Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXIV: Goddesschess Prizes Awarded

Hola darlings!

Another successful edition of the HCCC is in the books.

Here is the rundown on $835 in Goddesschess prize money paid out to our winners this event.

The prize structure is open-ended; for instance, if ten chess femmes entered and played in the Open, and they each won all of their games, the total prize payout from Goddesschess would be $2,000 ($50 x 4 rounds x 10 femmes).  In the Open, a win by a female player is worth $50 and a draw is worth $25; in the Reserve, a win by a female player is worth $20 and a draw is worth $10.  The top female player in each Section also receives paid entry into the next HCCC if she chooses to enter.  Beginning a Challenge or two ago, we also instituted a perfect score prize for the chess femmes, one for each Section: $80 in the Open, $40 in the Reserve.  All Goddesschess prizes are in addition to what a player qualifies for under the tournament's prize structure.

Each October beginning with the HCCC in October 2013, in memory of Don McLean, Goddesschess' late webmaster, researcher, writer and reporter, we also fund a Don McLean memorial prize of $100 for the top male scorer in the Open and $50 for the top male scorer in the Reserve.

Open Section:
Anupama Rajendra won $150 (also won free entry to HCC XXV, $40)
Ritika Pandey won $100
Susanna Ulrich won $50
Megan Chen won $25

Reserve Section:
Simran Bhatia won $60 (also won free entry to HCC XXV, $30)
Madeline Weber won $50
Miriam Luevano won $40
Ellen Wanek won $40
Aradh Kaur won $40
Radhika Gupta won $40
Kai Mills won $20
Nika Kwon had zero points and thus did not win anything

There was no perfect score by any of the chess femmes this Tournament.

Don McLean Award:

Open Section:
Erik Sanntarius won $100

Reserve Section:
Sidharth Rane won $25
David Mertz won $25

Congratulations to all of the Goddesschess prize winners, and hope to have you all return for the Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXV in April 2017!

Hales Corners Chess Challenge XXIV

Hola everyone!

The HCCC XXIV is now underway at the beautiful Olympia Resort Hotel in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.  It is a long and grueling day - I know because I played in a few (a very few; my poor brain couldn't take the strain): Four rounds with the last round beginning at 6 p.m. (first round began at 10 a.m.).

Here's the breakdown of players from Southwest Chess Club's Tom Fogec ("CF's" are chess femmes):

Open--41 entered--4 CF's--9.8%

Reserve--37 entered--8 CF's--21.6%

Total--78 entered--12 CF's--15.4%

Good luck to all of the players, but you know I'm particularly rooting for those chess femmes!

XXIV Hales Corners Chess Challenge!

Hola!  It's that time of year again, chess femmes, and I'm looking forward to the largest turn-out yet of female chess players at the October 15, 2016 Hales Corners Chess Challenge.  I hope you will come out and support this great Tournament.  Not to brag (ok, we're bragging), but the Challenges have a tremendous turn-out of female players.  Female chessplayers in the US and in the world are about 7.5% of all players.  The Challenges typically have a female turn-out about twice as large as that national/international average.  Now that's saying something.  Let's continue to break records, shall we, ladies!

As you know, Goddesschess has sponsored special prizes for female players since we first began supporting the Southwest Chess Club's wonderful Chess Challenge events, beginning with Challenge VIII way back before I started getting grey hair.  The prizes for female players are awarded IN ADDITION TO any other prizes which a player may win.  We have tweaked the prize structure a bit to try and entice more of  you to sign up to play in the Open section, instead of playing it safe in the Reserve :)  The prizes for female players in the Open are now more than 2x as large as in the Reserve.  Also continued are the recently introduced Perfect Score bonuses for the femmes playing in both Open and Reserve sections.  Come on, chess femmes, I know you can do it!

Gone but not forgotten is our former webmaster and the magician who regularly updated the old Goddesschess website on a weekly basis.  The website still exists, but has not been updated since Don McLean's untimely passing on October 12, 2012.  In Don's memory, Goddesschess provides special prizes in the October Challenges only for male players.  Yep, dudes, Goddesschess spreads the love once again in this October Challenge and gives you a chance to win a cool $100 in the Open or $50 in the reserve for the top-finishing male player.

PDF of the Tournament flyer and entry form.

Info:

Saturday, October 15, 2016
Two Sections – Open & Reserve (Under 1600)
FORMAT: Four Round Swiss System - Four Games in One Day - USCF Rated TIME CONTROL: Game in 60 Minutes; 6 second delay
ENTRY FEE: $40 – Open; $30 – Reserve (both sections $5 more after October 13, 2016) Comp Entry Fee for USCF 2200+: Entry fee subtracted from any prizes won
SITE REGISTRATION: 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

ROUNDS: 10 am -- 1 pm -- 3:30 pm -- 6 pm Pairings by WinTD---No Computer Entries---No Smoking

PRIZES OPEN              RESERVE
 1st—$325                     1st—$100
 2nd—$175                    2nd—$75
 A—$100                       D—$50
 B & Below—$75          E & Below—$40

SITE: Olympia Resort Hotel---1350 Royale Mile Road---Oconomowoc, WI 53066—1-800-558-9573 (mention Southwest Chess Club for $99 room rate)

ENTRIES TO: Robin Grochowski – 3835 E Morris Avenue—Cudahy, WI 53110 --- rgrochowski@wi.rr.com QUESTIONS TO: Tom Fogec -- 414-405-4207 (cell)
USCF I.D. Required -- Bring your own clocks – Sets and Boards Provided

Good luck to all!  I'll be following the action via periodic reports from my chess buddy Ellen Wanek, who will be playing, and also following updates on the Southwest Chess Club blog.