Let’s Get Together: ACE Letter II
March 6, 2008
Much has happened since our first ACE letter on January 9th, so we would like to stay true to our promise and deliver our second monthly notice (a little late) on the inner workings and plans here at ACE.
Continue the ACE trend, and bring a friend! The first big announcement we have is that starting in March with the Master Trek Grand Prix Cup on the 8th, and continuing with every ACE tournament until the end of the year, any tournament where a first time ACE participant refers you as the reason he or she came, you will be given a ticket for a free entry to any future ACE event! Furthermore, with the reinstatement of our Strategy Sessions, every first time participant at any Session, regardless of rating level, will be given half off their entry price. In other words, if you enjoy our tournaments and events and you let others know, you will be rewarded.
Now we move onto the more serious business (because we chess players must remain serious at all time right). One of our most anticipated features has proven to be one of our most difficult projects. The complete redesign and customization of our Lecture and Games in Review page has taken some time to work out, but now that it’s up and running we hope you will enjoy every game and lecture we have to offer. Please let us know what you think of our custom board colors and viewing format. ACE’s Games of the Month for January and February have already been posted along with several other interesting games from February 16th’s Master Trek Grand Prix Cup. Starting in March, if your game is chosen as our Game of the Month both players will be awarded an ACE Free Entry certificate, win or lose.
Of course I probably should have mentioned this right off the bat, but many of you have surely already seen the schedule, location, and logistical changes to our upcoming season of tournaments. Tri-City Christian Academy has kindly allowed us to host several of our upcoming events in the recreation hall on their school’s campus. The main advantage to these dates will be the combining once again of the Master and Pre-Treks. Plus, the reorganization of our schedule has allowed us to add one more Grand Prix Cup date onto the Spring Season, which should be great news for any and all Trekkers who may have gotten off to a slow start in the Race for the Cup.
Bringing back the Strategy Sessions was not a hard decision when we considered the many requests for them, but adding the Beginner Development Sessions on completely different days all together, is something we have never done before. In preparation for States and Nationals, ACE hopes that all of you will take full advantage of these highly instructive chess meetings. The Valley Challenges are another new addition to our spring tournament schedule. This tournament, on April 19th, has the sole purpose of challenging the Valley’s best players with a format that will be conducive with the State Championship in Flagstaff the following weekend.
On the immediate horizon, we plan on making the site a much more interactive environment for all of Arizona’s chess players to gather and discuss any topics (besides the Phoenix Suns, because I just can’t take anymore). We expect our Forum and Blogging system will be up and running before the end of March. Finally I would like to remind everyone that ACE’s Banner Contest is still open for entries. Only receiving three recommendations so far, we hope giving everyone a little more time (end of May) to consider a slogan that describes ACE will help.
*To view Let’s Get together: ACE letter for January click here.