#422 Garden State League Founded! Season Starts March 3rd.

The Garden State Chess League will begin play on March 3rd, 2009 with at least 4 teams: West Orange, Kenilworth, Hamilton and Summit. The latter’s player-pool will include members of Springfield’s Checkmate CC.

Other possible clubs include Staten Island & Westfield. Both had representatives present at Thursday’s founding meeting but scheduling again kept Dumont & Newark Sleepless Knights away. Hopefully they are still interested. Roselle is now unlikely to join. Union County College is a dark-horse.

The entry deadline for clubs/teams is 9 p.m., Friday, February 20th, 2009.
The $10 per team entry fee must be received by Saturday, February 28th, 2009.

Rules changes and additions since the preliminary, December 4th meeting :

• The time control will be G/80 (rather than G/90).
• There will be 4 boards per team.
• The maximum 4-board average will be 1900.0
• If an unrated player is used, the average of the other players on his/her team must be 1900.0 or less.
• The 2008 USCF Annual Rating List will determine player ratings for the Winter-Spring 2009 season.
• Matches will take place at the West Orange CC on the 1st Tuesday of each month & start at 8 p.m. The paired teams have the option of playing elsewhere (within the given-month, if I remember correctly).

For example, if Kenilworth was scheduled to be the road team vs. Summit in the 1st round, they could play at Summit on 3/9 or 3/16, instead of having both teams travel.

Elected officers on Thursday :

• President - John Hagerty
• Vice President - John Moldovan

(John H. will be the acting treasurer & John M. will be the acting secretary.)

The next GSCL meeting will be at the USATE tournament in mid-February. Fliers about the league will be distributed there.


P.S. - Pete Tamburro and Steve Doyle’s chess column in tomorrow’s Newark Star-Ledger will mention the new league. Pick up a copy!