2012 MUIR MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT REPORT
As part of its series of special, one-day, Grand Prix tournaments, the Roanoke Valley Chess Club held its annual Walter Muir Memorial on Saturday, April 28 at St. John's Lutheran Church, in Roanoke, Virginia. This USCF rated tournament has a rating of 6 USCF Grand Prix points, with ALL MONEY GUARANTEED ! The tournament was played in three rounds. The time control was Game in 90 Minutes with a 5 second delay.
This annual event honors the memory of veteran club member and benefactor, Walter Muir. Walter's contributions to chess, to the R.V.C.C. and to the betterment of the Roanoke Valley in general, were explained to the tournament participants. Biographical information was prominently displayed that highlighted Walter's numerous positive contributions in these areas.
Concerning the competition in the tournament itself :
In all, ( 6 ) different players took home money and some USCF rating points to boot !
Congratulations all around to all of the winners !
The on-site Tournament Director was RVCC Treasurer Josh Lilly. He performed yeoman service to the club and did an excellent job directing this event ! As usual, Josh got the rating report to the U.S.Chess Federation very promptly. The tournament crosstable is available for viewing right now !
Chairman of the Board Russell Potter ran the book sale for the club.
Club Vice-President Eric Diaz ably assisted both gentlemen. In addition, Club President Mike Huff, Vice President Ray Megginson, Diaz and Potter all provided great help to T.D. Lilly in setting up for the tournament Friday night and in cleaning up after the tournament was over.
The tournament had no arguments or significant problems of any kind. The weather was lovely; we hardly had to use the air conditioner at all !
This year, we had the largest and best-organized chess book sale in the history of the club !!
We are particularly grateful to Dr. Bob Kiani of Winston-Salem, N.C. for donating over 80 chess books to the club ! We also benefitted from a dozen book donation from former club Treasurer Paul Yearling. Perhaps 80-90% of ALL of these books were in new or like-new condition.
In all, the club made over $ 200.00 in donated book sales ! We want to thank everybody who participated in the sale to make it the success that it was. Rusty Potter spent over 20 hours inventorying, pricing, packing and carrying these books around. Tip of the hat there, Russ !
We are planning to add additional books to our sale inventory and have an even bigger sale at the Tracy Callis Memorial Grand Prix on August 18 !
Side Notes :
Of particular interest was the coming out of retirement of Charles ( C.T. ) Morgan. Charlie has won the Arizona and West Va. state championships a number of times !
Also, we were honored by a visit to our tournament of VCF President Andy Rea, who gave a positive discussion on the desirability of closer cooperation between the southwestern part of the state and the rest of the Commonwealth. We agree completely !! Several different chess projects and tournaments were discussed for the future; they sounded very interesting. More on this as it develops !
The Roanoke Valley Chess Club sincerely appreciates all of the players from 3 states who participated and made this Saturday Special event yet another successful one in our series.
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Submitted by Mike Huff.
TOURNAMENT RESULTS:
SECTION |
PLAYER |
SCORE |
PLACE |
CHAMPIONSHIP |
FELIX MC CAIN |
2.5 |
1st |
CHAMPIONSHIP |
ANDY REA |
2.0 |
2nd - 3rd TIE |
CHAMPIONSHIP |
CHARLES MORGAN |
2.0 |
2nd - 3rd TIE |
  |
  |
  |
  |
AMATEUR |
JOE FARIES |
2.5 |
1st - 2nd TIE |
AMATEUR |
ED BOYERS |
2.5 |
1st - 2nd TIE |
  |
  |
  |
  |
BOOSTER |
BRIAN MACKEY |
3.0 |
1st |