The Aries Team Tournament

Info for 2025 isn't posted yet. Check back in September!

Update 1 | Sent via email on 10/21/2024 to "Registered" and "Possible" Teams

Good Morning Coaches,

We are a few weeks away from the Aries! I am excited and grateful that you have registered (or indicated an interest in bringing) your team. Here is some preliminary information for you:

Team Pizza Order: We are offering advanced purchase of our $25 meal deal where you get one XL single topping pizza and four drinks (soda/gatorade/water). You may also order pizzas only for $20. Order as many as you like by Friday, November 1st, 3pm. We will attempt to accommodate orders the morning of, but those would need to be submitted by the start of Round 1. We will just bill you for your pizza orders for payment later, unless you'd prefer to pay the day of.
Concessions: We will again have a concessions table outside the library. Note that we will only have a small amount of pizza for sale by the slice.
Uniforms?: It's a bit early in the season to expect every team to have their uniforms, so could you make sure that your players are at least in school colors, or a shirt from your school?
Growth: This year's tournament is shaping up to be bigger than last years, which was bigger than the year before that. Part of the tournament will again be in the library, the other part may have to be down the hall in the cafeteria. Each competition area will have its own Tournament Director and no fewer than 2 stewards, and it is a simple path between the two spaces.
Chesscalate: We are delighted to use Chesscalate with the help of Scott Johnson for our 8-Board team section. Please complete the registration form this week, if you haven't already, so Scott knows who is operating Chesscalate for your team the day of the tournament. Both of the open and the 5-Board sections will be done traditionally. Thanks to our tournament directors, we will have a Limited Open Section for those players who are on your top 12 list in Chesscalate, but aren't playing that round on your team. See the diagram at the end of the email for more information.

Later this week I will email a form for you to submit your two potential players lists so our two tournament directors can start preparing entries.

Your 8-Board list will be limited to 12 players, as that information will be entered into Chesscalate.
Your second list will be for the Unlimited Open Section and 5-Board Team section; you can enter as many players and 5-Board teams as you'd like.
Not sure if a player will make it? Please include them; It is easier to drop a player than to add the day of the tournament.
Not sure whether a player belongs in the Library or Cafeteria? Put them on both and drop them from one of the lists the morning of the tournament.

A third email will go out a few days before the tournament. It will address arrival, parking, signing up for Remind, assigned team rooms, and other details to make your final preparations smoother. We still have room, so feel free to extend an invitation to others. Here is our current list of teams. Please reply with any questions you might have, or any teams you think I should reach out to invite them.

At the end of next week you'll receive an email from Scott Johnson with your Chesscalate information.

Update 2 | Sent via email on 10/23/2024 to "Registered" and "Possible" Teams

Hello Coaches,

We are ready for you to submit your Potential Players Lists. Please complete this form by next Thursday, October 31st by 11pm. If you can complete it before then, I would be grateful. Please reach out with questions.

Please remember:

This is a list of any and all players who could possibly be there. It's not your final roster.
It's very easy to drop a player the day of a tournament.
It's not a big deal to change the order of your players the day of a tournament.
It is a much bigger hassle to try to add a player the day of a tournament.
If you aren't entirely sure whether you will be in the 8-board or 5-board section, please enter names into both the 8-board spot and again into the 5-board spot in the digital form linked above.
Questions? Check out this Q&A page which goes into greater detail.

Mr. Christopher Aderhold

Glenbard East High School Science Dept. | Physics Instructor

Update 3 | Sent via email on morning of 11/1/2024 to "Registered" Teams

Good morning coaches,

We are just a day away from seeing you at the Aries. Here are the last updates and reminders.

Parking: Please park in the north parking lot. Yellow buses are to park in the large diagonal spaces by the building. Being dropped off? Your bus can park around the school on the hill by the flagpole if there isn't enough space in the north lot. Please review both of these parking maps, especially if you are taking a full size (yellow) bus.
Arrival Time: Door 1 will be open by 7:30am. Please arrive before 8:15am so that you can finalize check in before 8:25am.
Team Skittles Assignments: You can look up your tentative room assignment here. 300's are on the 3rd floor, 200's are on the 2nd floor. Door still locked? Find me in the library area or text me.
Arriving: Enter through door 1 and go to the stairwell straight ahead (Stairwell A) Go up to the floor of your skittles room. Get your team settled, then leave them there to go to the hallway outside the library on the 2nd floor. Check in with us there (final team/student count for invoicing, entries with both TD's, and last call on the group pizza order).
Familiarize: Even if you've been to East before for a tournament, please take a few minutes to look around to find the 1) library on the 2nd floor, 2) Limited Open in the 1st floor hallway, 3) 5Board and Unlimited Open in the cafeteria. We'll have signs up, but here is a map you can look through too.
Captains & Coaches Meeting: At 8:30am we will have a meeting for all Board 1's (8board and 5board), team captains and coaches. This will be in the library.
Staggered Start: The 8-Board and Limited Open will start first, at 9:00am. The 5-Board and Unlimited Open will start around 9:15am. This will allow coaches to be present at the start of each part of the tournament.
Concessions: Our concession table will open sometime after 10:30am, but we will have coffee for coaches in the library until the start of Round 2. Coaches lunch will arrive around 11:45am. Team Pizza Order will hopefully arrive around 12:30pm.
Issues: If something comes up, feel free to email (christopher_aderhold@glenbard.org) or text me ‪(409) 233-7453‬. Short some players the morning of? Bring everyone who shows up! We'll find a spot in the tournament for any & all of your players that want to play chess that day.

Reminders: You may check your status with these three forms on the skittles room list.

Team Pizza Order: We've been given more time to get our order in by our pizza vendor. So today is still preferred, but you can complete this form on Saturday morning too. You don't have to order through us, but we only have a limited amount of pizza to sell at the concession table. We can bill you and you can pay later after the tournament.
Potential Players List (info for our Tournament Directors) is due today by 3pm today.
Registration (info for me, the Tournament Manager) is needed by tonight.
Chesscalate emails will go out this evening. You can ask me questions about it during check in if it's new to you. I assure you though it's very user friendly.
I'll send a test message out through Remind later today too. If you haven't signed up, do so by texting @ge-aries to 81010.

Questions? Send me a reply.

Mr. Christopher Aderhold

8-Board Team - 4 Rounds of Game 45/5d

Limited Open Section for 8-Board Substitutes 4 Rounds Game 30/5d

5-Board Team - 5 Rounds of Game 30/5d

Unlimited Open Section (and for 5-Board Substitutes) - 5 Rounds of Game 30/5d

Sign up your team today!

Registering an individual player for the Middle or High School open? Click here.

What is it?

A four round team tournament that will show you where you stand as you move further into the chess season.

Get the all the information.

Find out the exact format, schedule & rules of our tournament. It also has a map and parking information; great to print out for your bus ride.

Curious about who competed in our tournaments last year? Check out the season summary for 2023-24 here.

Chess is for EVERYONE! And our tournaments are for YOUR team!

Are you interested in defraying the cost of bringing your team? Consider becoming a TOURNAMENT PARTNER. You, an assistant coach or a qualified parent could help us run the tournament. We have had Tournament Partners steward, help distribute the group pizza order, supervise the team skittles area and more! Email Coach Aderhold so we can work something out to make sure your team can be included.

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