By Kathy Chouteau
The 10th Annual Williams-Easterling Community Chess Tournament is coming to the Richmond Recreation Complex Sat., March 11. The event is hosted by the West Coast Chess Alliance (WCCA), a not-for-profit community chess advocacy organization, and the City of Richmond’s Community Services/Recreation Department. It is free and open to people of all ages.
Check-in and registration for the Quad chess tournament is from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.; free play is from 12-1 p.m.; rounds will take place at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.; and the event ends at 5 p.m. It is open to rated and non-rated Quads—UCSF membership is required for all rated Quad players—and there will be time control, game in 30 minutes (G/30), per event representative TC Ball. All Quad winners that day will receive trophies.
According to Ball, the former president of Contra Costa Community College, Dr. McKinley Williams, came up with the idea of a community chess tournament “providing non-rated and casual players of all ages an opportunity to participate in competitive chess.” He said that the other tournament namesake, John Easterling, “taught the Royal game of chess to thousands of youth in the Bay Area” and also taught for many years at the main Richmond Public Library.
Ball said this tournament “recognizes their contribution to promoting community and scholastic chess in the City of Richmond” and is the “longest continual running tournament in West Contra Costa County.”
The Richmond Recreation Complex is located at 3230 Macdonald Avenue in Richmond. To register for the chess tournament, click here. Face masks are required for all tournament players and chess sets and clocks will be provided. Questions? Contact TC “The Black Knight” Ball at (510) 439-6311 or [email protected].
