Chess Videos For this Week

Hello!

Since we are approaching tournament season, I would like everyone to put in that extra effort that creates state champions and tournament winners. What we do at class is important, but what is done outside of class makes all the difference. These videos are completely optional, but if students want to get the most out of chess club to enrich their chess knowledge, it is a good idea to practice on lichess and supplement their knowledge with these videos. I picked these videos myself and have watched them all. There are three videos in total and students should not watch all three videos. I have given a quick description of all of them below. Players in the advanced group should only watch the advanced video, while players in the beginner group can feel free to watch either the first or the second video or both depending on what they feel to be most helpful. 

1 (Beginner-Level): This is a video on how to play chess. It covers all of the rules from how the pieces move to castling. It is a good review for anyone who is shaky on their recollection of the rules of chess. It does mention that a bishop is worth "3.5" points, but as I will discuss next week in class, bishops are actually only worth 3 points. 

2 (Beginner-Level): IM Danny Rensch is an excellent teacher in this video where he explains the ten opening principles. I picked this video because his explanations make sense. This video is part of a series of videos on opening fundamentals. Please enjoy!

3 (Advanced-Level): I picked a tactics training session video with John Bartholomew. When watching this video, please attempt each tactic yourself before viewing the solution! Once you think you have the answer, play the video and check to see if you were correct. If you were not correct, watch the video closely and listen to John's method of finding the correct move. I chose this video because John is very good at conveying ideas. Please enjoy and good luck solving!

Whitman Middle School Lichess Team

Hello!
As we approach tournament season of chess, I would like to get a formal team together on lichess. I have created the team on lichess, and I would like everybody to join it once they have created their account. Below are the instructions for joining.

1) Go to lichess.org and sign in. Then go to the community tab, and find "teams"

2) Go to search and type in "Whitman Middle School Chess Team"

3) Prove you are not a robot and request to join

4) I will confirm your request and the student will be part of the lichess Whitman team.

It is very important that students join because I will be able to see their progress and whether they have been working outside of class. This will allow me to praise those extra dedicated students who consistently put in hard work outside of class. Furthermore, I can create tournaments among the players which will be helpful to mantain chess acumen during the off season.

Please email me if you have any questions at kylejain1@gmail.com

Whitman Chess

Hello, Parents of Whitman Chess Students,
     The chess year has been progressing very well so far, and next week Tuesday will be our fifth practice! I would like to get students signed up on lichess, a chess website. Lichess is a nice website for a couple of reasons. First, Lichess has all the features of chesskid and chess.com, from videos to tactics. Secondly, Lichess is free, and therefore the club will not have to pay anything to use it (as opposed to chess.com and chesskid, which can be very expensive). Lastly, it has a free analysis board and computer. I  am putting instructions on how to sign up for lichess below.

1) Go to Lichess.org

2) Click Sign-in (Upper Right Corner)

3) On the sign-in page, click register

4) Enter Username, Password, and email (lichess rarely emails its account holders, so it's fine to put your real email) and agree to all the terms of lichess

5) They will send an email to you with a link to your account. Click that link and your account will be activated

Please email me at kylejain1@gmail.com if you have any further questions about how to use lichess, or how to sign up for lichess.

McKinley Elementary - Targeted Tournaments 2019-20

Hello Parents!
While in-class instruction and ChessKid are great resources to learn chess, kids really love tournaments.  We present them as "win or learn" and they are great ways to help kids show what they have learned, and build confidence.  They're a blast!  Usually there are 5 games in a tournament - usually on a Saturday - and every one of our kids so far has won at least 1 game in their first tournament - we set this as their goal!
This year, McKinley Elementary will be looking at the following "official" tournaments.  We are focusing this year on WSCF tournaments, but if our stronger players wish to look at USCF ratings and tournaments there, please also look at IA-Chess.com for some USCF-rated tournaments which offer tougher competition.  To register, just go to http://www.wisconsinscholasticchess.org and click on Tournaments/Register.  If you haven't set up an account yet, go ahead!  Just fill out the information and choose the division that fits for your kid.  Please email me (s e g h e r s @ g m a i l . c o m) with ANY questions you may have.

TOURNAMENTS to TARGET as a TEAM

Nov 16 - Siloah Lutheran - Flyer
Nov 23 - Holiday Folk Fair - State Fair Park - Flyer

Dec 7 - Super Saturday at McKinley!  A great place to start for kids who never played in tournaments.  We have instruction with four tournament games spread throughout the day!

Jan 11 - McKinley Elementary 3rd Annual Tournament! - Flyer - Our own tournament!  This has been a blast!  This is a great place for beginners as well - and the Super Saturday is a great warm-up!
We will be looking for parent volunteers to make this happen again.  Should see well over 100 players at this third year of our tournament.

Feb 1 - Evangel Lutheran
Feb 8 - ALL GIRLS Tournament! 15th Annual!  at USM - for the Girls - a great annual tournament and a Wisconsin tradition.
Feb 23 - Discovery World

March 7 - Golda Meir Annual tournament
March 14th - WSCF Annual Grade Level tournament - this is a blast - kids play against only kids in THEIR OWN GRADE.  An annual event not to be missed- held at UWM Union.

March 21-22 - the BIG STATE TOURNAMENT - this is the official state tournament, held annually at UW-Oshkosh.  McKinley has won the K-5 State Championship the last 2 years!  This year will be tough - can we do it again?  Please mark the date for this Sat-Sun tournament!  I will get a block of rooms at a discounted rate.

Chess Kids!

Every kid who signs up for Chess class (and who has paid of course) gets a GOLD subscription to Chesskid.com - this is a $49 value!
To sign up- just register and sign up for Chess Class, and I will be sending an email with everybody's userID and password.  Change your password after you sign in.
Chesskid is a SAFE online environment for chess - not only does it have great online lessons and "workouts" (practicing certain positions) but it also has online games so your child will always be able to play a game of chess!
The lessons on Chesskid start at PAWN level and go thru KING.  We recommend that each kid gets to the QUEEN level before attempting a chess tournament.  Every week I read the names of the kids who had significant Chesskids achievements during the week.
Please let me know if you have any questions on this important tool, which I believe has been a valuable contribution to our success as a club.