Coventry Chess Club - Policies

Saturday February 22, Rob Roy hosts 2020 EASTERN CONNECTICUT OPEN

$160-1st, $80-2nd. Guaranteed.

3 Round Swiss, G/60;d5 Affects both quick and regular rating. Round Times: 10:30, 1:30, 3:45.  Entry Fees: $35 Cash Only On-site Only: 9:45 am - 10:10 am. No Advance Entry. One Section. Accelerated Pairings. Wheelchair Accessible. Site: Mill Brook Place, 1267 Main St., Coventry, CT 06238 Across street from Bidwell Tavern is our stone building at rear of parking lot 

Double-Check our SNOW-CANCEL page

 

 

$35 CASH ONLY
9:45 am. - 10:10 am.
No checks
No credit/debit cards
No credit
No free entry
No advance entry
No online entry
No late entry
No USCF memberships
No USCF renewals

 

 

YOU MUST NOTIFY THE TD IF:
1) You cannot understand English language.
2) You have conditions which may impact you today.

 

WHEN TOURNAMENT GAMES ARE IN PROGRESS:
THIS ROOM IS FOR TOURNAMENT PLAY ONLY.
NO TALKING, NO ANALYSIS, NO POST-MORTEMS.

 

BETWEEN ROUNDS FEEL FREE TO ENJOY THE
COMRADERIE OF YOUR FELLOW CHESS FRIENDS.

ATTENTION PARENTS !

Children cannot register themselves.
Children not admitted without the supervising adult.
You must notify the TD when leaving the hall, even if
leaving your child behind for only for a short time.


Do not walk away from TD desk until your entry is complete.
You need to verify we have your 1) Correct USCF ID# ,
2) USCF Expiration Date, 3) Current Regular USCF Rating.


Registration should take 2 minutes or less for each person.
Please refrain from discussing non-related matters.


We do converse with our players, but registration time is
not the best time to do so. Please wait until later.

 

 

NEARBY RESTAURANTS

Bidwell Tavern  1260 Main St.  (33 ft)        $$

Phoenix  1203 Main St.,    (222 ft)              $

Panda Garden  1364 Main St.  (0.2 mi)       $

Subway  1364 Main St.  (0.2 mi)                $

Lakeview  50 Lake St.,  (0.3 mi)               $$$

Citgo Gas Station has an ATM, 1381 Main St.

 

 
COVENTRY CHESS CLUB

STATE OF THE CLUB REPORT, FEB 2020

BY ROB ROY


I am happy to report that our Coventry Chess Club is surviving.  I expect at least

18 players on FEB 22, for our 2020 EASTERN CONNECTICUT OPEN.

We have conducted 46 tournaments since May 2016.  During 2016 our average

attendance was 9.35. 2017 was 10.0. 2018 was 11.8. 2019 was 11.9.

We have accumulated 163 players, 82 of which only played once and never came

back.  The odds of a new player coming back after his first visit is 50 percent.

I observed a similar phenomenon back in 1990, when I tied with NYC to win the

national membership drive.  Most of my enrolls did not renew after a year.

New players usually finish 0-3. They get a rude awakening that they are not as strong

as they thought, and that winning at chess will require work. More than likely

this new player was winning all of his games at home, at work etc...

I am proud to have at least 10 youth players who play with our adults.

I admire their persistence, and I can see their progress.

We will no longer conduct tournaments during the summer; May-August.

Our summertime tournaments always lost us a lot of money.

I am always out to attract new players to our program. On the average; each of

our events attracts about 4 new players.

We have a dozen regular players active in the past year.  They are dedicated to

improving their chess, and they compete often.  Based on their 2019 attendance

I can expect at least 8 of these players at each tournament.

I have been a volunteer and donor for this program for 4 years. Joe Bihlmeyer

has donated hundreds of dollars to our program. Others are; Derek Meredith,

Rick Bauer, Hayes Goodman, Lisa Smith, Art Nagel, Dan Zhou, Steven Stewart.

Some players show up early and help with setting up tables and chairs;

Dan Smith, Abe Mondal, Jordan Groff. More stayed late to help with tear down.

All of this helps to keep our entry fees affordable, thank you.

My duties include attracting new players, and retention of our regular players.

I need to encourage each of our members to attend more often. We need better

attendance otherwise we will need to find additional ways to pay our expenses.

Maybe an annual membership fee ? Will this ultimately help us or hurt us ?

Another option is to increase the entry fee to $40. I am hesitant to implement

either of these options, preferring better attendance to solve the problem.

So for now, I will have a table to sell chess equipment, donating $$ to the club.

I have 8 chess clocks that I bring with me, made available for loan to the players.

I also bring in chessmen and boards my players can help themselves to.

I love having conversations with my players, but most of the time my conversations

are limited to... "Where is the restroom ?". "What time is the next round ?"

"Can I have a cookie ?" "What is the WiFi password ?" "How do ratings work ?".

Read my short biography below, you might discover we have things in common.

 

In 1975 I became an organizer and newspaper columnist.

My first few clubs were in Waterbury and Wolcott Conn.

I was elected state chess assoc. president in 1985.

