March 6, 2025

 

 

Dear New York State Scholastic Championship Players, Parents, Coaches and Guests,

 

             Thank You All for registering for the 57th edition of the New York State Scholastic Championships— one of the USCF’s longest-running scholastic chess tournaments!

 

                This year we have the most players that this event has ever had in its history! We again have had to cap entries due to space limitations. I want to Thank Everyone who helped us keep our Wait List moving, including those who advised us early that they would not be attending and those who made their requests for section switches early. Because of everyone's help, we were able to move 97 players from the Wait List to the actual tournament.  

 

 

PLEASE CHECK THE LIST OF ADVANCE ENTRIES AT OUR REGISTRATION PAGE:

www.chessaction.com

(or click here for a list of the advance entries).

 

 

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR PLAYER’S INFORMATION IS LISTED CORRECTLY FOR THE TOURNAMENT SECTION, SCHOOL AND GRADE.

 

 

PLEASE EMAIL director@chess.us to contact Continental Chess about corrections needed.

PLEASE EMAIL US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE REGARDING CORRECTIONS!

 

 

  

    PLEASE BE ADVISED: THIS CLOSE TO THE TOURNAMENT, WE MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO PROCESS ADDITIONAL REQUESTS TO CHANGE SECTIONS.

 

 

  Also please see the New York State Scholastic Championships website, which has standings and pairings, and links to the information for this year as well as results from prior years.

 

          

         WE WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS WHERE THEY WILL BE PLAYING BECAUSE WE HAVE THREE SEPARATE LOCATIONS FOR THE TOURNAMENT GAMES IN THIS LARGE EVENT!

 

        

    The Middle School Championship, K-8 Under 1600 and K-8 Under 900 Sections will not be played in the Hilton Hotel or in the Saratoga City Center.  The Middle School sections are in a DIFFERENT location: in the Excelsior Springs Ballroom, next to the Courtyard by Marriott HotelThe Courtyard and the Excelsior Springs Ballroom are about a ten minute walk north of the Hilton along Excelsior Avenue. The Courtyard by Marriott Hotel’s address is 11 Excelsior Avenue, and the address of the Excelsior Springs Ballroom, next to the hotel, is 47 Excelsior Avenue, in Saratoga Springs. You should be able to walk to the end of the Hilton Hotel’s parking lot and then continue north on Excelsior Avenue, past the Olde Bryan Inn and onto the Courtyard Hotel and the Excelsior Ballroom on the left.

         

     We understand the inconvenience in having the Middle School sections separated from the rest of the sections in the Hilton Hotel by a 10-minute walk outdoors in the winter. However, we are very fortunate to have such a first-rate tournament facility and hotel so close to the Hilton available and able to accommodate our large number of players. 

 

   

         Five sections of the tournament will be played in the Saratoga Springs City Center, adjacent to the Hilton Hotel via an indoor walkway. The K-5 Under 1400 Section will be mostly played in Room B on the first floor. The Elementary Championship, K-5 Under 1000, K-5 Under 600 and the Primary Championship Sections will all be playing in the Main Hall on the first floor of the Saratoga Springs City Center, known also as Hall D. 

 

           The K-3 Under 800, K-1 Championship and K-1 Under 400 Sections will all be held in the Saratoga Ballroom of the Saratoga Hilton Hotel.

 

     Note that the Hilton Hotel has a reduced rate for parking for Chess participants: $6 for up to four hours and $12 a day for overnight parking.

 

 

    We recommend that you sign up for our What'sApp Participant Groups, where you can be updated quickly with important news about games in your section.

 

The links to the What'sApp Groups will be on the Tournament Website at chessevents.com

 

 

    We will also try to text the pairings to the individual players or parents (but receiving pairings by text in an event as large as this will often be subject to delays), and we will make them available on the tournament website as well. If you registered online and provided your cell phone number with the texting pairings option, you should be all set. If not, you can provide that information to the Tournament Staff for future texting of pairings.

 

     PLEASE BRING A CLOCK WITH TIME-DELAY.  The tournament will provide sets and boards but NOT clocks.

 

           The Skittles Room for these sections will be in Room M1, on the first floor of the Saratoga Springs City Center.

 

           At 9:30 am Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday March 9th, we will also have a New York State Chess Association Open House and Tournament Feedback Forum. Here you can learn about NYSCA, a 501 (c) (3) organization and America’s oldest state chess association, and its efforts to promote and support Chess in New York State.

 

Please email Continental Chess at director@chess.us if you have any questions.

 

    Players who are withdrawing from the tournament:  Please tell us your name, ID number and section. We request at least one hour's notice if you are not coming to a game-- requests made less than one hour before the round may result in your losing by forfeit.

 

 

 

          Below are some additional links to other useful information.

 

          The Continental Chess website, which has much chess information and historical data.

 

          The New York State Scholastic Championships website, which has standings and pairings, and links to the information for this year, links to What'sApp groups and results from prior years.

 

          The Tournament Rules

         The Kindergarten/First Grade Rules

         The Continental Chess Code Of Conduct

          A Parents’ And Coaches’ Guide To Scholastic Chess

 

           Thank You Very Much for your participation and we truly appreciate your support as we strive to provide all of you with an excellent tournament!

 

 

           Welcome or welcome back to historic Saratoga Springs, New York!

 

                                                                                   Steve Immitt

                                                                  Continental Chess