End of Year Ratings and Progress Reports

1	Rishik	1031
2	Zachary	884
3	Ashwin	820
4	Nivrit	774
5	Dennis	621
6	Kunal	610
7	Theo	568
8	Faith	536
9	S.J.	411
10	Wyatt	268
11	Anshi	258
12	Gabe	235
13	Olaf	197
14	Andre	125

PROGRESS REPORT
Rishik - steady progress even at high levels
Zachary - some progress but having difficulty against players who attend tournaments
Ashwin - improving rapidly in spite of behavior problems in class
Nivrit - steady improvement aided by tournament participation
Dennis - a little rusty in Sep, but he's back a bit better than ever
Kunal - steady and very fast progress - again aided by tournament participation
Theo - steady progress especially recently
Faith - good progress. Likes to think. Has trouble making decisions in a timely manner.
S.J. - When everyone is improving rapidly, it's hard for younger players to keep up.
Anshi - Slow bu steady progress. I expect things to start clicking soon.
Of the 4 new players, Wyatt seems to be taking the lead. His older brother is helping.
New players often have trouble getting off the ground in their first session, but they all made good progress

Tournament Schedule Update

Tournament Schedule Has Changed
Changes marked in red. If you want to come to a tournament, just show up with about $30 at 8:15 at the school where the tournament is being held.

Jan 4  Sandburg M.S., Golden Valley (Special double-bug section)
Jan 18 Pilgrim Lane, Plymouth M.S.  (5 person team vs team)
Feb 8 Zachary Lane Elem. Plymouth
March 21 Grade Level Championships (Teams of 3) Pilgrim Lane M.S.
April 18 M.S. Championships Pilgrim Lane, Plymouth M.S.
May 2 Robbinsdale M.S. Elementary (K-6) Championsh

Tournament Results

More awards for the chess team.
The fourth grade team finished in a  tie for first place, and wound up in 2nd place on tie-breakers.

Name    1 2 3 4 5 Pts Bef  Aft Chg Awards
Kunal   W L W L W  3  545  574 +29
Rishik  W W L W W  4  996  996   0 Honorable Mention, Gold Medal
Nivrit  W W L W W  4  699  752 +53 Honorable Mention
Anvith  W W W W L  4  970 1006 +36 2nd place
Ashwin  W W L W L  3  767  776  +9 Novice Trophy

Tournament Dec 7

Tournament

WHEN: Saturday Dec 7, 2019 from 8:15 to about 3:00

WHERE: Metcalf M.S. in Burnsville

WHO: Anyone pre-school to 12th grade. You will play other children in your same grade.

HOW: To register show up before 8:30 with $22 and money for lunch.

WHY: Have fun, make new friends, earn awards.

Do I have to "make the team"? Nope, not in chess. You are automatically on the team.

If I lose do I go home? No, you'll play 5 games. 

What if I lose m first 3 games? You'll play against someone with the same record.
HOW MANY GAMES WILL I WIN? If it's your first tournament, your goal is to try to win 1 game.

For more information, look up www.schoolchess.org or call coach Bill at 651-451-8412

Ratings

Name	6-Dec
Rishik	996
Zachary	897
Ashwin	767
Nivrit	699
Dennis	607
Kunal	545
Theo	542
Faith	534
S.J.	420
Wyatt	246
Anshi	224
Gabe	196
Olaf	162
Andre	122

Gift Idea

Chess Sets
At this time of year, I usually put in a group order and order chess sets like the ones we use at chess club. I usually get a good discount by ordering bulk, frequent customer, split shipping, etc. Includes vinyl and cloth roll-up board, pieces with extra queens, large carrying case with handles, sleeve for board and zippered compartment for pieces. Cost is usually $12 to $14 which is better that the $20 if you ordered yourself or $40 at a store. Send me an e-mail at gemshein@hotmail.com if you'd like one.
Next Tournament - Dec 7 (We need 3 in one grade for a team) Metcalf M.S.
Merit Points
Rishik  53.5
Zachary 19.5
Ashwin  17.0
Nivrit  30.5
Dennis   2.5
Kunal   15.0

Gr	Place	Name	22-Nov
4	1	Rishik	977
5	2	Zachary	936
5	3	Ashwin	747
4	4	Nivrit	655
5	5	Dennis	564
4	6	Kunal	545
4	7	Theo	522
5	8	Faith	517
3	9	S.J.	400
4	10	Anshi	219
2	11	Wyatt	217
4	12	Gabe	186
5	13	Olaf	157
4	14	Andre	113

Tournament Results (correction)

Name   W L D Bef  Aft Chg Merit
Rishik 4 0 1 907  955 +48  53.5  Rishik earned his gold medal today
Kunal  2 3 0 538  531  -7  15
Ashwin 2 2 1 721  710 -11  17
Anvith 3 1 0 990 1004 +14  93
Nivrit 2 3 0 661  631 -30  30.5

Rishik with his 2nd place trophy

Anvith (3rd place) and Suhaas (4th place)

Today we went ofer the hurdle/skewer problem.
We also had a lesson on pins:
1) Look for 2 pieces on a line
2) Don't be in a hurry to take the pinned piece - it's going nowhere
3) Attack the pinned piece
GOOD SCORES on the PIN worksheet!

