In upcoming months, Madison and Huntsville each will host a state chess championship. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Alabama Chess Federation has selected Madison and Huntsville to host two upcoming state chess tournaments.

“Both the 2016 Alabama Chess Championship to crown the adult state champion and the 2017 State Scholastic Chess Championship for kids K-12 are coming to Madison County,” Ranae Bartlett said. “This will be a tremendous benefit to our members and residents of North Alabama.”

Bartlett is Executive Director of Madison City Chess League (MCCL).

On Labor Day weekend on Sept. 2-4, contestants will convene in Charger Union at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) for the 2016 Alabama Chess Championship. The federation has tapped MCCL to serve as host.

“MCCL worked with UAH to find the perfect location for the event. Charger Union is a brand new, state-of-the-art student center with many conference rooms and student meeting areas that will be ideal to host a chess championship,” Bartlett said.

Between rounds, students and adults can enjoy the downstairs commons area with a Dunkin Donuts and WoW Cafe. State Rep. Phil Williams of Monrovia will sponsor the event.

UAH also will conduct a scholastic individual and team tournament for students in grades K-12 on Sept. 3-4. Students can compete in the Pawn (K-3), Knight (K-6) or Rook (K-12) sections. On Sept. 4, four-person school teams in those ages will compete for team awards.

Online registration for the adult and student meets, respectively, are available at madisonchess.com/events/96/alabama-state-chess-championship and madisonchess.com/events/97/uah-scholastic-individual-tournament.

In addition, the 2017 State Scholastic Chess Championship will be held at Bob Jones High School on March 11-12, 2017. “The single largest chess event in the state of Alabama is this championship, and 2017 will be no exception as the newly renovated Bob Jones High School welcomes the state’s top chess-playing students to Madison to compete for the top prize,” Bartlett said.

In 2016, Madison school chess teams swept all team awards in the primary and elementary sections and repeated as state champions in the junior high school section. “So, the bar has been set pretty high as Madison now hosts the rest of the state next spring,” Bartlett said.

MCCL will sponsor the event at Bob Jones.

For more information, email mccl.director@gmail.com or visit madisonchess.com/blog.