UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Saturday. APRIL 8 Middle School Championships at the Burnsville Diamondhead Education Center.          My apologies - I misspoke at the last tournament. This is an important tournament! The            competition will be tough, but we're getting better every week.  Grades 5-8 should all sign up for the 6-8 section and we'll all play as a team. Sign up at school chess.com I think they'll have at least 3 team     trophies.

Sat. - Sun. MAY 6-7 Elementary Championships Sections for I-2, 3-5, 6-8 Sign up at Schoolchess.com after April 10. Many team and individual trophies.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

As a team we placed 3rd out of 13 schools represented.

Once again everyone outperformed their rating and raised your ratings. We've got some people who could earn their bronze medal at the next tournament.

Merit Name Results BEF    AFT    CHG

9.5 Cavan LLLWW   504    509    +5    

3 Quillan LLLBW   409    411    +2

8 Thomas LDLWL   397    409    +12

4.5 Grant LLWW    331    380    +49

4.5 Simon LLWLW   359    370    +11

RATINGS

Name	25-Mar
Cavan	509
Quillan	411
Thomas	409
Grant	380
Owen	375
Simon	370
Warren	303
Luke	268
Lucia	239
Jack	166
James	150
Kellen	127
Alan	118

CLASS

On Wed Mar 22 we went over the solutions to the hurdle problems.

We learned about pins. After you pin a piece, attack it!

TOURNAMENT 

THIS SATURDAY at Plymouth Middle School. Register online at Schoolchess.org This is a chance for our fifth graders to earn some honors. I'd like our top 5th graders to be there. We need 3, but more would be better for our score and be more fun.

RATINGS

Gr	Merit	Name	22-Mar
5	7.5	Cavan	504
5	1	Quillan	409
5	6.5	Thomas	397
7	2.75	Owen	375
5	2.5	Simon	359
8	2.0	Grant	331
6	1.5	Warren	303
7		Luke	268
6		Lucia	239
6		Jack	166
		James	150
5		Kellen	127
		Alan	118

FORKS, HURDLES and SKEWERS

Today we went over the Fork worksheet problems.

Then we learned about two similar tactics called hurdles and skewers and tried our hand at solving problems. Remember: "Two big pieces in a line? - Look out! It's hurdle time!"

RATINGS 

Merit	Name	15-Mar
7.5	Cavan	500
1	Quillan	377
6.5	Thomas	368
2.75	Owen	360
2.5	Simon	319
2.0	Grant	319
1.5	Warren	299
	Luke	256
	Lucia	245
	Jack	164
	Kellen	127
	Alan	118
	James	116,

 TOURNAMENT RESULTS

            W L D   Bef Aft Chg. Merit

Cavan   3  2  0  444 500 +56.   7.5

Quillan 1  4  0  335 362 +27    1

Thomas 3 2  0  269 351 +82.   6.5

Grant    2 3  0.  227 289 +62.   2

Everyone performed over their rating!

In a preview of the next tournament, I did a quick check of how 5th grade teams performed. Top teams were:

ERACS 8 points, Heritage 7 points, Breck 4.5 points

Cavan	500
Quillan	362
Thomas	351
Owen	329
Simon	327
Warren	321
Grant	289
Lucia	237
Luke	209
Jack	150
Kellen	127
Alan	124
James	103

March 7

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS 

Saturday March 11 at the Burnsville Diamondhead Educational Center

Register at schoolchess.org

Saturday March 25 at Plymouth Middle School - Grade Level

Saturday April 8 at the Burnsville Diamondhead Educational Center - Middle School Championship

Sat-Sun Robbinsdale Middle School - Elementary K-5 Team Championship

Problem #8 on the worksheet

Answer: Force the black king to a dangerous square 

1.Qxh7+ Kxh7

2.exf8(N)+ Kg6

3.Nxe7

Amazing! We were down a rook so what did we do? First we sacked our queen. Then we under promoted to a knight. with that extra knight we should be able to queen that h-pawn if we are very careful: get your king to g6\\, pawn to h6, and knight to f7. Try it out on your own board!

RATI|NGS 

Cavan	444
Quillan	335
Owen	329
Simon	327
Warren	321
Thomas	269
Lucia	237
Grant	227
Luke	209
Jack	150
Kellen	127
Alan	124
James	103

Good turnout today - eleven. We had a quick lesson on checkmate with just a king and queen, or just a King and Rook. Often stalemates result from carelessness on the part of the players who is ahead, but sometimes a clever move by the person who is behind can force a stalemate. 

What is Black's best move?

Problem #2 Harder. Again, what is Black's best move?

RATINGS

Cavan	410
Quillan	316
Warren	309
Simon	300
Owen	299
Thomas	258
Lucia	241
Grant	233
Luke	215
James	117
Alan	116
Jack	112
Kellen	105

Answers: Problem #1. Bg3+ forces either a stalemate if the Bishop is taken (by either piece) or a draw due to insufficient material if the King flees allowing you to capture his queen.

Problem #2. Rxg3+ White cannot capture because of stalemate, so he must play Kh2, but now Rg2+. White cannot capture, but then he cannot get out of check, so the game is a draw.