Today's Lesson

Forks - attacking two pieces at the same time. Any piece can deliver a fork but Knights are best. Pawns are also very good. Look for that pattern. At the end of the game as the pieces get captured, the queen be can deliver some nasty forks. Worksheets had good results.

Next Tournament : Saturday Oct 14 Sections for Grades 3-5, and 6-8 at the Diamonhead Educational Center in Burnsville. Register on-line at www.schoolchess.org. Cost is about $26. Lunch can be purchased on site. Begins at 8:30 done at about 2:00 or maybe longer if you're getting an award.

Opening of the Week: Caro-Kann

The Karo-Kann defense is an opening for black. In response to 1. e4, Black chooses an alternative move instead of e5. Actually there are many different good moves Black could make that control the center and also open paths for Black pieces while also restricting White's choices. One such move Black can play is c6 which attacks d5 which is one of the four middle squares. It opens a path for Black's queen while closing the b5 square for White's bishop.

White will often play 2. d4. White now has two strong pawns occupying and attacking the center. Black now makes the second move of the Caro-Kann - 2. ... d5. Black's plan is to play Bf5 when he can and then e6 with plenty of mobility for his dark bishop. The board now looks like this:

It's White's move and he has lot's of good choices:

Nc3 attacks and defends the center pawn, but blocks his c-pawn. Nd2 protects his pawn but now the c-pawn is still free to advance. exd5 opens up the board a bit after the exchange of the center pawns. e5 locks up Black's pawns and limits his g-knight.

Ratings

Merit	Name	4-Oct
22.5	Cavan	711
16.3	Simon	555
12.3	Thomas	546
3	Q	520
	Alex	229
	Jack	192
	Audrey	154
	Santi	137
	Eldrych	127
	Harrison	124
	William	121
	Soren	121
	Hunter	105

TODAY'S LESSON

 Today we learned:

1) the King and Queen vs King endgame. Push the King to the edge of the board then trap it against the edge of the board. Bring your King in to guard the queen and set up the "Kiss of death" checkmate.

2) the two rook checkmate. Again push the king to the edge of the board where you can get checkmate.

3) The King and Rook vs King checkmate. Squeeze with the Rook. If you can't squeeze with the Rook, squeeze with the King. lf you can't squeeze with the King, make a waiting move with the King.

4) You can't checkmate with just one Bishop, but you can with 2 Bishops. It's too rare of an ending to bother with now, but some time we'll get around to it.

5)  You can't checkmate with just one Knight, or even 2 Knights.

6) You can force a checkmate. with a King, Bishop and Knight but it's very rare and difficult. 2 Bishops. It's too rare of an ending to bother with now, but if you end up facing this endgame head toward the corner that is the opposite color as your opponent's Bishop's square. Count his moves - he has only 50 moves and then it's a draw.

PUZZLES

#1. What is White's best move?

#2. What is White's best move?

#3. What is White's best move?

#4. What is White's best move? (Hint: Mate in 2)

#5 For 10 rating points, checkmate in 3 moves. (Show Mr. H. your solution next Wednesday.)

#6. For 20 rating points, checkmate in 3 by moving each piece (Show Mr. H. your solution Wednesday.)

Solutionss 

1. If you can squeeze with the Rook, squeeze with he Rook - Rd3

2 If you can't squeeze with the Rook, squeeze with the King - Ke3

3. If you can't squeeze with either, make a waiting move with the King - Kd3

4. Waiting move (Wait for black to move to the corner.) Rc6 (or Rc5 orRc4, etc.)

NEXT TOURNAMENT

Sat Oct 14 from 8:15 to about 2:00 at the Diamondhead Education Center in Burnsville. Cost - about $30 including lunch. Details next week. 

RATINGS

Name	27-Sep
Cavan	669
Simon	548
Thomas	543
Q	526
Jack	192
Alex	166
Audrey	126
Harrison	124
Santi	121
Eldrych	108
William	105
Hunter	105
Soren	105

I thought our first meeting went well. We have half returning from last year and half new.

Everyone seemed to know how the pieces move, so we went over castling and en passant.

We also went over general strategic ideas.

NEXT WEEK - Checkmate, stalemate, mates with minimal material.

NEXT TOURNAMENT

Tournaments are approximately twice a month from mid Oct. to late May.The next tournament is Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Diamondhead Educational Center in Burnsville. If your rating is 300 or higher I would recommend this. Anyone (even if your rating is less than 300) can enter by registering via school chess.org. If you're in 5th grade enter in the 3rd-5th grade section, otherwise enter in the 6th- 8th section. You will play 5 rounds. In each round you will be paired with someone with a similar record

Cavan has 22.5 merit points and needs 2.5 points to earn his silver medal.

