Labor Day Chess Madness Preview
September 2, 2010
fantasyimageslide.jpgAs the rest of the country prepares to go back to school with one last beach getaway, chessplayers break out their boards ( and not the surfing variety!) The late journalist and chess promoter Jerry Hanken first coined the term, "Labor Day Chess Madness" to refer to the coast to coast flourishing of local chess events, including many State Championships. You can find full details for the tournaments listed below, including schedule and prizes on MSA.

For the third year in a row, CLO invites you to not only learn about the events, but also to share your own stories. If you're playing in a Labor Day tournament, don't hesitate to send your thoughts, photos and/or games to [email protected] for possible publication in a CLO series of round-up articles.  

North Carolina Open
The 2010 North Carolina Open will be held at the Holiday Inn Airport Charlotte this Labor Day weekend, Sept 3-5. Pre-entries have been brisk, with over 100 signed up in advance. The field will include GM Sergey Kudrin, along with IMs Jonathan Schroer, Alex Matros, Bryan Smith, and Oladapo Adu.

Tournament organizer Gary Newsom said, "This year's tournament features an aggressive new format that combines a very reasonable entry fee with $10,000 in guaranteed cash prizes. In addition to the cash, this event will determine the winner of the ChessCentral North Carolina Grand Prix, our yearly statewide competition for cash and chess merchandise. The tournament will also determine our state champion for 2010, and two players will qualify for the 2011 North Carolina Invitational Championship."

Illinois Open 
The ICA board solicited donations to pay the state's GMs and IMs to participate, so it's going to be the strongest Illinois Open (Oakbrook, IL) in years, with three GMs---Shulman, Gurevich and Mitkov---and three or four IMs. Andrea Rosen, who recently contributed "A Chess Mom on the Junior Closed", will report on the event. See event details here.

New York State Open
Matan Prilleltensky, who reported for CLO on the Atlantic Open and Learning From Your Losses will contribute a story on the New York State Open, which will be held in Albany, New York. This historic event is being held for the 132nd time. See details on the CCA website.  

Florida State Championship
The Florida State Championship will be held in Orlando, Florida. You can find preregistrations on the Central Florida Chess Association's homepage. Look for a tournament report from Melinda Matthews. Melinda most recently wrote for CLO on the Southern Open.

New England Open

A whooping 100 Grand Prix points are at stake in the 70th New England Open set for the Bradley Airport Hotel in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. GMs Perelshteyn and Ivanov are already signed up to play. See details on MSA and look for results and games on CLO.

32nd Annual Southern California Open
The Southern Californian Open is traditionally a strong event and offers up a $10,000 projected prize fund. Pre-registered players include IM Enrico Sevillano as well as young guns Kayden Troff and David Adelberg.  Look to CLO for games and results, and see more details on westernchess.com. 

64th Annual Tennessee Open
This state Championship event for the USCF headquarters home state will take place in Cookeville from September 3-5. Six-time state champ FM Todd Andrews will provide a dispatch from this event. See tournament details at www.tnchess.org 

2010 CalChess Labor Day Championships

This state Championship event will be held in San Francisco and features a $1200 projected first prize in the Master Section. 

Saint Louis District Championship
The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis always puts on exciting events, and expect their Labor Day event to be no exception. Details can be found on the CCSCSL website. Saint Louis is also gearing up for a unique fashion show and Raw Chess Challenge viewing party on September 10th as World #1 Magnus Carlsen takes on all comers. Saint Louis's own Hikaru Nakamura will be among the GM consultants to the World.

2010 New Jersey State Championship

Somerset, New Jersey plays host to an always-strong State Championship. See details and pre-registered players, which includes IM Dean Ippolito, here. 

66th Ohio Chess Congress
The Dayton Chess Club will host the Ohio Chess Congress from September 4-6th. GM Goldin is among the preregistered players. See more details on the club's official website: http://www.daytonchessclub.com/

76th Southwest Open
This year's Southwest Open will take place in Corpus Christi, Texas from September 3-6th.  See tournament details here http://www.guildtechs.com/swo/. Chief TD Franc Guadalupe will contribute a report to CLO on this event- also see Ivan Wijetunge's blog at gettingto2000.blogspot.com/

2010 Louisiana State Championship

Lafayette, LA will host a State Championship over Labor Day weekend. See details on the Louisiana Chess Association website. 

Oregon Open
See details on the 59th Oregon Open, to be held at the Portland Chess Club on http://pdxchess.com/.

6th Okie Chess Festival
The always-bustling Oklahoma chess scene will play host to another Labor Day event in Tulsa. See details on okchess.org.

61st Colorado Open
The Colorado State Championship goes down from September 4-5th in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Region 6 Open Championship
See details on this Minnesota tournament on the state website. 

Michigan Open
This State Championship event will be held in Lansing, Michigan from September 3-6th. See tournament details on the Michigan Chess Association website.  

If you're playing in a Labor Day tournament, don't hesitate to send your thoughts, photos and/or games to [email protected] for possible publication in a CLO series of round-up articles.  


All of the above tournaments are Grand Prix events. Visit our Grand Prix sponsors, Chesslecture.com and our Junior Grand Prix sponsors, Chessmagnetschool.com.