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As part of its series of special, one-day Grand Prix tournaments, the Roanoke Valley Chess Club held its fourth Tracy Callis Jr. Memorial on Saturday, August 17th at St. John's Lutheran Church, in Roanoke, Virginia. This USCF-rated tournament had a rating of 10 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.
As before, the largest thanks go to Mr. Tracy Callis, Sr., who once again generously donated the money to make this event a one-day, 10 Grand Prix point USCF-rated tournament ! Having such an event is a great rarity, and we're all deeply grateful to Mr. Callis for continuing this memorial tournament to honor is son, Tracy, Jr.
The Roanoke Valley Chess Club brought back its usual bargain book sale, once more run by Life Master Russell ( "Rusty" ) Potter.
Free lunch and dinner were provided this year by Mr Callis and his family members, who went all out to bring in catered food and home cooking both, laying out a fairly huge feast! Homemade stew, barbecues with various sauces... this was not your typical chess tournament "lunch provided" fare!
This year, the tournament had two sections, and was once more a VCF Cup event.
The Grand Prix section was won by VCF President Andy Rea.
These tournaments can't come off without tons of help, and that we had. Club President Mike Huff and Vice President Ray Megginson once again returned to help greatly with all the setting up and taking down. After the tournament was over, quite a few of the players pitched in without even being asked, and helped make this the speediest clean-up we've probably had. Many thanks to you all! And as always, Russell Potter put in lots of time and effort to make this tournament a reality. Josh Lilly put in a really herculean effort, serving as BOTH the Tournament Organizer as well as the Tournament Director ! Either of these tasks by their own was a big enough job on its own, but Josh had to do BOTH ! .
We hope to have this tournament next year. In summary, this event has 10 USCF Grand Prix Points, VCF Cup points, a large prize fund for a one-day tournament. We still fondly remember Tracy Callis Jr. - a great, friendly person who deserves to be remembered by all of in doing what he loved : playing chess!
TOURNAMENT RESULTS:
Grand Prix Section
1st: Andrew Rea (2.5)
2nd: Bryan Burke (2.0)
3rd: Felix McCain (2.0)
4th: Harold Mitchell (2.0)
Second Section
1st: Aiden Taylor (3.0)
2nd: Brian Mackey (2.5)
Submitted by Josh Lilly with input from other Officers.