Congratulations to the Women's and Senior Committees!

[relyea]

The February Women 50+ Top 100 List is the first one that is full:

http://www.uschess.org/component/option,com_top_players/Itemid,371?op=list&month=2302&f=usa&l=R:Regular%20Top%20Women%20Age%2050%20and%20Over.&h=Top%20Women%20Age%2050%20and%20Over

I thought when these lists were created that they would be a joke because there would be so few names on the list. I didn’t realize that the lists would prove aspirational. I’ve never been so happy to have been proven wrong.

Alex Relyea

[Smythe_Dakota]

@relyea

The February Women 50+ Top 100 List is the first one that is full:

http://www.uschess.org/component/option,com_top_players/Itemid,371?op=list&month=2302&f=usa&l=R:Regular%20Top%20Women%20Age%2050%20and%20Over.&h=Top%20Women%20Age%2050%20and%20Over

I thought when these lists were created that they would be a joke because there would be so few names on the list. I didn’t realize that the lists would prove aspirational. I’ve never been so happy to have been proven wrong.

+1

I know of at least one mother-daughter situation in the Chicago area that began with the daughter playing, which resulted in the mother organizing and directing, and, eventually, playing too. Cheers!

Bill Smythe

[Mulfish]

I would be thrilled to have one of these ladies play in the Irwin! And I would also love to see an Irwin-like event for Senior women. As it is for an Invitational K-3 tournament of state champions, space at the US Open site is a factor in the feasibility of such an event, but there are certainly enough states which could produce a representative. We can’t assume all the people on the list would come, but there were plenty of people who thought the irwin wouldn’t draw enough players either. 42 players the first year proved otherwise.

[jwiewel]

@Mulfish

I would be thrilled to have one of these ladies play in the Irwin! And I would also love to see an Irwin-like event for Senior women. As it is for an Invitational K-3 tournament of state champions, space at the US Open site is a factor in the feasibility of such an event, but there are certainly enough states which could produce a representative. We can’t assume all the people on the list would come, but there were plenty of people who thought the irwin wouldn’t draw enough players either. 42 players the first year proved otherwise.

The Federation is receiving funding for the various events, so it would require sponsors and sponsors would want participation. I was looking at some of the top 100 and noticed that some states have higher rated players that only fail to qualify for the list because they are not active. If there was such a tournament then it might draw some more players back into rated play and the sponsors may be justified in citing their sponsorship as a reason for that increased activity.

[childrenandchess]

The Executive Board passed the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship, which (like the top 100 list) might inspire more women 50 and over to pursue their chess ambitions. EB23-019 Board 09/13/22 I US Senior Women’s Championship PASSED 8-0 https://new.uschess.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2022-2023_eb_motions_1-19-2023-rm.pdf
However, I am not aware of whether a bid has been received by US Chess to hold the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship, which was intended as a parallel event to the U.S. Senior Championship (10 seniors, most invited by rating). There are parallels at other age levels: U.S. Women’s Championship and U.S. Championship. U.S. Junior Championship and U.S. Junior Girls Championship.