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I know not everyone reads chess books anymore, but I also know they can be a route to improvement for many players. It's also good to know what you liked about it, and a brief idea of what it is about.

As some of you may know, Mike Price died last year at just 48 years old. He was from the Parkersburg area. I have looked into holding a memorial tournament for him, but could use some opinions from anyone local to the area on a playing site. I initially wanted to try the Blennerhasset, but they are asking way too much. Even with the donations we've received, it's a bit much. Do any of you have any suggestions on where we might hold the event. I'm hoping for some time in July or early August.

Club Directory If you wish to ask questions about a club, please contact us at webmaster at wvchess.org. BeckleyErma Byrd Center, Room 35, University Drive, BeaverThursday 4-8pm BridgeportBridgeport Public Library, 1200 Johnson AveTuesday 3-4pmLibrary Facebook Page BuckhannonArgo Books, 6 North Spring StreetEvery Other Wednesday, 6-7pmStore Facebook Page CharlestonDunbar City Hall, 210 12th St1st and 3rd Wednesday 6-9pm ClarksburgHarrison County Board of Ed, 445 W Main St1st Tuesday, 6-8pmClub Facebook Page GraftonTaylor County Public Library, 200 Beech St1st and 3rd Monday, 5:30-7:30pm Huntington917 9th Street (Use door entrance directly adjacent to 10th Avenue between 8th Street and 9th Street)Saturday 1:30pm HurricaneSt. Timothy’s in-the-Valley Episcopal Church, 3434 Teays Valley RoadTuesday 6:30-8:30pm HurricaneValley Cakes and Cafe, 3 Valley Park Drive2nd and 4th Thursday 5pmValley Cakes and Cafe Website Mid-Ohio ValleyVienna Public Library2nd Wednesday of Each Month 5-8pm Morgantown (WVU Chess Club)Mountainlair, 1550 University Avenue, Side Pocket Room (bottom floor behind bowling alley)Tuesday 7-9pm ParkersburgParkersburg/Wood County Public Library, 3100 Emerson AveSecond Saturday of Month 11am-2pmClub Facebook Page RipleyJackson County Public Library, 208 N Church StFirst Thursday 4-8pm (starting 9/10/2020)Club FaceBook Page WheelingOhio County Public Library, 52 16th StreetMonday 6-8pmClub Facebook Page

Hi Everyone, Have you looked at the Awards and Achievements section for your account? There are several that might be interesting for tournaments whether Live or Daily. The Opening Book Achievement tracks the openings you have played in your games, not sure if you have to play them or just play against them. I was kinda shocked how few I had to complete them all. The Polish and the Grob I can understand my never having played, but the Bogo-Indian and Dutch not so much. Where does everyone else stand? Have you looked at this before?

Upcoming Tournaments (WV Chess Association Site) April 20 - 2024 Spring Scholastic @ Charleston, WV May 4 - WV Action Championship @ Huntington, WV July 13 - Clarksburg Open @ Clarksburg, WV August 24 - WV Italian Heritage Festival Chess Tournament @ Clarksburg, WV September 14 - Thomas Bergquist Memorial (WV State Championship) @ Clarksburg, WV Note: Scholastic tournaments are for our up and coming next generation of chess players! So if you are still in High School or below (Please correct me Bob is I'm wrong) this is for you! All tournaments require a current US Chess membership, which can be purchased at site or online from US Chess I'm hoping to make it to a few of these myself!

Just as it says on the tin, so to speak. Chess.com has really made some advances in getting the Live Chat for Clubs to be more useful. You can see it, if you are the webpage for West Virginia Chess, that it pops up a small second window that is easy to move about the screen (at least on a computer it is). It provides how many club members are online currently, and it will stay up even if you continue to make moves, work puzzles, etc. It closes just as easily as any other window (click the x in the top right corner).  So the functionality has greatly improved, with one problem. The Chess.com app, on iPhone and possibly others, hasn't kept up with this. On mine I see the Live Chat button on our club page, but it does nothing. Using my tablet (iPad) and using the web browser to access Chess.com, things operate similar to using a desktop computer with the web browser. Have you tried Live Chat? I'd hoped we could make some use of it. Add your thoughts below!

Chess.com has, under your account, an Award page. There are Achievements, Countries, Trophies, and Books (Openings used.) With this in mind, I thought others might be interested in experimenting with unfamiliar openings, and add to this Book Award list! What do you get for filling it all up? Just satisfaction and experience from both sides of each opening. If you are interested in participating (unrated of course, after all we are experimenting, and we shouldn't penalize the learning process), please post a comment here. A question you can answer is should a few be Live ( like Thematic Thursday?) or strictly a Daily small unrated tournament? Please vote in your comment!

My first round opponent is a second grade student. He's going places.

