Chess nuts excited for weekend tourney
Amy Dalrymple, The Forum
Published Friday, October 17, 2008
Area chess nuts will have a rare opportunity this weekend.
A chess tournament hosted by Concordia College is attracting high-level talent from around the region.
Brian Thompson, organizer of the ChessNuts Challenge tournament, said five top chess players known as masters have registered for the event.
It’s a big deal for chess enthusiasts because otherwise they’d have to travel out of the area to compete with such talent, Thompson said.
There are 678 players in the United States with a master or higher rating, according to the United States Chess Federation. None live in North Dakota.
Of the masters coming to the tournament, three are rated in the top 150 players in the country.
“Because we don’t have a lot of opportunity here to be exposed to someone of this level, this is very exciting,” said Thompson, who leads the local ChessNuts Chess Club.
About 60 to 80 players are expected to participate in the tournament, to be played in five rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
On Friday night, two international chess masters will lead instructional events.
An international master, who is known as “the chess doctor,” will conduct a simultaneous exhibition playing up to 29 chess games at once.
A special scholastic tournament for players in grades K-12 will be held on Saturday.
Joe McNamara, who coaches the Longfellow Elementary chess team, said students are excited to be around high-level players.
“For us to pull five master-level players in, it’s pretty incredible,” said McNamara, who also is president of the North Dakota Chess Association.
Mike Sailer, the 15-time North Dakota chess champion, also is excited about the opportunity.
“For me to be able to play in a tournament where there are better players than me, it doesn’t happen very often,” said Sailer, of Grand Forks.
This is the second year Thompson has organized a tournament in Moorhead.
Last year, the event attracted two masters and about 50 players.
This year it is drawing a bigger crowd, with players coming from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Manitoba.
Previously, the closest tournament was in Sioux Falls, S.D., but that was discontinued last year.
“This is neat that we’re putting together a big chess tournament in this area,” McNamara said.
Source: http://www.in-forum.com/
(Chess nuts) boasting in an open foyer.