Vision of the PA Scholastic Coordinator

Hi! I am Dan Heisman, the Scholastic Chess Coordinator for Pennsylvania. The Scholastic Chess Coordinator job is a part of the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation’s (PSCF) organization. The PSCF is the official state arm of the US Chess Federation (USCF), a not-for-profit group.

The purpose of this page is to provide information to anyone involved with scholastic chess (K-12). My principal vision for scholastic chess in PA is that every student who is interested should have access to information about the world of chess.

1. I am forming e-mail lists and I need your help!

***If you read this page and you know of others who may be interested, please pass this address along to them!***

The power of this e-mail process will provide help for the maximum number of students!:
***I am forming e-mail lists for different scholastic chess purposes (e.g. organizing the state scholastic championship; tournaments and activities in PA, etc. If you wish to be added to one or more of these lists, please let me know!***

2. There are many places to get information about chess.
The best place to start may be the USCF. You can join or order a catalog by calling 1-800-388-KING or going to their web site, www.uschess.org.  The USCF sells books, equipment, videos, etc. They have a full-time scholastic chess coordinator, Beatrice Marinello and have packages to help schools that wish to form chess clubs.  The USCF has many scholastic programs and runs all of the national scholastic chess tournaments.  In 2001, there were over 4,700 students playing in the Nationals in Kansas City!  For ages Under 14, a one-year membership is $13 and includes the bi-monthly magazine SchoolMates.  For ages 14-17, a one year membership is $20 and includes the monthly magazine Chess Life.  The USCF Address is 3054 NYS Route 9W, New Windsor, NY 12553. The USCF advertises tournaments and gives national ratings to all players who play in USCF events.

3. If you wish to contact the PA Scholastic Coordinator (me), I can be reached the following ways:
 

• e-mail: danheisman@comcast.net
• phone: 610-649-0750
• Address: 1359 Garden Rd., Wynnewood, PA 19096
• My web page, full of scholastic chess info: http://members.home.net/danheisman/chess.htm

If you wish to contact the President of the PSCF, Dr. Ira Lee Riddle, his e-mail is iralee@aol.com
 

4. There are many chess tournaments around the state each week, some just designed for students!
 

• "Chess tournament" is a misnomer – you should think of it as a "Chess Festival". Many kids play in tournaments who barely know the rules – but it is the place where kids have the most fun by playing against other kids their age. About 330 students showed up to play in the annual 1999 PA state scholastic tournament held in early March at the Kehr Building in Bloomsburg College. The 2000 tournament will be held from March 4-5. Join us there!
• NO ONE IS ELIMINATED AT CHESS TOURNAMENTS! – Most tournaments are "swiss" system – you play someone who has the same score as you do. So if a student loses his/her first three games, he/she will play someone else who lost all three. You do not have to play all the games, but you must tell the tournament director if you are going to leave. You can join USCF and register at the tournament on before the first round.
• Tournaments can be set up tournament directors through a USCF "Affiliate". Large chess tournaments are advertised in SchoolMates and Chess Life. The USCF provides discounts for scholastic affiliates. Your scholastic organization can become an affiliate for about $25/year. Besides running tournaments, affiliates get the magazine, get discounts on equipment and books for their members, and receive other helpful information.
• The USCF will give a rating to any member who plays at least four games in a tournament (for a tournament to be rated, all the participants have to be members of the USCF). Ratings are scientifically calculated and the higher rated the player, the better he/she plays. Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue are rated about 2800! The typical PA K-6 Champion might be rated about 1400. A six year old might start with a rating of about 400.

5. Besides tournaments, there are many places to play chess.

One can play on the Internet (I am a member of the Internet Chess Club – ICC – at www.chessclub.com) or by mail, or e-mail, or with a computer, etc. When I was 16, I accidentally ran into someone who played in chess tournaments, and that is how I found out about the world of chess. The purpose of this e-mail is to let everyone know about this same world, so the students who are interested don’t have to wait until they are 16! USCF has a list of local clubs at their website.

If you have any comments on this e-mail, please contact me (see #3 above).

Regards, National Master and PA Scholastic Chess Coordinator Dan Heisman

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