Author: Cejones

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Kealing Middle School Tournament This Saturday

KealingThe second scholastic tournament of the year is this Saturday at Kealing Middle School.  Good luck to the 28 Spicewood students registered in this tournament.  The school is located on North I35 and it takes about 20-25 minutes to drive there from Spicewood Elementary.

Google Map of Kealing Middle School

We have some helpful advice for all parents to help your kids prepare for the tournament.  First, please make sure to get a good night sleep.  The tournament day is long and you want to be well rested.  There is typically a lot of downtime between rounds, so make sure you bring healthy snacks and drinks.  The school will have a concessions area, so you can support their school by making purchases through them as well.

We typically find and reserve a section for Spicewood students.  This area becomes our homebase where the students hang out between round, review their recent matches and practice chess.  We recommend bringing a couple of comfortable folding chairs in case seating is limited.  We also recommend that you leave portable video games at home.  We have seen parents and kids bring books to read, games to play (other than chess), homework, coloring books, soccer balls, etc.   It has been normal to have wifi access to the Internet, but each school is different, so we are not 100% sure about this at Kealing.

This will be a relatively small tournament with around 300 participants.  Round 1 starts at 9AM for the Open section and 9:30AM for the Scholastic sections and you should find your board at least 30 minutes before the start.  We recommend arriving as early as possible in order to claim a good spot to reside for the day.  If you plan to be late to any round, please make sure you request a BYE for that round with Lori Balkum (Lori.Balkum@austinchesstournaments.com) who will be located in the computer room which handles all the pairings and result entry.

Results of the tournament rounds will be posted on bulletin boards outside each section as well as online on this page:

https://www.austinchesstournaments.com/events/659

 

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Club Meeting October 9th, 2015

With the book fair behind us, we were back to normal with the Pawns and Knights in the library and the Rooks and Kings in the Gym.  Today was National Chess Day which was designated by former President Gerald Ford in 1976.  It is rare for us to have a club meeting on the same day as National Chess Day!   President Ford is quoted as saying:

“To give special recognition to a game that generates challenge, intellectual stimulation, and enjoyment for citizens of all ages.”

The Knights skill group reviewed more information on first moves including the three C’s and the importance of developing the minor pieces (knights and bishops).  We watched a Chesskid video that shows very well what can happen if you bring your Queen out too early.

Chesskid video:  More First Moves

We observed much improved kid behavior at today’s meeting, so thank you to all the parents who helped today.

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Meridian Tournament Results

Screen Shot 2015-08-27 at 9.43.03 PMWe had 25 students from Spicewood Elementary participate in the Meridian Tournament last weekend.  The tournament consisted of 5 rounds of games each worth 1 point.  In total, our kids scored a total of 63.5 out of a possible 125 points.   Five Spicewood students received trophies for scoring in the top percentile of their groups:  Rounav Sur, Annika Shivam, Ivan Leong, Aryan Punalekar and Ethan Tang. Seven Spicewood students received medals for scoring in the second percentile of their groups: Aria Mitra, Yifan Qui, Jhivan James Ravichandran, Marvel Chung, Aakash Nagarahalli, Raghav Aggarwal and Tianwen Gao.  Congratulations to all of our participants.  Each received 5 Chess bucks.

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Club Meeting September 25th, 2015

The Panther pawns will review the following two videos:

Every chess game begins with the opening — but what moves should you play? FM Mike Klein shows you the fundamentals behind the ideas of good openings, so you know why to play them, not just how. Learn how important controlling the center is in a chess game, and apply that lesson to your choice of first moves.

Chesskid video: First Moves

Howcast video: 3 Basic Opening Stratety Principles

The Knights, Rooks and Kings will review the following video on the Ruy Lopez opening:

The Ruy Lopez is one of the most popular openings in chess. We will look at some of the common themes you might see when playing the Ruy Lopez.

 

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Beginner Chess Player Recommendations

PLAY 10 MINUTES EVERY DAY

Spending 10 minutes a night playing chess with your child, or having them play their sibling(s) will make a huge difference. If you are a beginner parent, learn chess along with your child. Chess has less rules than Monopoly. Allow your child to play on chesskid.com. Leaving your chess board out and set up ready to play, greatly increases the amount of chess played by your child.

Starter SetGET A PORTABLE CHESS SET WITH ALGEBRAIC NOTATION
A good chess set with roll up board and algebraic notation is strongly recommended. Learning to identify the squares on the chess board significantly increases the speed at which a beginner player is able to learn. This set which has a missing piece guarantee, can be used by your child and family for years:
http://www.wholesalechess.com/shop/chess-sets/club-chess-sets/basic-starter-chess-set-combo

 

PARTICIPATE IN TOURNAMENTS
Tournaments are integral in building confidence, teaching self-reliance and how to compete. Beneficial on many levels, not just for chess. Most children who attend will play as much chess in a single day as they do in a month of Chess Club. Students play their peers. Many develop friendships that last for years.

Chess for ChildrenRECOMMENDED BOOK: “CHESS FOR CHILDREN” BY CHANDLER
Strongly recommended by the Chess Club Coaches. This great hardback, kid-friendly book can be used for the first and second year of Chess Club. It significantly contributes to and augments the students’ understanding and enjoyment of chess. The Spicewood Chess Club beginner program is based loosely on this book. It’s a great investment. Amazon link

 

 

chesskid-logo

REGISTER FOR AN ACCOUNT ON WWW.CHESSKID.COM Spicewood Elementary Chess Club Students are online a few times a week. Children who frequently play on this site improve very quickly. Allows children to play independently. Free version allows children to play their friends from Chess Club, as well as children from all over the world. Gold account allows access to wealth of educational tools, including video’s and puzzles. The site tracks the kids’ chess (non-USCF) rating in real time.

DinosaurChessDINOSAUR CHESS App
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dinosaur-chess-learn-to-play!/id405842432?mt=8
Excellent teaching tool for beginner players.

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Meridian Tournament This Saturday

The first scholastic tournament of the year is this Saturday at Meridian School.  There are 22 Spicewood students registered in this tournament.  The school is located on North I35 and it takes about 20-25 minutes to drive there from Spicewood Elementary.

Google Map of Meridian School

We have some helpful advice for all parents to help your kids prepare for the tournament.  First, please make sure to get a good night sleep.  The tournament day is long and you want to be well rested.  There is typically a lot of downtime between rounds, so make sure you bring healthy snacks and drinks.  The Meridian school will have a concessions area, so you can support their school by making purchases through them as well.

We typically find and reserve a section for Spicewood students.  This area becomes our homebase where the students hang out between round, review their recent matches and practice chess.  We recommend bringing a couple of comfortable folding chairs in case seating is limited.  We also recommend that you leave portable video games at home.  We have seen parents and kids bring books to read, games to play (other than chess), homework, coloring books, soccer balls, etc.   It has been normal to have wifi access to the Internet, but each school is different, so we are not 100% sure about this at Meridian.

This will be a relatively small tournament with around 270 participants.  Round 1 starts at 9AM and you should find your board at least 30 minutes before the start.  We recommend arriving as early as possible in order to claim a good spot to reside for the day.  If you plan to be late to any round, please make sure you request a BYE for that round with Lori Balkum (Lori.Balkum@austinchesstournaments.com) who will be located in the computer room which handles all the pairings and result entry.

Results of the tournament rounds will be posted on bulletin boards outside each section as well as online on this page:

https://www.austinchesstournaments.com/events/602

 

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Club Meeting September 11th, 2015

The Panther Pawns will review how to setup the board, how the pieces move and the rules of castling.  They will watch this video:

ChessKids video: Castling!

The Knights will watch a video on the the Ruy Lopez opening, also known as the Spanish opening.

ChessKids video: Ruy Lopez Opening

HowCast video:

The Rooks and Kings will begin a 3 week series on the Italian game lines.  (fried liver, two knight defense, evans gambit)

ChessKids video: Italian Opening

ChessKids video: Italian Opening 2

HowCast video:

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Rooks and Kings: Fried Liver Attack

Fried LiverThe Rooks and Kings groups will be reviewing the Fried Liver attack at this week’s meeting.

The Fried Liver Attack, also called the Fegatello Attack (named after an Italian idiom meaning “dead as a piece of liver”), is a classic chess opening. This colorfully named opening is a variation of the Two Knights Defense in which White sacrifices a knight for an attack on Black’s king.

The Fried Liver has been known for many centuries, the earliest known example being a game played by Giulio Cesare Polerio around 1610.

The Fried Liver Attack is a super aggressive opening that derives from the two knights defense in the Italian game. White looks to sacrifice his knight on f7 so that he can take initiative and start a great assault against the black king. Black has to be on his toes and has to play very careful or else he will find himself checkmated very fast.

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Club Rules Posted

The Rules Ruler Guidelines Regulations Laws Limits

 

We have posted the rules of our Chess Club for all parents and kids to review.  With any large group of people, it is important that we understand what is expected during our club meetings so we can all have a good time while learning the game of Chess.

You can view the rules by clicking on “About” above and scrolling down to “Rules” or you can simply click here.