Caption Contest XXV

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Kids, Christmas and the BCC

We'll let them spend the holiday with their families, but beyond that the Boylston Chess Club has a week's worth of activities to keep the scholastic set out of trouble.

Sunday, December 23: Sunday Scholastic

4SS; Game/30. Sections: Under 8 years old, Under 11 years old, Under 14 years old; Entry fee: $15; $10 for BCF members; join at the tournament and get the member rate. Prizes: Trophies to top two in each section. Registration: 9:00-9:50 AM; Rounds: 10:00 – 11:00 – 12:30 – 1:30
Boylston School Break Chess Camp Series
December recess: 26th , 27th, 28th 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day

This chess camp is for young chess players who already have a complete understanding of the rules of chess and desire to develop their abilities. With a combination of lecture, question & answer, and hands-on techniques, the instructors will cover:

• Tactics
  
• Strategy
  
• Openings
  
• Middlegames
  
• Endgames
  
• Problems

Students will develop their memory, critical thinking skills, sense of fairness, attention span, and have fun in the process.

The head instructor is Chess Master Jacob Rasin, an experienced coach who has been the coach of many of New England's best young players and has inspired them to many championships.

Who can join?: School-age children, K to 12, interested in getting better at chess from motivated beginner to intermediate.

How much does it cost?: Each camp is $60 for Boylston Chess Club members.

Reserve your place in the December Break camp by contacting Paul MacIntyre, President of the Boylston Chess Foundation at (781) 322-7936 or boylstonchess@aol.com.

Way to go!

Congratulations to chess blogger Simone, who won a Girls - 8 and under gold medal at the 2007 North American Youth Chess Championships in Mexico.

A small fix

With the new scholastic chess season upon us, Chessdad64 probably realized that many readers would be going through 64 Square Jungle withdrawal. While he hasn't decided to return to his days of active posting, he was kind enough to pass along a post which embodies the spirit of his blog.

Read "Expert in Residence" at A Round Unvarnish'd Tale.

Do it for the kids

Sunday's Boston Globe Magazine has a lengthy article on several top scholastic players in Massachusetts, all of whom we've seen from time to time at the Boylston Chess Club. The profiled players include Andrew Wang, James Lung, Zaroug Jaleel and Winston Huang. The article also includes quotes from GM Larry Christiansen and, local MetroWest Chess Club player, Derek Slater.

At one point the author discusses the many reasons why these scholastic players often give up chess before reaching their full potential:

...there is peril in predicting whether a great young chess player will become a great adult chess player, especially in America. Chess is not a money sport here, even though there is a professional league.... There’s also the threat of puberty, which can change a young chess player’s dreams from grandmaster to girls practically overnight.

Read "Young Knights" soon, before the Boston Globe website archives it (registration may be required).

The Kings of NY, The Crazy Bishop of MA

I got a chance to read Michael Weinreb's "The Kings of New York" about a month ago. The book is about the Murrow School scholastic chess dynasty and their quest for yet another US High School Chess Championship. I'm not inclined to write a full review since there already are many available in print, traditional chess websites and chess blogs. Instead, here are a few impressions and a Boylston Chess Club connection.

First, while all the reviews I've read have been glowingly positive, I must admit that the book got off to a slow start for me. Through the first seven or so chapters, I kept reading because I wanted to like this book about chess culture, but frankly I found all the pages dedicated to background stories to be a bit tedious. However, things really turned around once the boys from Murrow started participating in tournaments. Suddenly the story started to sparkle, the tension grew, and I felt like I was back in the middle of my scholastic tournament days. From that point on I was hooked and thoroughly enjoyed the read until the end.

Second, there isn't actually that much chess in the book (e.g., positions, game scores or analysis) which shouldn't come as much of a surprise since it really is a story written for a broad audience (not specifically for chess players). I found that when Michael was describing key chess concepts he almost always got them right, but sometimes stated things a bit imprecisely. Several times I felt like saying, "Well, that's technically correct, but I wouldn't exactly say it that way." My guess is that this is to be expected when a non-chess playing author is writing for a non-chess playing readership. That said, he deserves kudos for not getting it completely and utterly wrong, which can often be the case in these situations.

Next, do any of you know Sal Bercys? This poor kid comes across as a complete jerk in the book and I was wondering how much of the portrait is actually true. I bet he wasn't happy to see what was written about him, assuming he even bothered to read the book.

