SC Grand Prix 5

I've been the TD for most of the SC Scholastic GP tournaments this year. The series of tournaments was set up by Chess Adventures out of Charlotte so I've just had to run them on Sat. We had fourteen players for the latest installment which has been about normal. With the State Scholastics coming up in a couple weeks we thought there'd be a bigger turnout. Overall the turnout has been disappointing and it doesn't look like the series will be offered next year. The strange thing is most of the players are coming from out of town, Spartanburg, Florence, Aiken, Greenville, etc... Most of the Midlands players aren't competing and most of the so called chess coaches around here are apparently choosing to keep their students away from competition.

On a positive note, the few kids from the Columbia Chess Club that are competing are dominating the series. Dan Caiello is leading the K-12 section, Ben Caiello leads the K-8 section and Chris Aluri is in second in the K-3 section only 2 points out of first.

I have a tournament this Sat and will probably help out with the Scholastic Champs next Sat. After not doing a whole lot outside the club last year I'll been busy with tournaments 5 of the last six weekends heading into March.

The rest of the year should slow down since I won't be doing anymore scholastic tournaments after April and I've stopped coaching chess. The rest of the year I'll work on my game and just running the club. Hopefully find some time to play with the trains too!