Congratulations to Ryan Pronk from Chesapeake, VA who won the VA Open, and also continues his sixth year run as the Virginia State Champion.  Impressive! Ryan is playing as strong as ever, he went undefeated, finishing with 9 wins, 0 losses and 7 draws.

Congratulations to IM John Webster and Teal Stanley who tied for second place with each accumulating 23 game points. They split prize money but Webster beat Stanley in their head to head match (7th round), thus separating the tie as 2nd and 3rd place.

Mr. Buck Smith - President of ODCA, and Ryan Pronk, our tournament director welcomed eight VA & NC players to the 99th Annual Old Dominion Checker Association's Virginia State Open, and mentioned their appreciation for the five NC players who support and participate in the VA Open. 

Buck Smith opened our pre-tournament business meeting with prayer. We played a round-robin with eight players, 3 Virginians and 5 North Carolinians.

Players were welcomed to Econo Lodge Hotel by a nice office desktop display announcing "The  99th Annual Old Dominion Checker Association Virginia State Open Tournament"  and the Tournament schedule was posted on the playing room wall, and also a list of nearby restaurants.

Buck Smith, covered the Virginia Tournament Schedule and Rules which allows a repair round (eight) as the final round to our round-robin. 

We appreciate Ryan Pronk who arriving early Thursday afternoon to setup the playing room and for bringing a variety of snacks and bottle water. JR Smith also contributed 2 cases of water, a 1st Place Trophy, posters of near-by restaurants, and Commonwealth of Virginia Checker Champions roster.

All players signed a “Thank You Cards” for Joe and Jeannie McDaniel who contributed $300 to our tournament prize fund.

Total prize fund was from the $20 entry fees (8x$20=$160) plus the $300 from Joe McDaniel, totaling $460 for the cash prize fund.

We appreciate Bill Salot for donating a checker book: Ryan - Banks (Tacoma) pb copy of "Checkers! Ryan v Banks for the 1937 World's Championship at Blindfold Play" as a door prize.  JR Smith won the book by luck of the draw using the pairing cards.  

We also appreciate Carolyn Minor who brought a bowl of chocolate "bon bon" candy balls.  These have either a peanut butter or coconut center and definitely "die for delicious." She don't know it, but Carolyn could sell these at $5.00 a pop!

Mike Ross brought his honey and a bag of his frozen organically grown muscadines & scuppernongs.

Buck Smith, recognized Ryan Pronk as the 2016 Virginia State Champion to be entered into the Virginia State Champion Winners Roster. This is Ryan's 6th VA State Championship in a row. He also recognized the other players who finished high in the tournament.

Ratings are from ACF: Before and After Ratings are the results of a player's rating before this tournament and after it is recalculated from this score-sheet by ACF rating processor, Joe Moore.

"T" separates player's opponent from player's game points: Draw is 1, Win is 2 points, Bye is 3, and Forfeit is 4.

We appreciate EconoLodge's Sales Manager Brian Durham, who donated several 12 pack carton of drinks to the tournament.  They also improved their WiFi service and continue to serve hot breakfast from 6-9 am. A

We appreciate Buck Smith for directing this VA State Checker Tournament and Ryan Pronk for assisting him as referee and scorekeeper.

Happy Birthday to Bill Salot! He will be 87 years young on Sunday, September 20th, 2016 and our oldest player at the tournament, and the youngest player would be Ryan Pronk who turn 30 February 10th, and we remember Mike Ross who just celebrated his 63rd birthday on September 15th.

Congratulations! Buck and Barbara, who will celebrate their 60th Anniversary on Wednesday, September 23rd.