May 5th Queen’s Cup (Women/girls only) $550 in Prizes b/o 40 players.
2018 Queen's Cup Flyer
Registration is now open for our premier event for ladies of all ages. Chessregister.com
3 Sections:
Champions G/45
Princess G/25 (scholastic only)
Chess Mom's G/15 & Non-rated
Entry fee is $40 for Champions section / $30 Scholastics & Moms.
Prizes: Champions $550 1st-$175, 2nd-$125, 3rd-$75 Best Under 1000 1st-$75, 2nd-$50 Chess Mom 1st-$50
Scholastic section: Trophies to Top 5 scholastic finishers and medals to participants.
Location: Hotel Indigo Tapestry Park (JTB & Southside) near Tinseltown and Town Center shopping
Our Queen's Cup Story continues..
Queen's Cup idea came from a pre-game conversation with a then 13 year old girl who told me none of her friends knew she was a competitive chess player. She kept it from them for concern of not being accepted. I came back to JAX committed to host an all-girls event.
That year we started the Queen's Cup with the added features of treating players to lunch and a free t-shirt and the tag line "We treat every player like a Queen." JAXCC funded the entire event.
First year's attendance was 9 players and special guest FM Laura Zayas Gonzalez. Javier Rojas' mom, Carmen, was invaluable in her contributions and encouragement to my vision. We pulled it off, the girls had fun and played each other tough. Gainesville's Hanna Ciupe (1300 USCF) won the cup.
Last year we increased in numbers and gained a few sponsors (Vystar, Hotel Indigo & ScholasticChess.Org). This helped as this event does not breakeven, but we were committed to continue. This time a trio of players came from Gainesville and one girl came down from Savannah to join in the fun. Our 2017 Queen was Kira Caza of Gainesville. 2017 QC-2 facebook album
The G'ville power trio (Kira, Amy & Hanna) of seasoned tournament players and BFFs had to square off for top prizes. These teens boasted having each on USCF's top 100 for their respective age groups at the time of the event brought a new level of competition to our event. Ratings ranging between 1200 and 1600 USCF today.
Our involvement in promoting chess took on additional focus after Kevin Pryor was named to US Chess' Women's Committee as the representative for the State of Florida. Women's Committee Chair, Maureen Grimaud, reached out to Kevin Pryor to help with US Chess' K-12 National event. After losing key resources late, she asked if JAXCC could put on the Girl's Room from the ground up based based upon what we had done on a smaller scale here in JAX with Queen's Cup. We accepted and our chess moms jumped in and we put on a great exhibit for girls at Nationals include the Sunday Town Hall with WGM Sabina Foisor.
Next month we will offer this unique opportunity to women and girls in our region via out 3rd Annual Queen's Cup. We hope you join us. We promise to treat you like a Queen!