Trio Wins Bid for November 2010 All-Grade Tournament at Whitney Young

The ICA Bid Committee recently went through its initial trial, reviewing two bids for the 2010 Illinois All Grade Championship. Six committee members had input on the bid and participated in a thorough and lively email discussion of the options before us. The committee ultimately recommended to the Executive Board that it approve the bid submitted by Paul Kash (Whitney Young), Zack Fishman (Chess Education Partners) and Michael Cardinale (Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago). The Executive Board unanimously approved our recommendation at its February 11th meeting.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, November 13, 2010. The site will be the Whitney Young Magnet High School in the West Loop area of Chicago. Entry fees will be waived for anyone enrolled in a school’s free or reduced fee lunch program.

The second bid was submitted by Glenn Panner and Tim Just of Bubbacat Chess. We were pleased that each bid was well thought through and of very good quality. All committee members felt both bids were more than acceptable and would have created a good tournament well worthy of being an ICA state title event.

As chairman I would like to thank committee members Keith Amman, Bill Brock, Tom Doan, Chris Merli and Murrel Rhodes, who all took an active part in the discussion and voting. Other committee members were not able, for a variety of reasons, to take part in the discussion. Bill Brock has been appointed ICA Board Liaison to the winning bidders to assure that ICA’s interests are addressed and that all participants, including players, coaches, and parents, will be satisfied with this championship event.

By Garrett Scott (Chair, ICA Bid Committee)

[Note from Tom Sprandel: Many thanks to Garrett and his committee, who did an excellent job in applying our new bid guidelines and delivering a timely and well-considered result.]