Lastest Ratings and Upcoming Tournament

Tournament tomorrow in Burnsville Metcalf Jr Hi Diffley & Cedar.
All girls section in addition to the K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and rated sections.
Call Bill at 651-451-8412 if you have questions.

First Name	Rating
Michaela	940
Joshua	825
Connor	566
Isabella	435
Tate	429
John	354
Simon	215
Ryan	193
Eliana	178

Ratings as of 11-14-11

Name	Rating
Michaela	940
Joshua	804
Connor	552
Tate	414
Isabella	396
John	338
Simon	220
Ryan	201
Eliana	179

Salem Hills takes 3rd place twice!

Congratulations to the 2nd grade chess team who took 3rd place at a big chess tournament over the weekend. Donald Thai won 4 games and came home with a trophy. Ryan Carpenter won 2 games in his first tournament.

3rd grader Simon Klancher won 2 games in his first tournament.

Congratulations also to the 5th grade team who took 3rd place. Robert Thai had 4 wins, 1 draw and no losses to earn the 2nd place trophy out of 39 top chess players from across the Twin Cities. Michaela Long add 3 more wins to the team's total.

Ratings after Nov 4 and Tournament Info

There is a tournament tomorrow at Metcalf Jr. High.
You'll only be playing students in your same grade.
I'll be there.

First Name	Last Name	Rating
Michaela	Long	970
Joshua	Schachel	787
Connor	Hassing	535
Tate	Engleson	409
Isabella	Mens	379
John	Featherstone	327
Simon	Klancher	182
Eliana	Bly	172
Ryan	Carpenter	157

Latest Ratings

If you are interested, there is a chess tournament
on Saturday Nov 5 at Metcalf Jr High in Burnsville.
See details at School Chess Link to the right.

Chess poem of the day:
Two big pieces on a line?
Look out! It's hurdle time!

Here are the latest ratings.

First Name	Last Name	Rating
Michaela	Long	970
Joshua	Schachel	801
Connor	Hassing	530
Tate	Engleson	390
Isabella	Mens	354
John	Featherstone	275
Simon	Klancher	167
Eliana	Bly	157
Ryan	Carpenter	150

Oct 7, 2011

Advanced group worked on checkmates.
Intermediate group worked on forks.

Poem of the day :
King and Queen on the same color square?
Keep on looking, there's a fork there!

Name	Rating
Michaela	935
Connor	511
Isabella	349
Simon	170
John	180
Eliana	150
Ryan	143
Tate	377
Joshua	758

First Salem Hills Chess Meeting of 2011-2012

Opening principles we learned today:

1. Occupy and attack the four middle squares of the board on the first few moves.
Don't fiddle - control the middle

2. Knights belong toward the center
A knight on the side gets fried

3. You can usually tell if a piece is in a good position by counting the number of choices it has.

4. Develop your pieces in this order: Knights, Bishops, Queen, Rooks

5. Move rooks onto an open file (a file with no pawns on it)
A rook can travel for a mile, when it's on an open file

Homework: Place a knight in the corner, on the edge, near the corner and in the middle 16 squares and count the number of choices it has. Do the same with a bishop, rook and queen.
How many choices does each piece have in the corner? In the middle? Which piece is different in terms of the choices? What does that tell you about developing that piece? How does that explain why rooks should be developed last?

Ratings

2	Hassing, Connor	504
2	Isabella Mens	317
2	Klancher, Simon	171
3	Featherstone, John	149
2	Bly, Eliana	145
2	Carpenter, Ryan	139