Finally, the BCC gets an implicit mention in Chapter 14 when one of the Murrow boys plays our very own Chris Williams. Michael's description of Chris is less than flattering, but that will come as no surprise to those of us who know him:

...Willy's playing Christopher Williams, a 2049 from Massachusetts, in Round Two. What could Willy possibly do against a 2000?

For once, Willy gets lucky. Willy happens to be playing a 2000 who allegedly lost his first-round game to a boy he hates, and because of that, this particular 2000 has allegedly ceased caring, and has figured he might as well take a dive in this game as well. So he plays fast, and shifts all his pieces to the queen's side of the board, and Willy, playing an opening called the closed Sicilian (a 2000 should know how to counter this), attacks from the king's side, and before you know it, in under an hour, the game's over. Two games, and Willy has two points. "To me," Willy says, "I think he wanted to lose."

Local chess celebrities

The West Weekly section of yesterday's Sunday Boston Globe included a story on the chess exploits of the Frenklakh family (Valery, his son Dmitry, and nephew Roman Gankin). The Frenklakhs play in Boylston Chess Club events from time to time.

I was happy to learn that teaching chess is substantially more lucrative than flipping burgers:

It was Dmitry who suggested his younger cousin, Roman Gankin, start teaching chess after school. Gankin had been manning the fryer at Wild Willy's Burgers in Watertown, and was ready for a change. "I just felt that it wasn't for me," Gankin said. "I needed something more intellectual."

Now Gankin earns in three to four hours of teaching chess what he made spending 18 hours at Wild Willy's.

The article also mentions BCF member Matt Klegon, one of Valery's students, who recently won the Massachusetts High School Championship. Congratulations Matt!

Read "Chess mates - Family shares love, talent for game."

Peace Offering

From "At Pleasant Valley, chess is a school sport" at The Herald-Mail:

It's a competitive game of strategy, but team adviser Mike DiLeo stresses good sportsmanship, as with most sporting events....

That sentiment is echoed on the T-shirts chess club team members wear. "Play to learn" is on the front, with "Play to win . . . accept a draw . . . show good sportsmanship!" on the back.

Accept a draw? Under what circumstances? What if your opponent offers a draw in a position where you are clearly winning? I'm all for good sportsmanship, but I'm not sure accepting draw offers ought to fall within the definition.

With coaches like these...

Kansas sixth grader Hannah Dalke has learned some key tactics from her coaches on how to win more games and move up the scholastic rankings.

One of Dalke's chess tactics that she uses when she is far back in her division is to try and do a four-move-checkmate. If this is not blocked, she is able to move up faster in her division. Also, if a timer is not present at her table, Dalke will take an excessive amount of time to think of her movement.

This disturbs her opponent causing them to resign, allowing her to sometimes win a match.

Hannah also points out the importance of diet to competitive chess players.

"It helps when Isabelle Moyer and I eat bananas before we play chess. Every time we eat them, we win," said Dalke. "It's our secret. Our coaches even bring bananas now for us to eat."

From "McPherson student uses game of chess to expand horizons" at the McPherson Sentinel.

Trouble By The Lake

It seems that things didn't go particularly smoothly at the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chess Championship. Strange rules, not enough officials and lack of organization ultimately led to almost half the kids walking out by round 2. Here are two reports, ...:

• Tom Larson (Chicago Public Schools) Screws up the Elementary City Chess Championship (Again) - Chess 4 Chicago


• Meltdown at CPS Chess Meet - The Knights of Castle Kimbark

... a related "editorial," ...:

• A Chess Mom Speaks Out - The Knights of Castle Kimbark

... and a response from CPS:

• Chicago Public School Chess Coordinator Responds to Complaints Over Elementary Chess Tournament Problems - Chess 4 Chicago

I don't know much about the Illinois scholastic chess scene other than what I've read at The 64 Square Jungle over the years, but obviously there are issues that need to be addressed. I'm guessing it's all about adult egos, politics and power plays. How else can one explain why the CPS Championship took place the same weekend as the Illinois State K-8 Championship?

Let's all try to remember that scholastic chess is supposed to be about the kids.

Update (3/17): This story has made the front page (!) of the Chicago Tribune (Hat tip/related posts: Chess 4 Chicago & The Knights of Castle Kimbark)

The perfect name for chess

"Central Catholic school is famous for chess," said Bishop Edmond Carmody.

