Bringing together hundreds of players from all corners of the state to do battle for Championship titles and huge trophy cups filled with saltwater taffy, the OSCF State Championship is the premier scholastic chess tournament in Oregon. This year the event will be held at the Convention Center in beautiful Seaside, Oregon on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2.

Starting late Friday afternoon there is a blitz tournament (4:00) and a bughouse tournament (6:00) to set the stage for the weekend. After these popular, chaotic, and fun events, the State Champions will be decided in the main chess tournament on Saturday. For the strongest Middle School players (rated 1400 and up) and High School players (rated 1500 and up) it is G/90 with Round 1 starting Friday at noon. For all others, Round 1 begins Saturday at 9:30.

After the kids are settled into their games Saturday morning, there will a Friends & Family tournament, open to all chess enthusiasts and experimenters, even those who fall short (or long) on the K-12 grade requirement.

There will be 15 playing sections, including three to five ratings-based sections for each age division (primary school, elementary school, middle school, and high school). First through fifth place finishers in each section receive large cup trophies. Outstanding performances that fall just short of fifth place will earn beautiful, tall trophy cups. Even scores earn medals.

There will be puzzle contests; lucky chess with fun prizes; awards for improvement and for dedication during the past year; inductions of a select few noble individuals into the Kathryn Rose Taylor Order of the Knight; a chance to dress up as royalty for pictures; special souvenir T-shirts, buttons, pins; chess vendors; giant chess; concessions; a chance to eat tasty worms at the bughouse tournament; and much more!

For more info, check out the links on the OSCF Championship menu on the left sidebar. And click “Online Registration” — even if it turns out to be too late to win the award for being the first to register.