I was re-elected 9 more times.  I organized 10 annual

state championship tournaments.

My column ran weekly for 25 years, Waterbury Sunday Republican.

I organized and directed hundreds of USCF tournaments

in Southington, Danbury, Naugatuck, Middletown (Wesleyan),

West Haven, North Haven, Hartford, Norwich and New London.

Best tournament I organized was Bushnell $5,000 Cup, 1990.

I have always advocated playing chess. Since 1976 I have

tried my best to bring new players into the game.

My tournaments provide Connecticut players with the opportunity

to get acclimated to playing under tournament conditions.

Our prizes are guaranteed, regardless of attendance.

I always recommended to kids they play in adult tournaments.

To become stronger you must play stronger opponents.

 

I worked at The Travelers in Hartford then IBM in Southbury.

For 12 years I was full-time dealer at Mohegan Sun Casino.

I dealt BlackJack, Poker and Roulette.

Liz and I are cat-lovers, so far we have rescued 5 cats.

I also play backgammon. I am skillful at cooking.

I have severe diabetes and other medical conditions.

For the past 5 years I've been barely surviving on social

security retirement. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy all the

volunteer work I do for Chess in Connecticut.

Rob Roy

 

Connecticut Chess Magazine # 193

 

Saturday February 22, Rob Roy hosts 2020 EASTERN CONNECTICUT OPEN

$160-1st, $80-2nd. Guaranteed.

3 Round Swiss, G/60;d5 Affects both quick and regular rating. Round Times: 10:30, 1:30, 3:45.  Entry Fees: $35 Cash Only On-site Only: 9:45 am - 10:10 am. No Advance Entry. One Section. Accelerated Pairings. Wheelchair Accessible. Site: Mill Brook Place, 1267 Main St., Coventry, CT 06238 Across street from Bidwell Tavern is our stone building at rear of parking lot 

Double-Check our SNOW-CANCEL page

 

 

COVENTRY CHESS ATTENDANCE

2016: 13, 12, 8, 7, 8, 4, 8, 3, 12.

2017: 10, 10, 9, 8, 5, 6, 16, 18, 15 10, 8, 5.

2018:  8, 9, 11, 12, 7, 10, 11, 13, 8, 12, 13, 18.

2019: 12, 23, 12, 12, 10, 7, 11, 8. 9, 15, 14, 10.

2020: 12.


I am looking for help financing the "Coventry Chess USCF Tournaments" and the "Connecticut Chess Magazine".  So far my only revenue source has been from tournament entry fees. Our first tournament was May 2016, and we've held one per month ever since.

We've had only 10 that generated extra revenue over current expenses. We had 9 tournaments that broke-even, and 27 tournaments that lost money.  I am hundreds in the red.  I doubt I will ever see that money again.

We have 3 tournaments coming up: Feb 22, Mar 21, and Apr 18, after which our USCF program in Coventry will have been in operation for four complete years, with 49 tournaments completed. It takes a long time to build up a chess program.

I give acknowledgement to Joe Bihlmeyer, without whom our program would have failed back in 2018.  Joe is an asset to us in many ways. Everybody is friends with Joe. He is generous with giving chess advice to anyone.  Joe has also kept us alive financially, donating hundreds of dollars to us.

Connecticut Chess Magazine began March 2010, and so far has had 192,000 visitors.  I give acknowledgement to Alan Lasser, writing "Game of the Week" column for many years.   We are a bona-fide magazine because of his chess column, without it CCM would be merely announcements and reports.

I include the New Britain Chess Club, Conn State Chess Assoc., Play More Chess Academy in Hamden, and West Hartford Scholastics by Norman Burtness.  I also want to acknowledge all the new officers of the state chess association. IM Jan Van de Mortel is doing a great job as president.

Coach Dan Starbuck Pelletier is activating chess, especially in the Weston-Wilton area. Newcomer Suhas Kodali is backup TD and reporter at NBCC.  Bob Cyr, state chess historian, writes frequently.

 

 

2020 EASTERN CONNECTICUT OPEN  FEB. 22

3SS, G/60 d5. Mill Brook Place, 1267 Main St. (Rt 31), Coventry, CT 06238. EF: $35 Cash Only Onsite Only. $$GTD: $160-80. Reg.: 9:45 am - 10:10 am. Rds.: 10:30, 1:30, 3:45. One Section. Accel.Pairings. W. INFO: ConnecticutChess@Gmail.com

 

 

Check our SNOW-CANCEL page

 

 

 

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN SET AND CLOCK

 

Please bring your chess sets and clocks with you.

The TD is under no obligation to supply equipment.

Historically I have always brought extras that I

loan out, but this is getting harder for me to do.

Please bring your own score-book, pen and/or pencil.

I don't get payment from anybody to run this program.

We pay rent to Town & Rec for use of this building.

All our expenses get paid from our tournaments.

 

LOST EQUIPMENT

 

Players forget to take equipment with them when they leave.

None of the items have identifying markings on them.

Players should mark their equipment with their name and email.

I have several items past the 90 days I usually hold them for.

Email a description to ConnecticutChess@gmail.com