Place	Name	8-Nov
1	Zachary	929
2	Rishik	907
3	Ashwin	721
4	Nivrit	661
5	Dennis	554
6	Kunal	538
7	Faith	508
8	Theo	469
9	S.J.	399
10	Anshi	225
11	Wyatt	183
12	Gabe	174
13	Olaf	144
14	Andre	111

Tournament Results with Photo

The 4th grade team from Salem Hills took first place in a close tournament featuring many of the top rated teams in the state.



Pictured left to right: Coach Bill Heinemann, Anvith, Nivrit, Kunal and Rishik

Gr Name   Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd4 Tot  Bef Aft Chg
4  Anvith  W   W   D   L   W  3.5 1006 990 -16
4  Rishik  D   W   W   D   L  3.0  882 870 -12
4  Kunal   D   D   W   L   W  3.0  477 516 +39
4  Nivrit  W   D   D   L   W  3.0  647 663 +16
5  Ashwin  W   L   W   L   L  2.0  726 705 -21

Anvith received a medal for honorable mention.
Kunal received a bronze achievement medal for having won 10 games.

Nivrit received a silver achievement medal for having won 25 games.

Third grader Aarav played in the 6th grade section and took first place! 
6  Aarav   W   W   W   W   D  4.5

Beginning of November

Todays Lesson: Review fork worksheets. Learn about hurdles and skewers.
Two big pieces on a line? Look out - it's hurdle time?

Tournament Tomorrow Nov 2 at Highview Middle School in New Brighton
When? 8:15 - about 2:30
Who: Anyone though if you rating is less than 300 you might not win any games.
Why: To have fun and earn awards

Next Tournaments
Nov 16
Dec  2 - Grade Level Let's try to field a team even if someone has to play up a grade.
Jan 4
Jan 18 - Team vs Team (we need 5 players for a team)
Jr High Chess League (we need 5+ players for a team)  weekdays after school

New Ratings 

Gr	Place	Name	1-Nov
5	1	Zachary	927
4	2	Rishik	882
5	3	Ashwin	726
4	4	Nivrit	647
5	5	Dennis	544
5	6	Faith	489
4	7	Kunal	477
4	8	Theo	424
3	9	S.J.	384
4	10	Anshi	198
2	11	Wyatt	164
4	12	Gabe	160
5	13	Olaf	141
4	14	Andre	110

FORKS!

Today we learned all about forks. Worksheet scores were very good.

Additional Practice
Click here for more practice.
For harder problems, click here.

Upcoming Tournament
Next Tournament is next Saturday in New Brighton. See the SCA website for details. This is a team grade level tournament. They total the scores of the top 3 players in a grade to determine the team awards. I think we could field a very good 5th grade team and a very good 4th grade team!
If you are planning on coming, make sure you do the additional practice above!

5	1	Zachary	910
4	2	Rishik	866
5	3	Ashwin	705
4	4	Nivrit	633
5	5	Dennis	531
5	6	Faith	475
4	7	Kunal	464
4	8	Theo	424
3	9	S.J.	370
4	10	Anshi	205
2	11	Wyatt	147
4	12	Gabe	129
5	13	Olaf	124
4	14	Andre	105

Latest Update

We reviewed the KQ and KR checkmate and began learning the 2 bishop mate.
Tournament tomorrow at Metcalf if interested.

Gr	Place	KRR	KQ	KR	BB	Name	Rtg
5	1	P	P	P		Zachary	884
4	2	P	P	P		Rishik	844
5	3	P	P	P		Ashwin	695
4	4	P	P	P		Nivrit	601
5	5	P	P	P		Dennis	548
5	6	P	P	P		Faith	454
4	7	P	P			Kunal	440
4	8	P	P	P		Theo	403
3	9					S.J.	355
4	10	P				Anshi	193
2	11	P				Wyatt	130
4	12	P				Gabe	116
4	13					Andre	105
5	14					Olaf	100

Weekend Tournament Results

Five of our students participated in an MSCA tournament last weekend against some of the top young players in Minnesota. They now have an official USCF rating. I did not change their club rating, but I am showing both ratings. It looks like the my rubric for club ratings works well as the club ratings are pretty much in line with the USCF. Rishik's high rating was corroborated by his performance. Kunal has been improving faster than his club rating can keep up and Nivrit just had a bad day. I think his USCF rating will go up soon.

