31st Space Coast Open Welcome Letter

WELCOME CHESS PLAYERS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY

The Space Coast Chess Foundation is delighted to welcome you to the 31st annual Space Coast Chess Festival. This will be our biggest and best Festival ever, with nearly 250 players, including 4 International Grandmasters, and over a dozen National Masters. Our goal is to provide an outstanding chess experience for you and a memorable chess vacation for your family.

Your organizers have worked to provide a top-notch Chess Festival packed with events. Both the Open and A sections of the tournament will be FIDE rated. For those of you who “can’t get enough” the customary Blitz Tournament will be held Saturday night after the third round. Free lectures, open to all, by Grandmasters Mitkov and Zhou Saturday Morning and Grandmaster Shokar Sunday morning. A fully stocked chess/equipment store will be open throughout the tournament and the T-shirt concession will be in operation on Sunday. The top 6 boards will be broadcast live worldwide with real-time commentary on YouTube and Twitch by the notable Moroccan chess streamer and TikTok creator Sarah El Barbry.

In these difficult times we must recognize the wonderful financial support of our corporate sponsors, listed in the Sponsors link on this website. All proceeds from the Festival, net of expenses, will be used to further scholastic and adult chess in Brevard County through the Space Coast Chess Foundation, a 501(c)3 tax exempt charitable foundation.

The Space Coast offers a cornucopia of diverse activities for you and your family. The beaches are a 10-minute drive – go over the Melbourne Causeway and use pay parking at Indialantic Beach – you can be back in less than an hour and still sun and swim. The Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Brevard Zoo, and a plethora of ecotourism activities (guided kayak tours on the Indian River, evening bioluminescence tours) are available.

For those of you staying overnight Sunday, a Space X Falcon 9 launch is scheduled around 10:20am Monday morning and can be seen from the hotel, although better views may be obtained from the beach. Please check online to verify times, as launches may get rescheduled due to weather.

If we can be of any assistance to you during your visit, please seek one of us out. We want to make your participation in the Space Coast Chess Festival an experience that you will recall with pleasure for many years.

Jon Haskel Peter Dyson Peter Koretsky Ori Tal SureshKumar Rajamani

Space Coast Chess Festival Organizing Committee