LESSONS
Beginners worked on King and Rook vs King, Practice at home and get 15 points next week.
Practice the King and Queen mate: Get checkmate in one minute and earn 10 points
Practice the two rook checkmate: Do it in one minute and get 10 points. That's a total of 35 points.
Advanced players learned different ways to draw when behind. They did a worksheet on draws.
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
The most important tournaments of the year for us is coming up next weekend, March 23, at the Diamond Head Educational Center in Burnsville. It's the Statewide grade level championships. That means we won't have to play any 7th or 8th graders. It also is a team tournament. Team score will be the total of our top three scorers
RATINGS
| Cavan | 936 |
| Simon | 741 |
| Q | 712 |
| Thomas | 461 |
| Alex R. | 457 |
| Alex O. | 147 |
| Reyka | 137 |
| Jade | 131 |
| Soren | 130 |
| Jannick | 118 |
Tournament Results
Alex, that was just weird! You had to play all three of your teammates. The next tournament is a team tournament so you should never have to play your own teammates.
Name R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts Bef Afr Chg Merit
Cavan W L L W 2 959 935 -24 39.5
Simon L W L W 2 694 711 +17 29.5
Thomas L L L L 0 478 443 -35 19.0
Alex L W L L 1 436 443 +7 4.3
PHOTOS
Thomas tries to heed the advice from his own shirt: "Don't hurry."
Cavan appears to be ahead against Alex.
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.
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.
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