FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                           

For more information contact:

Mark Bretz, Slay & Associates

314-838-9371 or [email protected]

ST. LOUIS, August 19, 2008  --  The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, which Steve Goldberg called in Chess Life Online “certainly one of the most impressive chess centers” in the country, has been selected by the United States Chess Federation to host the 2009 U.S. Championship.  The U.S. Chess Championship dates back to 1845.

    The Chess Club and Scholastic Center, which was founded by retired investment fund manager Rex Sinquefield and opened in July 2008, is located at 4657 Maryland Avenue in St. Louis’ fashionable and historic Central West End neighborhood.  The three-level, 6,000-square-foot facility possesses an array of customized features, including DGT chess boards, hand-made wooden chess tables, LCD-screen televisions, video installation art, overhead paging and an adjustable lighting system.  The primary colors of the club are black and white, the colors of a traditional chessboard.

  The players’ room is private and enclosed with its own kitchen and restroom.  There is ample natural lighting with windows along two walls and two skylights in the space.  Recessed adjustable lighting fixtures cover the ceiling to ensure an even light with appropriate brightness.

    “We are proud to bring the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship to St. Louis,” said Tony Rich, executive director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.  “I am certain that the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and the United States Chess Federation will make this an event unlike any other.  The USCF has done an exemplary job of promoting chess nationally, and now we can bring that same national perspective to St. Louis.”

    The championship will be held in May 2009.  It will be a  9-round event, using the Swiss system with one round per day and a rest day between rounds 5 and 6.  Time controls will be the classical 40 moves in two hours, with the remaining moves in one hour.

    Invitations to potential tournament participants will be issued to some of the top-rated U.S. players, the top-rated women, among other qualifiers and wild card participants, who will be announced later.

    The championship will have a purse of $100,000, with $30,000 awarded to the winner, twice the amount of last year’s tournament.  In case of even scores, no tie-breakers will be used.  Instead, prize funds will be evenly divided between winners.

    The underlying goal of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is to create a world class destination for chess players, both beginning and advanced and to elevate the game of chess throughout the Saint Louis metropolitan area.  Additionally, the Center financially supports existing local scholastic chess programs while providing new programs, at no cost, to local schools currently without programs.

    The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis is a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 organization.  For more information, please visit www.saintlouischessclub.org.

    The United States Chess Federation is the official, not-for-profit U.S. membership organization for chess players and chess supporters of all ages and strengths, from beginners to grandmasters.  Founded in 1939 with the merger of the American Chess Federation and the National Chess Federation, USCF has grown to more than 80,000 members and nearly 1,200 affiliated chess clubs and organizations.

    Under the management of a professional staff headquartered in Crossville, Tennessee, USCF sanctions thousands of tournaments with more than 500,000 officially rated games annually, 25 National Championships award titles to both amateurs and professionals, ranging from elementary school students to senior citizens.

    USCF promotes the study and knowledge of the 1,500-year-old game of chess, for its own sake as an art and enjoyment, but also as a means for the improvement of society.  It encourages the development of a network of institutions devoted to enhancing the growth of chess, from local clubs to state and regional associations, and it promotes chess in American schools.