Here are the results:
        W L Club USCF
*Anvith 4 1 1006 1009 
 Rishik 4 1  837  809
*Aarav  2 3  ---  855
 Kunal  1 4  397  491 
 Nivrit 0 5  603  401
*attends SH but not in chess club

End of September Ratings

Today we reviewed the 3 main opening principles.
We also learned checkmates with 2 rooks, king & queen, and king and rook.
RATINGS

Gr	Place	Name	KRR	KQ	KR	27-Sep
5	1	Zachary	P	P	P	878
4	2	Rishik	P	P	P	837
5	3	Ashwin	P	P	P	664
4	4	Nivrit	P	P	P	603
5	5	Dennis	P	P	P	588
5	6	Faith	P	P	P	442
4	7	Kunal	P	P		397
4	8	Theo	P	P	P	391
3	9	S.J.				366
4	10	Anshi	P			195
2	11	Wyatt				125
4	12	Gabe				103
5	13	Olaf				100
4	14	Andre				100

Sept 20

We went over the three opening strategies
1) Control the center
2) Develop your knights and bishops
3 Castle
We also learned 3 of M. Heinemann's poems

A knight on the side
Gets fried

When the queen comes out
Look all about

It's not nice
To move the same piece twice

Gr	Place	Name	KRR	KQ	KR	20-Sep
5	1	Zachary	P	P	P	872
4	2	Rishik	P	P		814
5	3	Ashwin	P	P		613
4	4	Nivrit		P		606
5	5	Dennis	P	P		565
5	6	Faith	P	P	P	438
4	7	Kunal				367
3	8	S.J.				361
4	9	Theo				352
4	10	Anshi	P			178
2	11	Wyatt				121
4	12	Andre				100

Fall Schedule 2019

FALL SESSION
We are scheduled to start the fall session on Friday Sept 20 from 2:40 to 4:00 p.m. in room 9, and will finish on Fri Dec 13.

TOURNAMENTS
For those interested, there are tournaments Oct 12, Nov 2, Nov 16 and Dec 7. See www.schoolchess.org for more details,
I will also be looking to put our top 5 players in the team vs team tournament on Jan 4.

CLASS ROSTER

Gr	Place	Name	KRR	KQ	KR	Rating
5	1	Zachary	P	P	P	874
4	2	Rishik	P	P		804
4	3	Nivrit		P		635
5	4	Ashwin	P	P		572
5	5	Dennis	P	P		560
5	6	Faith	P	P	P	433
3	7	S.J.				373
4	8	Kunal				345
4	9	Theo				337
4	10	Anshi	P			183
4	11	Andre				100
2	12	Wyatt				100

May 18th Tournament Results

Congratulations to Anvith who won 3 of 4 games in the prestigious tournament of champions.
He finished in 4th place in that tournament.

Lennox received a gold medal for having now won 50 games in tournament competition.

In the Elementary Section, Lennox Tan had 4 wins and accepted a draw in the last round which assured a first place finish for him.
Suhaas received a "golden knight" award for his performance.

Nivrit earned the 5th place trophy in the Primary Section of the Open.
And Kunal earned the novice trophy.

     Name   W L D Place Bef  Aft Chg Merit  
INVITATIONAL
     Anvith 3 1 0   4   976 1006 +30  77.3   
ELEMENTARY
     Lennox 4 0 1   1  1246 1265 +19  61.5 
     Suhaas 3 2 0   6   976  961 -15  83.5 
PRIMARY
     Nivrit 3 1 1   5   613  635 +22  21.0
     Kunal  3 2 0   9   302  345 +43   7.0

Gr	Place	Name	18-May
5	1	Lennox	1265
3	2	Anvith	1006
5	3	Michael	967
5	4	Suhaas	928
4	5	Zachary	874
3	6	Rishik	804
5	7	Thomas	682
5	8	Sawyer	669
3	9	Nivrit	635
4	10	Ashwin	572
4	11	Dennis	560
5	12	Nathan	465
4	13	Faith	433
5	14	Rowan	411
2	15	S.J.	373
3	16	Prithyaa	365
3	17	Kunal	345
3	18	Theo	337
	19	Davida	253
4	20	Ben	240
4	21	Pranya	216
3	22	Anshi	183
4	23	Amir	121
4	24	Addy	107
1	25	Samuel	100

SALEM HILLS PLACES HIGH AT THE STATEWIDE (Merit pt corrections 5/17)

AWARDS:
K-3 Team finished in 4th place only 1 point behind the first place team!
1 Breck       20.5
2 Turtle Lake 20.5
3 R Span.Im   20.0
4 Salem Hills 19.5
5 Eagle Ridge 17
High scoring members of the team received Medals - Aarev Salil, Anvith Pothula, Rishik Kondadadi, and Nivrit Koturi.
Aarev brought home the 10th place trophy.
Anvith brought home the 16 place trophy.
Both Aarev and Anvith were invited to a special tournament for the top 16 players in the state,
Rishik placed 19th and brought home a trophy for one of the top 3 third graders.
Nivrit was awarded his bronze medal for have won 10 game in tournament competition.
Aarev has now earned his gold medal.

