2020 Chess

 Due to the covid outbreak, I am currently not teaching any after-school chess. However SCA has gone virtual with a successful virtual chess camp this summer. 

VIRTUAL TOURNAMENTS

SCA will be conducting virtual tournaments until we can get back together again. 

Merit points will be awarded and all awards will be mailed.

CHESS CLUB SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY

There will be no more chess until further notice in a effort to reduce the spread of the virus.
Also not that if you were planning on attending the SCA Tournament on March 21, that has been cancelled as well.

State Scholastic Championship

Congratulations to the Salem Hills K-5 team which finished in second place in the Minnesota Chess State Scholastic tournament. Here are the scores of all the teams after all 5 rounds if I did the math right.
Eagle Ridge Academy  14.5
Salem Hills Atheneum 11.5
William Byrne Elem.   9.0
Robbinsdale Sp. Im.   7.0 (only 3 players)
MNGHIL                4.5 (only 2 players)
We'll have lots more competition at SCA's Statewide.

Anvith 3.5
Aarev  3.0
Ashwin 3.0
Rishik 2.0

Feb 28

Wee reviewed the opening principles and went over the importance of castling.
We studied the Giocco Piano opening
and the Fried Liver opening.

Dennis	619
Theo	587
Faith	548
S.J.	422
Tristan	143
Giani	126
Oscar	123
Kendall	112
James	112
Stefan	108
Oliver	105
Alec	100

Feb 21

We learned a little about checkmate and stalemate
Can you explain what the swallowtail mate is?
SJ and Stefan passed the two rook checkmate test.
We learned you can win with KQ , KR, KBB, KBN
but not with KB KN or KNN

First Name	21-Feb
Dennis	614
Theo	583
Faith	542
S.J.	430
Tristan	122
Stefan	119
Kendall	110
Alec	110
James	110
Giani	105
Oscar	105

New Session Feb 7

Tournament
Tournament tomorrow from 9:00 til 2:00. Everyone guaranteed 5 games. At Zachary Lane Elem. in Plymouth. Cost $20 plus $2 for a one-time membership good thru 12th grade. More info at schoolchess.org or call me with questions.
Lesson
We got off to a fast start!
We have learned how the pieces all move, including castling.
We learned the three opening principles:
1) Control the center
2) Get your knights and bishops into the game
3) Get castled
We got exposed to these principles through the Italian game (Guiocco piano) and the Spanish Opening (Ruy Lopez)
We learned about check and how to get out of check
1) capture
2) block
3) move
Then we played a game or two. Everyone did very well considering most were new to the game.

 I keep ratings for a number of reasons:
1) So everyone tries hard every game
2) So you can see your progress
3) So you can play someone at your level
4) So I can tell when you are ready for tournament competition

Ratings

Dennis	608
Theo	578
Faith	537
S.J.	415
James	121
Kendall	105
Alec	105
Stefan	104
Tristan	101
Giani	100
Oscar	100

Jan 18th Tournament Results

Name    1 2 3 4 5 Pts  Bef Aft Chg Merit
Rishik  L D W W W 3.5 1007 972 -35  64.5
Anivth  W W L W H 3.5  972 963  -9 107.25
Nivrit  L W D W L 2.5  747 725 -22  39.5
Ashwin  W W L L L 2.0  777 742 -35  24.0

TOTAL 10W, 7L, 2D

Another good tourament. Many of the losses were against ourselves.
No trophies today, but Anvith finished 6th and Rishik 7th.a

New Rule for Team vs Team Tournament

Jan 18 is the Team vs Team tournament. There is a new rule this year which allows you to add students to your team who do not go to your school. I'd suggest adding Lennox and Suhaas to your team if you want to make your team stronger or if you don't have enough to fill out your roster or if you want to have 2 teams. Since awards are based on the grade of your oldest player, adding those 6th graders will still keep you in the Elementary category.

P.S. Next session begins Feb 7 thru May 15

Tournament Results

Name   1 2 3 4 5 pts  Bef  Aft Chg
Rishik W D W L W 3.5 1031 1007 -28
Anvith W L D W W 3.5 1006  972 -34
Ashwin W W L L L 2.0  820  777 -43
Nivrit W D L L W 2.5  774  747 -27
Kunal  L W L W L 2.0  610  592 -18
Theo   L W L W L 2.0  568  555 -13