home including Peter Irwin, Alan Schalk, Doug McClintock and others.
As to the hosting of the 2024 US National Amateur Team Championship - South, please use the link www.thevillageschessclub.org to get additional information. The tournament will take place on February 23rd through the 25th of 2024. The tournament features a Team Championship Open to all ages, Team Championship (Scholastic) and a Blitz Event. The Open Championship the player can choose between a 3 or a 2-day schedule. There are many hotels, restaurants, resorts and theme parks within reasonable driving distance. There are two major airports that residents of The Villages use Tampa and Orlando. You can email the organizer at TheVillagesChessClub@outlook.com or call 407-497-2261 (Mike)
