Thurston County students in middle and high schools are invited to compete in the first Southwest Washington Scholastic Chess Championships on Feb. 4.
Two tournaments will run concurrently. They include the Southwest Washington High School Championships and the Southwest Washington Middle School Championships.
Last March, the Washington High School Chess Association approved regional qualifying tournaments to provide a path to the chess state tournament for high school students who were at schools without a chess league, which includes Thurston County. Typically, high school teams qualify for state through their high school chess league, stated a news release.
As a regional qualifier, the tournament is limited to students in sixth through twelfth grade in Western Washington who reside south and west of King County.
The winning high school teams will qualify to play in the 57th annual Washington State High School Chess Team Championships, which will be held on March 3 and March 4 at Stanwood High School.
The free tournament on Feb. 4 will take place at Centralia College and is organized by the Washington High School Chess Association, the nonprofit entity overseeing high school chess leagues and the State High School Team Championships for the last 56 years.
Since the tournament is the first ever regional qualifier for Southwest Washington, a separate nonprofit, the Chess Enrichment Association, has agreed to cover the entry fees for all competitors.
As of Jan. 26, there were 165 students registered to compete. The deadline to register is Thursday, Feb. 2.
Beginners are welcome to play. For more information and to register, go online to whsca.org.
