Any forum trollers playing in one of these four events this weekend?

I am playing in the South version. My club, the Clermont Chess Club, sends at least 3 teams every year. We're a bunch of hackers, but we have a half-joking reputation for "dominating the lower echelons". 😉 We usually have a team in classes B, C, and D, and we try to win the trophy in each one.

The South usually has between 25 and 30 teams, which is far far smaller than the US Amateur East, which has 280 teams +/-. I played in the East for 5 years back in the 1990's when I lived in Virginia, and it is a truly awesome tournament, and I highly recommend it.

Paul Leggett
Director at Large
Florida Chess Association

President
Clermont Chess Club

Chess Hack

The East does seem to be the biggest of the four. I'm in my first ever team this year, playing in the North. To show how back woods we are up here we're very excited that we have two GMs playing this year and 22 teams pre-registered (plus only nine scholastic) last time I checked. :-)

At best we have 1-4 GMs, so I know what you mean.

Karpov actually played in the USATE one year, and I got to meet him, and got his autograph on one of his "Best Games" books. He was a nice and friendly guy, and I think only the language barrier kept him from more interactions with people.

The USATE is like a big convention, and there are literally dozens of GMs and IMs that play- with a very low rated player on board 4 to balance it out!

We have one team like that this year, made of one GM, one IM, and one FM, balanced out by a kid rated 1300.

BTW, after three rounds of play, my team is 2-1, with my personal score also 2-1. Good times!