Lessons

Today the beginners worked with KQ vs K Checkmate, and then RR vs K. We learned what checkmate and stalemate are. In checkmate the King is in check and has no move to get out of check. The player who cannot move loses the game. In stalemate, the player has no legal move but is not currently in check and the game is a draw.

The advanced group looked 2 to 4 moves ahead to find a combination of fork, hurdle, pin, and discovered attack. We had a worksheet with 6 problems worth 2 points each. Scores ranged from 6 to 12 points out of a possible 12.

Tournament

Saturday March 2 at the Diamondhead Educational Center there is a tournament. Our 6th graders will be playing agains 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Simon will be presented with a silver medal for having won 25 games in tournament competition,

Ratings

Name	Rating
Cavan	958
Simon	694
Q	668
Thomas	478
Alex R.	437
Reyka	110
Soren	110
Jade	110
Jannick	110
Alex O.	109

Chess Club Spring of 2024

Lessons

Advanced group brushed up on forks

Beginner group learned:

1) how all the pieces move and the value of each piece

2) how to name each square and a few new words like "orthogonal", "file" and "rank"

3) we also briefly discussed checkmate and stalemate which we'll study next week.

Tournaments

There is a tournament this Saturday, March 2, at the Diamondhead Educational Center in Burnsville. There are sections for K-2, 3-5, and 6-8.

March 23 is the State grade level Championship at the Diamondhead Educational Center in Burnsville. This is our best shot at a team trophy. We have five good 6th graders but we'll have to practice really hard the next 4 weeks.

Ratings

I have a rating system which I use for the following reasons:

1) It encourages every child to play hard every game

2) Students can see their progress

3) They'll know which students they should play against for an evenly matched game. 

4) I'll know when they are ready for interscholastic tournaments on Saturdays.

5) When playing matches against other school I need to be able to rank them.

Students start out with a rating of 100. They earn 5 points for attendance, 2 points for every worksheet problem solved correctly, 10 points for drills performed accurately, and anywhere from 1 to 31 points gained or lost in a game depending on the two players ratings. A win is 16 points +- 1 point for every 25 points difference in ratings. A loss is -16 +- 1 to 15 points for every 25 points difference in ratings. For example, if a 200 beats a 400 its 16+(400-200)/25 or 24 points for the winner which he takes from the loser. If a 400 beats a 200 its 16-8 or 8 points for the winner while the loser loses 8 points.

Name 28-Feb 21-Feb Cavan 936 Simon 680 Q 659 Thomas 478 Alex R. 427 Alex O. 105 Reyka 105 Soren 105 Jade 105 Jannick 105

Tournament Results

Congratulations to Q who received his bronze medal, and to Simon who has earned a silver medal!

It looks like we took a little bit of a hit in the ratings, probably because we haven't been meeting on Wednesdays for the last two months, but Chess Club resumes on Wed. Feb 21.

Name  R1R2R3R4R5 Pts Bef Aft Chg Merit

Simon  L W L W L  2  658 661  +3  26.5

Cavan  W L W L L  2  930 917 -13  37

Q.     L W L W L  2  675 659 -16  12

Alex   L L W L L  1  438 410 -28.  2

 

Tournament Results 

Name 1 2 3 4 5 Tot  Bef Aft Chg Merit 

Cavan W L W L D 2.5 932 930  -2  35 

Simon L L W L W 2   644 658 +14  22 

Alec  L L W L L 1   425 437 +12   1 

Q                                10 

Thomas

                           18.25

Bughouse

The Bughouse Tournament does not affect ratings. But I think 4 wins is worth 2 merit points. So that would mean Q just earned his bronze meda

Q/Thom W W L L L W W L L (4 pts of 9)

Lesson: we went over the problems on the desperado worksheet. Then we got a new worksheet on simplifying to a won endgame.

Progress Reports

The gaps in the chart represent tournaments that were not attended. 

Notable steady progress was made by Cavan and Alex. Q and Simon also have made sporadic progress. Thomas made a little progress until  Nov 8th when he decided he didn't like worksheets.

Soren was a rising star until he stopped coming. Most made steady progress. Jack made good progress when he was on task, but recently has had problems paying attention.

Final Ratings of the fall session

Merit	Name	13-Dec
32.5	Cavan	932
8	Q	675
20.5	Simon	644
16.3	Thomas	478
	Alex	426
	Jack	234
	Santiago	230
	Soren	223
	Eldrych	217
	Audrey	170
	Hunter	156
	William	132
	Harrison	125

Lesson

Today we learned about the desperado. If you know you're going to lose a piece, can you take something out with it? This is often similar to a zwischenzug move. Do you remember what that means? The in between move. We had a worksheet with 7 problems.

Schedule

Next Wednesday is out last meeting of the fall session. We'll have a spring session that begins Feb 21 and runs through May 8. That's 11 lessons with one week off during spring break week.

Ratings

Name	6-Dec
Cavan	914
Q	654
Simon	631
Thomas	492
Alex	394
Jack	223
Soren	223
Santiago	214
Eldrych	200
Audrey	170
Hunter	149
William	132
Harrison	125

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Congratulations to Cavan, who brought home the third place trophy.

NAME    1 2 3 4 Bef Aft Chg Merit

Cavan   W W L W 881 917 +36 32.5

Simon   L L L W 640 620 -20 20.5

Rating changes did not change the rank of any players.

PUZZLE OF THE DAY

I ran across this nice example of "overload" today.

Find White's best move.

Solution: Bd7 threatens Qf8+ if the Queen moves and unguards f8.

It also threatens BxRe8and QXNc7. Black cannot stop all the threats.