Dear Chess Coaches:

Below are the results of the 2005 Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Championships. Congratulations to Madison West High School for three-peating for the second time in eight years! In all 510 players participated in the event, 19 short of last year’s record.

I walked through the lodging floors Sunday and night and they were in the best shape I’ve ever seen! Thanks to all the coaches for keeping the floors clean.

Next year’s event will be held at UW-Oshkosh March 11-12, 2006. Please note that in 2007 UW-Oshkosh’s spring break will move a week later and be March 18-25, 2007. To avoid congestion on campus, it is best that we stick to a weekend on their spring break. So, look for 2007’s event to be a week later.

IM Smetankin Tops Tour

IM Smetankin still is intent upon breaking the hold class players have had over the top places in the tour, building a 65-point lead over the field. Rounding out the top five places are class players Guy Hoffman, Neil Gleason, Jeremy Kane, and Patrick McElwee.

The Class A race a lot closer, with 12 points separating Guy Hoffman and Neil Gleason. Larry Schmitt has a commanding lead in Class B, with nearly 30 points over Bill Olk, while in Class C Mike Fixel holds a nearly 20-point lead over Matt Waller.

In Class D, Sandy Pahl holds a slim lead over Ken Rasmussen, while in the U1200 category Brian Luo holds a commanding lead over Tom Mattson.

2004 Junior Open

Beginner's Section Crosstables

Purpose. The purpose of the WCA Tour is to increase participation in Wisconsin chess. It is also intended as a "tour" of Wisconsin chess, not a study in a particular site or city. This will require that the winners be able to travel, either by themselves or with others. For these reasons, the tour should have a wide geographical distribution. The Tour events should also be selected that one or two events should not dominate the determination of the winner.

SELECTION. Events that are likely to be selected are those that are advertised throughout the state, either by ads in Chess Life, the mailing of flyers, or both. There must be one section open to all players. It is desirable that the event be a five (or more) round swiss on a weekend, and run by a competent organizer and/or director. Four round "Actions" will be considered. New events in a new area run by people unfamiliar to the Tour Committee will not be considered in the first year. If they appear to be competent, they may be considered in the following years. Selection to the tour may also be viewed as an impetus for directors to follow these guidelines, or "get their act together."

SCHEDULE. The events should be spread-out during the year, but it will be allowed to have more than one event in a month as long as they are two weeks minimum apart.

PRIZES. There are currently seven prizes for the tour, payable after the final tour event.

FUNDING. The tour is funded by having the organizer of a tour event contribute $1 per entry to the WCA tour fund, payable to the WCA Treasurer within one week after the completion of the tournament.

POINTS. The Tour list will be published on the WCA website. It is compiled by the Tour statistician, currently Ken Rasmussen. The points for each event are calculated using the wallcharts of the event. The rating of the median player (unrateds will be assigned a 1000 rating) is multiplied by the total number of players and divided by 1000. That is the total points for a player that wins every game.

For those who do not win every game, simply divide the total by the number of rounds, and multiply by your final score. Hence, a score of 3.5 in a 5 round tournament would equal 70% of total points. Tournament Directors will receive tour points based on the median score of their class/100 point group whichever is higher. For split section events, contact the statistician for details.