 WELCOME, USCF MEMBERS
Welcome to World Chess Live (WCL), a new family-friendly online chess service. WCL is pleased to sponsor USCF's
2009 Grand Prix and 2009 Junior Grand Prix. We're providing major prize funds and
also running Online Grand Prix events now and
through the rest of the year. In addition, WCL is granting a six-month free membership to each USCF member!
Sign-up for Free Membership
Free six-month memberships to World Chess Live are now available to all members of the U.S. Chess Federation, whether or not they are currently members of
WCL. For new WCL members, simply check the USCF Member box and enter your USCF membership number and PIN
on the WCL
registration page. If you're already registered with WCL, go to your account
page and use the USCF link at the bottom.
Welcome to World Chess Live's USCF Challenge!
World Chess Live invites you to participate in the USCF Challenge. The challenge consists of solving three chess problems, and if you succeed, you win $10 in crowns (WCL's own currency). You can use them to buy chess lessons, chess merchandise or tournament entry fees on WCL.
Solve all three and win! Good luck!
Only active USCF members with registered accounts on WCL are eligible to participate. If you don't have a WCL account, register one here. Remember, USCF members get 6-months free membership, so register now!
SuperNationals 2009
A Day in the Life of the SuperNationals
by Courtney Jamison
Hello to all at World Chess Live!
© Betsy Dynako (WCL)
Waking up at 10:30am during a chess tournament is rarely enjoyed, especially for the relatively seasoned player that I am, but Thursday was that exception to the rule. Bughouse was the first side event for the day, teams totaling over 200.
The tournament was held in the Presidential Ballroom, where the high school section will be for the main tournament, and everything started on time despite all that can and will go wrong in a tournament of such enormity. Knowing that my already limited bughouse skills were either rusty or fading, I decided to stave off playing and help my mom's students throughout one of their first major tournaments.
I fel t that overall the Bughouse ran smoothly, and even with the amount of people of all ages running about, everything seemed to be okay. The pairings went up shortly after the end of the round, the divisions were sectioned off clearly, and the TDs had a firm grip on the mass of kids, parents, and coaches. I always love watching how these things are run; all of the excitement, frantic running, joyous high-fives, somber sighs, rowdy yelps, all of this is done for the love and pain of chess. It reminds me of why I keep playing.
After the bughouse finished at around 2pm, our little group of 12 moseyed on over to the Delta Island for some pizza and a chance to take in the beautiful scenery in the Biosphere. (Weird how that refers to the inside of a building.) The kids scoffed their lunch and played commando in the jungle riverside with walkie-talkies for added fun. I occasionally looked up at the glass ceiling throughout our 2-hour lunch break, and noticed the subtle change to a perfectly blue sky to a rather gloomy and later thunderous one.
As we picked up our things to head back to the Presidential Ballroom for Blitz, my theory that I can always find some crazy story from a chess tournament comes true; over the hotel loudspeaker, there's an announcement that there is a tornado warning for the immediate area and everyone should go to a designated shelter or similar. Of course, this is followed by an annoying and slightly "scary" beep. After about 25 minutes of waiting in the Skittles Room, (Ryman Exhibit I believe?) the warning has past and an applause from the crowd in the designated severe weather shelter erupts. And it's only Thursday.
It's around 5pm now; 800 decide to test their skills of speed chess in hopes for bragging rights and another chance to stand proudly before their parents and/or friends at the Grand Ole Opry Stage where many country greats have stood just as proud. I played as a warm up to Friday, but I also love the spontaneity of blitz and the fact that you can try anything without seeing the effects on your rating. (Unless you count your quick-rating, but I'm definitely not!) It's fun, it's fast, but that absolutely does not mean it's not as competitive. The start of the tournament was a little slow at the beginning because many people didn't show up, resulting in confusion with the TDs whether to repair the kids without opponents or not. Later there was a bit of overcrowding in the K-3 and K-6 pairing areas, so they moved them outside of the Ballroom. Other than that, the process picked up in pace and all 6 round robin rounds managed to start before "9:30pm".
I was slightly disappointed in my blitz play, but I was happy to be there in the madness of it all, meeting up with familiar faces, and helping my mom's students adjust to their new experience of a SuperNationals. Even in the myriads of unknown people moving from place to place, we all still feel a strong bond that secretly connects us in the most inexplicable of ways: chess.
Now to the main event! Good luck everyone!
WCL Videos
© Betsy Dynako (WCL)
Garry Kasparov kicked off the USCF SuperNationals with an inspirational opening address to over 5,000 kids at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. The WCL reporting team of Macauley Peterson, John Henderson and Betsy Dynako is also there on-site following all the action for our members - so please checkout below all the videos, picture galleries and reports.
USCF members can earn points online on WCL that count towards the regular
over-the-board Grand Prix tournament series. In addition, younger members
may add to their Junior Grand Prix point totals as well by playing in World
Chess Live's new Online Grand Prix tournaments, running each week through the
rest of this year. Check out the WCL
Online Grand Prix page for full details.
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