From "Game of royalty popular with area kids" at the Corpus Christi (TX) Caller Times (bold italics are mine).

Style over Substance

From "Scrappy chess team holds own against nation's best" at the Akron (OH) Beacon Journal:

And senior Rick Marshall, 16, worked on perfecting not only strategy, but his aggressive flick of the wrist when capturing a piece.

Caption Contest XIII

Timmy always thought that being Siamese
twinned with a table was a major drag,
until he discovered chess, that is.

Post your caption in the comments.

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And you thought biathalon was strange

First it was Moscow-London ice chess and now this:

The Hudson Valley Snowball Chess Championship will be held on Sunday, Jan. 21. Featuring both adult and scholastic chess tournaments, as well as a snowball-eating contest for scholastic chess players, this event will be hosted by the Coldenham Fire Department.

Can't we all just get along?

I just love this story about feuding chess parents in Gilbert, Arizona. It makes USCF politics seem tame.

During the Arizona Scholastic State Chess Championship last April at Gilbert High School, feuding Gilbert parents argued about everything from the display of banners to the proper place to eat snacks.

"The bickering has gone on so long," said Jill McKeever, a Finley Farms Elementary School chess mom, former association president and chess coach at Islands Elementary School. "It's gotten to this point now where we almost can't talk to each other."

What are they arguing about? Believe it or not, philosophy. Should scholastic chess emphasize fun and participation or winning?

"The philosophies of the organizations were always so different," said Christy Veit, a chess mom at Canyon Rim Elementary School. "They didn't get where we were coming from, and we didn't get where they were coming from."

The Burk club, which has won four consecutive state championships, trains with its own coach and focuses on winning. Other Gilbert schools take a more casual approach to chess.

Their coaches juggle eight or more clubs at the same time and root for all their players to do well at tournaments — even when the teams compete against each other. That has never made sense to the Burk parents.

"We don't see football, baseball or basketball coaches floating across schools in this district coaching at multiple schools," former Burk parent Lisa Haisley wrote in an e-mail. "I don’t think chess should either."

But now there are accusations of vote rigging and hostile takeovers.

Some chess parents say Burk families flooded the meeting. When they realized they didn't have enough votes to win, they stepped outside and called more friends on their cell phones.

Maneth, who earned a board position that night and now serves as president, said allegations that Burk staged a hostile takeover are false. He said Burk parents won the election because they offered the best vision for the future of Gilbert chess....

In the end, Burk parents emerged with control of the association they had previously shunned. And parents who had spent years building the association suddenly wanted nothing to do with it. The Gilbert chess world had turned upside down.

And who might you guess finds himself in the middle of this mess?

Many parents now take their children to tournaments organized by a rival group called SMARTChess. McKeever and three other Gilbert chess coaches started the nonprofit organization this summer.

One SMARTChess founder is Robert Tanner, the Gilbert coach who resigned this month from the U.S. Chess Federation executive board following an ethics reprimand. Tanner was disciplined in November following allegations that he manipulated tournament results in the early 1990s to boost his chess rating.

I can think of several directions this discussion might take. Here are a few questions you might want to ponder and comment on:

1. Should scholastic chess be casual or highly competitive?
2. Is parental involvement in organizing scholastic events a good thing? In the Boston area many scholastic events are organized by clubs (like the BCC) and independent organizers (e.g., Gus Gosselin).
3. What do you think about limiting coaches to working at only one school? Seems to me they find it hard enough to make a living working at several.
4. What's with Robert Tanner and controversy? I'd never heard of this guy until a few weeks ago and now suddenly he's everywhere.

*****
In a related note - At the Herb Healy, Harold Dondis mentioned that he had heard that Gus Gosselin was very ill. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

When the kids are more mature than the parents

What is it about grade-school chess articles that bring out the worst in some people? Chess [news] stories ... bring out of the apparent woodwork upset readers from what some have called “the cutthroat world” of K-12 chess.

....I anticipated some negative feedback, and got it, but didn't expect to hear things along the lines of: "My child is better than that child" or "Why wasn't my child listed in the story?" and "So-and-so did well because they had a handicap."

Read "Chess stories bring out competitive emotions" from The Brownsville Herald.