RATINGS

Gr	Name	20-Sep
6	Cavan	669
6	Q	541
6	Simon	542
6	Thomas	522
7	Jack	207
6	Alex	162
7	Harrison	100
5	Eldrych	103
5	William	100
5	Audrey	121
6	Santi	116
	Hunter	100

 May 20 TOURNAMENT RESULTS

NAME  1 2 3 4 5 Bef Aft Chg Merit

CAVAN W W L L L 662 676 +14 18.0

SIMON W L L L W 481 525 +44 12.5

GRANT L W W L   542 596 +54  7.0

Cavan beat the 4th place finisher

Simon received his bronze medal. He beat a 3-game winner

If Grant had won his final game, he would have earned the 3rd place trophy. As it was, he finished in 7th place. Note that each win scores 1.25 merit points in a 4-round tournament.

RATINGS

Cavan	676
Grant	598
Quillan	534
Simon	525
Thomas	514
Owen	407
Warren	323
Luke	303
Lucia	260
Jack	207
Alan	145
James	141
Kellen	128

NEXT TOURNAMENT

There is one tournament left on May 20th at Zachary Lane Elem in Plymouth. This would be your best shot at winning a trophy since the top 16 will be playing in a separate section. This gives a chance for those of you who have won 3 games to win 4 and earn a trophy. Hope to see you there.

Heritage Tournament Standings

Pl Name  Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Pts Award

1 Quillan B   W5  W2  3  1st Place

2 Cavan   W4  W3  L1  2  2nd Place

3 Grant   W6  L2  W7  2  3rd Place

4 Simon   L1  W6  W5  2  4th Place

5 Thomas  W7  L1  L4  1

6 Lucia   L3  L4  B   1 

7 Jack    L5  B   L3  1 

RATINGS 

Merit	Name	10-May
16	Cavan	662
4.5	Grant	542
3	Quillan	534
12.5	Thomas	514
10.5	Simon	481
2.75	Owen	407
	Warren	323
	Luke	303
	Lucia	260
	Jack	207
	Alan	145
	James	141
	Kellen	128

 

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Name   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pts Bef Aft Chg Merit:

CAVAN  W L W W L L D 3.5 580 647 +67  16

SIMON  W L L W L L W 3.0 441 486 +45  10.5   

THOMAS L W L L H W L 2.5 529 523  -6  12.5

Interesting facts: 

Cavan beat a 5-game winner and a 4-game winner in the tournament. Simon also beat a 4-game winner.

Cavan and Thomas each received a bronze medal for having won 10 games.

Simon earned his bronze medal and will receive it at the next tournament he attends.

 Thomas played the #3 place player whose 12th grade sister just won the United States championship for high school girls. There are some pictures of each of you on the Schoolchess.org website.

Thomas  Cavan Simon There are other pictures of each of you as well.

OUR LAST CLUB MEETING IS WED. MAY 10. We will have an in-school tournament with ribbons for the top 3 and top U 300.

Next tournament is May 20 at Zachary Lane Elem. in Plymouth. It's the last tournament until October.

Merit	Name	7-May
16	Cavan	647
4.5	Grant	540
12.5	Thomas	523
3	Quillan	491
10.5	Simon	486
2.75	Owen	407
	Warren	323
	Luke	303
	Lucia	269
	Jack	209
	Alan	145
	James	141
	Kellen	128

LESSON Square of the pawn, techniques for queening, the outside passed pawn. When you have more papwns than your opponent, advance the pawn on the open file. we looked at simplifying to a KP vs K ending. We had a worksheet on queening.TOURNAMENT SAT & SUN - We are in room 132.

Tournament Advice:

 Keep your hands away from the board- sit on them or put them in your lap.

Never think with your hand dangling over the board.

When you find a good move, don't make it. Look for a better one.

Take your time on every move. If someone is going to move too quickly, let it be your opponent.

Never panic after making a mistake - you're still looking for the best move.

Never resign - your opponent may blunder and stalemate you.

Win or lose, congratulate your opponent on a good game.

I've scouted out the competition: There are 7 teams with a complete team of four or more players. There are 6 more with 3 like us. So realistically we will finish somewhere in the 8th to 13th place. If there are 10 team trophies, which has been typical, we are in position to bring home a trophy.  

RATINGS

Cavan	578
Grant	540
Thomas	529
Quillan	491
Simon	441
Owen	407
Warren	323
Luke	303
Lucia	269
Jack	209
Alan	145
James	141
Kellen	128