Hello,  Virginia chess players,
 

Another chance to be President of the VCF and see what we can do for chess in Virginia. Two of the main issues remaining on the board from the previous year is the status of the Millennium Chess Festival and bringing the US Open back to Virginia. I helped create the MCF with Tom Braunlich and I don't want to watch it fade away on my watch, so we'll do everything we can to make it happen again for 2008. The US Open is great for any city or state that sponsors it. Bringing the potential for much needed publicity, it also spotlights the area which hosts it, and creates new USCF members in that area. There is nothing but good that can come from having the Open in your town. We'll do our best to have it before our annual 20 year cycle happens again (1976-1996-20??)

Congratulations to our new 2007 State Champions. Edward Lu could possibly be the youngest State Champ in Virginia history. Perhaps Macon can comment on this, but the high school student tied for first with Stan Fink and won on tiebreaks! Michael Neal took clear first in the Amateur and is now State Amateur Champs. Congrats to both!

In 1997 we had a Virginia State Action, Quick and Blitz championship in Richmond. The tournament itself bombed, but the titles haven't died. I will bring these tournaments and titles back to life in the coming year. The Northern Virginia Open and Virginia Open tournaments are rapidly approaching. Please come to Springfield to support the VCF and perhaps take a trophy or cash back to your home town.

Virginia Tech will be having a Hokie Memorial Tournament this fall, to provide additional monies for the Hokie Spirit Fund. I hope all the players in the western area of Virginia supports this event, held in honor of the people killed in April's tragedy. VCF's Mike Hoffpauir will be directing the event, and VT will be organizing this October.

We welcome again the US Armed Forces Open Championship to Virginia. This year's event is organized by the Marines and that means John Farrell is on the watch! The tournament will be over Columbus day weekend and played at Henderson Hall in Arlington. As John would say, Semper Fi!
 

I would like to thank Marshall Denny for all the great work he did as President over the past two years. His job required more of his time so he decided that he couldn't devote as much time to chess and do it justice so he stepped down. While I have been President before, I didn't quite do it as well or as inclusively as Marshall, so that will be the lesson learned from his Presidency.

I would also like to thank Hank Haubold for again donating a large sum of money to offset a loss, this time for the Millennium Chess Festival.

I look forward to promoting chess in Virginia over the next year.

Respectfully,

Michael Atkins
President
Virginia Chess Federation
September 2, 2007