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: