Chess Gives Mississippi Kids Hope

Great story here, from 60 Minutes:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/kids-fight-stereotypes-using-chess-in-rural-mississippi/

Tosa Challenge May 10 - McKinley vs. Tosa Catholic!

Tosa Catholic and their coach Bob Patterson-Sumwaldt (leader of the WSCF) has challenged McKinley to a school vs. school match on Wed May 10!   We hope this will be the beginning of a new tradition, and an annual tournament called the Tosa Challenge!

We are thinking there will be TWO GAMES.  Our board 1 plays their board 1, board 2 plays board 2, all the way down the line.   Game 2, we could either switch white/black and play adjoining players e.g. # 1 from TC would play # 2 from McK,   # 1 from McK would play # 2 from TC... or we just have 1-0 kids play 1-0 kids and 0-1 kids play 0-1 kids like in a tournament.

Would start after school.   After the two games, we can have pizza and parents can hang out and meet each other.

Let us know what you think!   P.S.  The winner will keep the "Traveling Trophy" until the next match...

P.P.S.   We are also thinking about a "Chess in the Park" event at Hoyt this Summer!   Watch for news here!

Kyle Does it Again - While Giving Back

(2016) Kyle and Evan - WI champs

UPDATE: Kyle Jain is joining us this year at McKinley to help me teach the class!!!
So, last year, my son Evan won the High School individual state chess championship, as I have bragged about several times.  Haha...
THIS year, another product of the Muskego Scholastic Chess Club, Kyle Jain - a 9th grader! - won it!  This is one year after Kyle won the K-8 division.  Congratulations to Kyle, and also to Matt Schladweiler, Muskego's advanced instructor, who helped to bring Kyle to the level he is now. As Kyle knows well, It's not just about playing the game.  It's about giving back.  Below is a quote from a Brookfield Academy coach (where Kyle attended last year):
"Kyle obviously played very good chess, but he also was an excellent leader for our team. He spent a significant amount of time giving instruction and reviewing games. Some participants on our varsity team did not play their best chess, but Kyle remained positive and supportive even if he may have felt disappointment. I am proud of the way he handled himself. He is an excellent teammate."
Kyle's mom said, "Kyle said more than winning he enjoyed this year because he would sit between rounds and look over kids games like what Mr. Matt would do. He felt good about helping others and said that was the best part of states this year. That made me so proud to hear. "
This is what I'd like to see one day from our best players. Not only that they become good players, and good young men/women, but that they pass along what they have learned to others.

Grade Level - Register Now!

Please REGISTER NOW for Grade Level!   Go to wisconsinscholasticchess.com and click on Tournaments then Registration.  Then choose Grade Level April 1, click on the little check mark. Bob is trying to update the website... it is very slow right now but if you wait it should work fine.

DEADLINE FOR EARLY REGISTRATION is 3/23!!

Let's get some big teams to Grade Level!  I'm thinking Grade 3 we will be especially strong, and we can definitely compete at some other grades too.  All we need is 3 players to make a full team.  We can also play as individuals too.  Thanks!

McKinley Shines at Elmwood

K-3 Takes First Place at Elmwood

Over 180 were pre-registered for the annual Elmwood tournament, including a huge k3 section... New Berlin has a strong tradition of chess, and some very good players.  This is a "harder" tournament than most we attend - and in the K-3 section, we were up against several strong and large teams.  Elmwood had 15 kids on their k3 team, for example.   Our K-3 team had 10 players - Zach, Louis, Henry Rom., Jack, Henry Rio., Max, Kate, Mitchell, Charlie and Nolan.  We were tied with Elmwood after 5 rounds at 15 points... We went into round 6 very focused on our mission - and almost every single player on our team won their final game... We had 19 points (top 4 scores) and took 1st Place over Elmwood by 2 points.
Zach Brunow missed game 1 (half point bye) and won all his remaining games to go 5.5.  Louis Liu lost his first and won his next 5.  Henry Rommelfanger had 4.5 points.  A few kids had 4 points, and nobody had any less than 2 on both of our teams.
Most notably (pun intended)... Just about everybody took notation!!   This allowed us to go through several games and learn from them!  Very impressive day for our kids.  I'm seeing a state champ contender in next couple years if we can keep it rolling! 
We only had 3 kids in k6 so werent in the team trophy hunt, but the team of Alex, Vishist,and John did very well.

I will edit this post to add more details after I receive the results sheet from Randy.  Thanks to all players, parents and McKinley for their support of the program.

Roll call for Elmwood- Practice tonight!

K3:

Zach (miss game 1)

Charlie D

Kate 

Nolan

Max

Louis

Henry Ri

Henry Ro

Jack 

Mitchell (miss games 2,3)

K6:

John

Alex

Get in your practice and lessons before the tournament!  Focus on battle squares - counting the attackers and defenders.  When you have the upper hand, go for it!   Also, always think about what your opponent is trying to do - every move!   Block, block, block, then... at the right time, attack.

Elmwood this Saturday! Details

 Elmwood - 5900 S Sunny Slope Rd, New Berlin

My son Reid 5 years ago in an amazing final game at Elmwood

The Elmwood tournament is a great annual chess tournament in Milwaukee, held by New Berlin's man of the year, Randy Bubolz.  Randy is the man who started chess in New Berlin and runs a huge program with hundreds of kids and several schools.  Randy trained Greg Reese who started chess in Muskego.  I was Greg's assistant coach at the time and Greg showed me the ropes.  This tournament should have about 200 kids, and has trophies down to 15th place.  Thanks to those who have registered.  Email me if you would still like to.  Details are below to parents attending the tournament:

PLEASE BE THERE BEFORE 8:30!  Check-in closes at 8:45.  If you will be there for game 1 at 9:15 but cannot be there earlier than that - YOU NEED TO LET ME KNOW and I will check you in!!!    I will be there at 7:45 to get us a good couple of tables for the team - I could use some help securing the area, and will be there to help any kid who shows up early also.  It's important for the kids to "get their chess brains on" before game 1.  That's what this time is for.  I also expect them to take a little time between games to think about their last game and what they learned.  I will have some "NOTATION" sheets if they want to try notating their game.  They should notate at least the first 10 moves.  The game is often won/lost by then, and this gives them something we can review over the game so I can help them.  Maybe reward them if they do this - something other than a sugary treat.   Please avoid too much sugar before and during the day.  This causes mental energy to spike and crash.  We want them consistent.   Also, it's OK for them to do something other than chess between rounds, if they wish.  I ask only that they take the games seriously and try to think about the lesson they learned each game.  Then, if they notate the first 10 moves, I can help them.  Even when they win, they often miss something.

There are no better lessons than the tournament games they play - notation helps us review and learn - it's critical for improvement in chess.

GOING TO MISS A GAME?   You need to let me know - please reply to this email to tell me or remind me, and include Randy Bubolz also - rbubolz@wi.rr.com ...  Then, please tell the people at the tournament when you check in.  In this tournament, they allow you to miss a round and get 1/2 point - see flyer for details.

We are playing in the NON-rated K-3 and Non-rated K-6 divisions of this tournament.  Non-rated for this tournament means Non USCF rating.  That is the main US Chess Federation rating that is used everywhere in the US.  At some point you may consider getting your child a USCF rating.  This lets them play in USCF rated tournaments.   Best to stay non-rated for now, I believe.  Note that some of our kids have already established WSCF ratings.  These are useful only within WSCF tournaments, such as those held at Tosa Catholic, Evangel and Golda Meir this year.  This tournament is an IAC tournament which does not have its own ratings system and uses the USCF rating for the rated divisions.  Sorry if this is a bit confusing.  Let me know if you have any questions on this.