4th Mat-Su Chess Classic
Contributed by Samuel Hada
April 19th, 2025, people from The Valley and beyond will compete in a chess tournament in Turkey Red’s banquet room. This will be the fourth such tournament hosted by Palmer Chess Club, and the second hosted by Anthony Irsik. Last year 26 people competed, mostly people from South Central, but at least one was from as far as Fairbanks. Truly chess brings people together.
Chess is a recently flourishing pastime throughout The Great Land, clubs are all across the state, tournaments happen almost monthly, and at least one YouTube channel has been started up because of it. The community is kindly and encouraging, wanting each person to succeed and improve. It takes some endurance to step from the point of knowing nothing to winning games, but everyone celebrates your successes and builds you up towards the next one.
The Mat-Su Chess Classic is open to anybody and sign up will be available on the Palmer Chess Club Facebook page. It is a Swiss style tournament, which means everyone is guaranteed the full number of games, in this case 5, and each game is on a clock of 15mins per person with a 5 second delay. The tournament will last from 10:15am-4pm (schedule subject to slight change). Space is limited, so make sure to sign up quick.
If you or someone you know is interested in playing chess at a club, you may contact Anthony Irsik through their email: palmerchessclub@gmail.com He would love to help you out and direct you towards one of the many sources appearing in the world of Alaska chess.