League Rules: Updated as of 6/30/2023: Rules and Regulations Length of Season: 1 yearFormat: Round-robin. Number of rounds per division (see your division-specific forum thread)Match Settings: When setting up matches, please use the following parametersMatch Name: USTCL 20XX R#: Team A vs Team B (replace XX with the season year, and replace # with the number of the round)Game Type: Standard ChessDays per Move: 3 daysDescription (not required): The following text may be optionally used:Opening databases without engine evaluation and opening books are permitted in Daily Chess, but the use of engines and tablebases is never permitted. See here for the applicable rules: https://support.chess.com/article/648-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com. If you are not clear about the rules - ask.Rating Range: OpenMinimum Games: Varies per division - D1: 10, D2: 10, D3: 5, D4: 5Players per Club: Minimum varies per division - D1: 12, D2: 9, D3: 6, D4: 3Concurrent Games per Player: 2Start Date: 14th of the monthStart Time: 7 PM PT (10 PM ET)Auto-Start: NoRated: YesLeague Standings: Standings will be posted periodically in each thread. Only matches that have been clinched will be shown as a result in the standings.Prizes: Trophies for places 1 thru 3. Trophies will be awarded by January 1st of the following year.Player Eligibility: A player can only play for one team in this league throughout a season regardless of division. Once they play for a team, they must stay with that team throughout the season. USTCL admins will post notifications of multi-team players in the division thread a few days before the match is due to start.Promotion/Relegation: The top two teams in each division (except Division 1) on June 30th will be promoted to the next higher division. The bottom two teams in each division (except Division 4) will be relegated to the next lower division.Unfinished Matches: If a match result has not been determined by the season end date, but it is necessary that the match conclude in order to determine the divisional composition for the following season, then the remaining incomplete games within that match will be decided using chess.com's analysis tool. If a player is leading by a score of 2.0 or more, they will be determined to have won that game. If the difference is less than 2.0, the game will be determined to be a draw.Tiebreakers: The first tiebreaker will be head-to-head results. The second tiebreaker will be the differential between match points won and lost across the entire season. Uncompleted games will not be scored for the purposes of the second tiebreaker.Removal of Players: Team admins may remove players from their roster who exceed a timeout ratio of 15%, or are ineligible due to rule 6. Removed players must be published in the team match thread prior to the start of the match. Example: Player A was removed in accordance with timeout rule: Timeout ratio 55%. Teams may not remove players from their roster or discourage players from joining a match to obtain a more favorable matchup.Score Adjustments: Match scores will be finalized after taking into consideration the account closures of members due to cheating or abuse, and also after applying penalties for multi-team players (see rule 6). This will occur prior to announcing the final standings.Forfeits: There are two types of forfeits that may be awarded.Challenge Forfeits: In order to claim a forfeit win due to no acceptance of a challenge, please post a note to the league forum thread that a challenge has been issued, and include a link to the active challenge. Challenges expire around 7-8 days after being issued. If a challenge expires, it shall be the responsibility of the team who did not accept the original challenge to send a new challenge, or a forfeit win will be awarded to the issuer of the original challenge. If match registration has not started at least 72 hours before the scheduled start time, a forfeit win will be awarded to the challenging team.If no note has been posted, the result will be a double forfeit, and will count as a 0-0.Minimum Board Forfeits: In order to claim a forfeit win due to lack of boards, teams must have clear evidence that a team did not meet the minimum boards at the match's intended start time. If a match has started late, the team claiming a forfeit must have visual evidence (e.g. a screenshot) that shows that they met the minimum on time. Past matches do not count as visual evidence for this purpose. If no such evidence is available, the must must be played as a normal match. Teams are encouraged to make sure Auto-Start is set to No when setting up challenges to make adjudicating these forfeits easier.Communications: Team admins should not communicate directly with non-admin members of the opposing team. Please work directly with the opposing team admins and/or USTCL admins through private messages to avoid public conflict and confusion. Please see Team Admin best practices for additional details. Team Filtering Guidelines Per the spirit of the US Team Chess League (USTCL), teams are encouraged to seek out new members and strengthen their teams. In order to ensure teams are accepting players in a fair manner, the following guidelines must be followed: Do not remove players from matches, EXCEPT:Players with timeout of 15% or higher (removal allowed)multiplayers (removal requested)Accept all players into your group who have a reasonable connection to your state or province. Players may only be denied in the following cases:new players who have been on chess.com for less than 3 months (denial allowed, not required)abusive players (denial recommended)players who have no connection to your state or province, or are already members of another state or province's clubDo not remove players from your group, EXCEPT:abusive playersmultiplayersinactive players (more than 1 year)closed accountsDo not deny players access to your group because of:ratingtimeouts (dealt with by allowing removal from matches)suspected cheating (recommended to report to chess.com)number of games completed (dealt with by match minimum)

I remember what it's like to play chess. I mean real chess with real pieces and a board. Closing my eyes I can almost hear the press of the clock buttons as the moves were made. Oh to feel the Queen in my fingers as she slides into place for checkmate! Years ago I could only find that at tournaments a few hours drive away. I was a chess player, all alone. Fortunately, it did not stay that way. A local club was formed by like minded players, and boy did we have fun! Maybe you are as I was, and online games are the only option available, but what if it wasn't... Some have mentioned a desire to connect with local players to play for enjoyment. It's hard to make that connection without knowing who or even where a meeting is happening! If you would like to once again unpack your pieces and prepare for a friendly battle with another local player, please use the comments to inquire as to area and days for a possible meet up. We are interested in any outcomes or meet ups, so let us know! Please follow COVID protocols. Remember to respect each other, and we all enjoy the games!

So this season is over for us, with a 0.5/7 score. We drew Mississippi. Here's a look at the standings as of April with one match still ongoing: Standings updated for the beginning of April! Division 4 Updated: 4/3/23 Pos. Team Points R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 1 Wyoming 7/7 WV KY SD MA WI MS ID 2 Wisconsin 6/7 KY SD MA ID WY WV MS 3 South Dakota 4.5/7 ID WI WY MS MA KY WV 4 Mississippi 3.5/7 MA ID WV SD KY WY WI 5 Kentucky 2/6 WI WY ID WV MS SD MA 6 Idaho 2/7 SD MS KY WI WV MA WY 7 Massachusetts 1.5/6 MS WV WI WY SD ID KY 8 West Virginia 0.5/7 WY MA MS KY ID WI SD

Hi Everyone! The subject is an important question for us, in order to provide events at the right time for you to enjoy them! So let us know when would you be able to enjoy a Live Match or Tournament? Morning? Afternoon? Evening? 9:45pm? Please know this does not commit you to anything, but we want to give you every opportunity to enjoy the game we all love. You, collectively, are the club!