ELEMENTARY TEAM placed 6th (after 3 rounds we were briefly in first)
1 Metcalf     19.0
2 Cap. Hill   18.5
3 R Span.Im   18.0
4 Har. Bishop 17.0
5 LadyofGrace 16.0
6 Salem Hills 15.0
Lennox brought home a trophy for being one of the top 5th graders and has earned a gold medal.
Michael Hernandez was presented a silver medal for having won 25 games in tournaments.
                   W L D  Bef  Aft Chg Merit
Lennox Tan         4 3 0 1308 1246 -62  56.5 earned gold
Suhaas Pothula     3 3 1  986  976 -10  80.5
Michael Hernandez  3 2 2  983  980  -3  29.5
Zachary Browning   3 3 1  892  874 -18  19.5
Ashwin Valle       2 4 1  577  572  -5   5.5
Sawyer Immel       1 4 2  712  656 -56   4.5

Aarev Salil        5 1 1                52   earned gold
Anvith Pothula     5 2 0  976  972  -4  73.5
Rishik Kondadadi   5 2 0  760  804 +44  44
Nivrit Koturi      4 3 0  564  613 +49  17.5
Kunal Aki          3 4 0  233  302 +69   4

FINAL RATINGS *Possible members of next year's Elementary Team

Gr	Place	Name	5-May
5	1	Lennox	1246
5	2	Suhaas	976
3	3	*Anvith	972
5	4	Michael	967
4	5	*Zachary	874
3	6	*Rishik	804
5	7	Thomas	682
5	8	Sawyer	669
3	9	*Nivrit	613
4	10	*Ashwin	572
4	11	*Dennis	560
5	12	Nathan	465
4	13	*Faith	433
5	14	*Rowan	411
2	15	S.J.	373
3	16	Prithyaa	365
3	17	Theo	337
3	18	Kunal	302
	19	Davida	253
4	20	Ben	240
4	21	Pranya	216
3	22	Anshi	183
4	23	Amir	121
4	24	Addy	107
1	25	Samuel	100

Final Standings

We will be in room 203 for the Statewide Tournament

I used only two tie-breakers - 1: Total points of opponents 2: Your rating when we started (ID)
Here are the final results. Ratings will not be final until after the Statewide SCA Tournament this weekend.

ID	NAME	RD1	RD2	RD3	RD4	PTS	TBK1	Award
1	Lennox	W7	W5	W6	W4	4	12	Medal
6	Rishik	W13	W3	L1	W18	3	11	2nd
4	Suhaas	W11	W8	W18	L1	3	10	3rd
5	Zachary	W12	L1	W16	W13	3	10	4th
3	Anvith	W10	L6	W15	W8	3	9	5th
7	Sawyer	L1	W14	W19	W9	3	8.5
2	Michael	L8	W9	W14	W11	3	7.5
8	Thomas	W2	L4	W22	L3	2	11
11	Ashwin	L4	W15	W25	L2	2	9
14	Rowan	W19	L7	L2	W22	2	8.5	U500 1st
10	Nivrit	L3	W16	L20	W17	2	7.5
15	S.J.	W20	L11	L3	W21	2	7	U500 2nd
18	Theo	W24	W25	L4	L6	2	7
12	Faith	L5	L22	W17	W19	2	6
13	Nathan	L6	W21	W24	L5	2	6
16	Prithyaa	W21	L10	L5	W25	2	6
20	Ben	L15	W17	W10	F	2	4.5	U200 1st
22	Kunal	D17	W12	L8	L14	1.5	6.5
9	Dennis	H	L2	W21	L7	1.5	6
19	Pranya	L14	W24	L7	L12	1	7
25	Samuel	B	L18	L11	L16	1	6
17	Davida	D22	L20	L12	L10	0.5	7.5
21	Anshi	L16	L13	L9	L15	0	7.5
24	Addy	L18	L19	L13	F	0	5

Place	Name	3-May
1	Lennox	1308
2	Suhaas	986
3	Michael	983
4	Anvith	976
5	Zachary	892
6	Rishik	760
7	Sawyer	712
8	Thomas	682
9	Ashwin	577
10	Nivrit	564
11	Dennis	560
12	Nathan	465
13	Faith	433
14	Rowan	411
15	S.J.	373
16	Prithyaa	365
17	Theo	337
18	Davida	253
19	Ben	240
20	Kunal	233
21	Pranya	216
22	Anshi	183
23	Amir	121
24	Addy	107
25	Samuel	100