Tournament Results

February 11th was an exciting day for the Frank Love chess team.  13 chess players represented Frank Love at the Heritage Christian Tournament.  That is the most players we've had a single tournament.  Our team was competing against at least 10 different schools, and mostly private schools with private chess tutors.  Frank Love has a great hard-working team, but once again, Frank Love was the underdog of the tournament.  These 13 Frank Love representatives made our school proud. 

Both of the kindergartners, Austin and Alexander, qualified for the Washington State Championship in April.  Austin also won the Good Sportsmanship award for helping another player after the match.  He left the tournament with 2 trophies! 

Frank Love's chess team didn't stop there.  Overall, 7 kids won 3 or more games making them eligible for the WA state championship this April.  Congratulations to Roshan, Aidan, Alexander, Tyler, Austin, Rohan and Kenney!  Frank Love also had 3 players compete in their first ever tournament.  Congratulations to Alexander J, Alexander V, and Lakshey!

Our players weren't just competing as individuals, team trophies were also awarded.  There were two categories, one for grades 1-3 and another for grades 4-6.  Frank Love won a trophy in EACH category!  We won 4th place for grades 1-3 and 3rd place for grades 4-6.  No other public schools received a team trophy and only one other school received 2 team trophies.  This is quite an accomplishment and something the whole chess team and all of Frank Love can be proud of.   The trophies will be in Mr. Adams classroom and the office until chess club on Thursday.  We'll go over all of the tournament results again and then the team trophies will be placed in the chess cabinet in the library.  So check them out and don't forget to congratulate our teammates!

If you missed the Heritages Christian tournament, you can always attend a tournament in the future.  There are several local upcoming state qualifying tournaments.  You can view the entire list at chess4life.com.  Shelton View is hosting a tournament on March 31st.  If you can only go to one tournament in March, this is the one to go to!  Perhaps we'll set a new school record with more than 13 kids attending.  Last year our team won 2nd place at this tournament.  Will it be first place this year??  This tournament is only open to students in the Northshore school district.

If you want to qualify for the state tournament, going to just one tournament, puts a lot of pressure on.  There are other tournaments in the area.  Cedar Park in Bothell is hosting a state qualifying tournament on March 10th.  And there is the Mountlake Terrance Spring Fling on March 3rd in Lynnwood.  For kids who have a rating over 800, these are great chances to play in a U900 section for 1-3 and U100 for 4-6.  The Mountlake Terrace Spring Fling also has a Beginners section for kids who have competed in 3 or fewer tournaments.  The beginners section is NOT a state qualifying section.  No one has to sign up for the beginners section.  If you want to try for the state tournament and it's your first tournament, sign up in the U900 section if you are in grades 1-3 or the U1000 if you are in grades 4-6.  Mountlake Terrance Spring Fling also has a girls only section that is a state qualifying section.  We'd love to have some girls representing Frank Love!

Last year Frank Love had several students compete in the Team championship.  Frank Love won second and all of the kids who competed last year were anxious to do it again this year.  This year that tournament date is the same day as the Shelton View Tournament.  I know at least two kids who would rather go to the Shelton View tournament.  We'll be discussing if we have enough players who are interested in the Team tournament.

We're off to another exciting year of Chess Tournaments!

New Tournament Style Chess Club

This week at chess club we made a few changes.  First we took a break from the "challenge room."  Then we started a chess club tournament.  Students were paired up in assigned games, based on official ratings (if they have one), grade, and experience.  Students were asked to report who won and who lost.  Next week, we'll make new pairings based on the results, just like a real tournament.  This will give the kids good practice for tournaments as well as help us coaches to get a better idea of who needs more help and who needs more of a challenge.  This is also a great way to break the routine of playing the same few friends every week.

In order to do this kind of tournament, we need to prepare the game pairings in advance.  If you know that your child will be absent or needs to leave Chess club before 4:10, please let us know, so that we can plan accordingly.

Next Saturday, February 11th, there is a state qualifying tournament at Heritage Christian Academy in Bothell.  So far we have 8 students signed up to represent Frank Love at this tournament.  It should be a lot of fun and with so many people participating on the Frank Love Chess Team, we stand a good chance of earning a great team score.  You can sign up at www.chess4life.com .  Then click on tournaments on the left.  If you questions, feel free to contact me.  dawn.furukawa@gmail.com

This week we also reviewed the "Chess Puzzle of the Month" for January that had been hanging up in the library.  This one proved to be a challenge for most kids (and some of us adults!).  See if your child remembers the answer.  White to mate in two:

 

There is a new puzzle up for February.  We'll go over the answer at the first meeting in March.  Black to mate in two: