MCCL Wins US Chess Women's Grant
Last spring the US Chess Federation announced a grant opportunity funded by the St. Louis Chess Club to support programs for women and girls to play chess. Applications were due in May and the Madison City Chess League was one of eleven organizations awarded a grant to support its girls chess programs. You can read about the grants and programs receiving the award here.
Pictured above: Madison girls competing at the 2019 Elementary Chess Championship standing outside the Girls Chess Room.
MCCL will use the grant to help fund a trip to our first All Girls National Chess Championship which will occur on April 17-19, 2020 in Wheeling, Illinois (outside Chicago) by chartering bus transportation to the event. The bus will leave on Thursday April 16th and return on Monday April 20th. "We have girls who started playing chess in elementary school who are now in high school--I can't wait for them to feel empowered and experience a room full of girls from across the country competing on a national stage." said MCCL Executive Director Ranae Bartlett.
We hope to have girls representing each school in Madison compete in the event. MCCL will be working with the chess team coaches and sponsors in each school to help prepare the girls for this national tournament. Like other national tournaments, the All Girls Nationals offers both individual and team awards. The top three scores in any section comprise the team score. All girls from a team must attend the same school.
Girls whose schedules will not accommodate the charter bus schedule may travel separately with their parents to compete at the All Girls Nationals. Registration information for the event will be shared with each chess team as it becomes available.