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Dear Parents, Coaches and Students,

Please note that the registration for the 2023-2024 season is now closed as we have reached our maximum capacity. 
 

The dates for the 2023 - 2024 season tournaments are:
    First Tournament: Saturday, 10/21/2023
    Second Tournament: Saturday, 11/4/2023
    Third Tournament: Saturday, 12/2/2023
    Fourth Tournament: Saturday, 1/20/2024
    Championship Tournament: Saturday, 3/9/2024 (Players must have played 12 of the 16 rounds to qualify for the Championship).

 
COACHES:
1. All of the tournaments will be Game 30.
2. Registered Coaches: Login to the COACHES CORNER to see the students registered under your name as coach and for your school. Feel free to reset your password if you have forgotten.
3. New Coaches: If you have not yet registered (i.e. if you are a new coach), please complete your paperwork on the Coaches Corner (on our website) so we can submit it to the school board. Please register online (no mailing required this year for your forms - we are going green one step at a time!).
4. We encourage you to study our chess manual online, and explain the rules to the kids. Click here for the manual/rules.
5. Please remind your players that in order to qualify for this Championship tournament in March, a player must have competed in at least 12 of the possible 16 rounds, and if they have played at least the minimum games, they will qualify regardless of their score in the previous four tournaments.
 
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Polk Scholastic Chess is a nonprofit organization offering an extracurricular activity open to all students of Polk County, Florida, enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade, including home-schooled students. We exist to encourage academic growth through the game of chess. PSC has been committed since over 25 years to “encouraging academic growth through the game of chess”.
 
We believe the game of Chess is an exciting way to teach critical thinking skills, sequencing, sportsmanship, self-control, and many other skills important for academic growth and development. We have seen the progress of students who play chess and their improvement academically. Even if your student is not a high achiever, or has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, Chess is for everyone!

Our tournament setting allows the students to be as competitive as they want to be and challenged, yet not penalized due to their ability level. School teams, individual students and home-schooled students are encouraged to register online at www.polkscholasticchess.com. Additionally, we recognize graduating seniors who have had an extended length of participation with Polk Scholastic Chess and who have made active contributions to their school and community. As part of this encouragement for academic growth, we award two scholarships to graduating seniors (more info check the "Scholarship" page).
 
Polk Scholastic Chess works with public and private schools throughout Polk County to help start and continue school-based chess teams. If you would like to start a new team, need help with a new team, or have a general question about Polk Scholastic Chess, please contact us. We appreciate the support from the Polk County School Board, as well as community leaders. We typically have participation from over 60 schools in Polk County, with around 650 participating students. We welcome you and your child to be a part of our tournament.
 
We strive to use our platform for encouraging the overall academic growth in the players. We invite educators, social engineers, professionals, government officials, health and fitness experts as well as art critics to share their experience with our chess family. The aim behind this is to share their academic perspective with our players and widen the vision of our players beyond the textbooks.

Polk Scholastic Chess is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization established in the State of Florida. The board members are volunteers drawn from a diverse constituency of technocrats, professionals, medical practitioners, school board specialists, parents and entrepreneurs committed to student academics. The board members have contributed in maintaining Florida's largest scholastic chess tournament framework for over 30 years with their experience, commitment, diverse opinions and connections, while keeping one common mission.
 
 
 
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TOURNAMENT VENUE

The tournament venue is the Bartow Civic Center (2250 S. Floral Ave, Bartow, FL 33830). Click here for the Bartow Civic Center Google map.
 
 
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ON REPORTING TIME & CHECK-IN: On all the tournament days, the registered players present on that day should be checked-in at our tournament hall by the Coaches. For the first tournament, we have relaxed this deadline to 8:30 am. Parents, please ensure with the coach that your children/players are accurately checked-in at the front desk; our front desk team has school-wise check-in forms listing all players so that the coaches can appropriately check them in. This Check-in form ensures that the player is present on the tournament day and can be paired with an opponent on our computer systems. If your child has been registered as an independent player, you as parent/guardian must get him/her checked in. CLICK HERE FOR THE MANUAL & RULES

FACILITIES LAYOUT (not to scale):

 
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Tournament Manual


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