Is the Austin Chess Club the original Austin Chess Enterprises under a new directorship?
No, the Austin Chess Club is a new organization started in late 2005
by Peter Kappler, Drew Sarkisian, Michael Simpson and Josh
Newsham. The current directors include Drew Sarkisian, Peter Kappler and Lori Balkum (who is also the club's most senior USCF tournament director). Austin Chess Enterprises lives on through the efforts of
Gary Gaiffe and Lori Balkum who run the G/10 Monday night events at
the Dobie Food Court on U.T. campus. The Austin Chess Club was
formed to meet the needs of players seeking to play more serious,
USCF-rated chess on a regular basis.
When does the club meet? How late into the evening can
a meeting run?
The club meets weekly on Sunday
nights. Club doors open at 6:00pm; registration closes at 6:25pm
sharp (well, OK, we try to do this, but often we have a line of folks registering at 6:30pm). The club stays open until the final game is finished or the
last Club officer leaves, whichever is later (typically
11:00-11:30pm).
What kind of events does the club run?
Our main events are 4-round swisses (1 game per week) played at either at a
30/90 G/60 time control, or G/90 with 1 minute inc. per move time control. In between each 4-week tournament, typically we run a
one-night, 5-round G/15 blitz event which may or may not be a USCF-Quick-rated event (we always post on the web site whether or not these events are rated).
Why doesn't the club open earlier? We have children who want to play in the events! The club is sub-leasing space from the Bridge Center of Austin, so we need to be cognizant of their schedule while building our own. The Bridge Center uses the facilities most weekends, typically ending at 5:00pm and sometimes later. The director(s) need at least 1/2 an hour to prepare for the evening meeting of the chess club. Weeknights have the same scheduling issues for children, and puts even more pressure on players and directors to leave work and get to the club in a timely manner.
What is your policy concerning pairing of family
members in tournaments?
During the early rounds of a tournament (for example, the first 2
rounds of a 4 round event), we will do our best to avoid pairing
family members against one another. During the latter rounds of an
event, however, this artificial manipulation of the normal pairings
may have a significant impact on the results / distribution of
prizes. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that you will not play a family
member during the entire duration of an event. We thank you for your
understanding in this matter.
Why doesn't the Club always have "Open" sections
in their standard rated events?
One of the main goals of the Club is to provide an environment where
all players may enjoy themselves, playing against the strongest
appropriate competition. Many of the stronger players do not have
anything to gain from playing down 400-500 points for 1 or 2 rounds of
a 4 round event. We appreciate the fact that it's exciting to play
against only the strongest competition; this holds for the
higher-rated members of the organization as well as the lower-rated
members.
Does the Club dues structure and prize policy cover
club costs?
No, at this time we do not have enough members to cover all club
costs. We hope to eventually have enough members for the club to
become self-sufficient. For the time being, please enjoy yourself; we
appreciate your support!
Please contact us if you have any questions.