Chess club is off to a great start this year! As of today we have 83 students signed up. That breaks last year's record of 76.
We had a successful parents meeting last Thursday. Thank you to everyone who came out to support chess club and volunteered to help at the meetings. As we've said before, you don't have to know how to play chess to help out at the meetings. But having some people who do know how to play is very valuable. While there are more volunteers, the number of chess-playing volunteers is still low. So if you know how to play chess, or if you have a grandparent, or older sibling who can play and has a free hour on Thursday afternoons, we'd love to see you at a meeting!
At the parents meeting we reviewed the Student agreement that each student signed. These have 3 main points. First, that the student wants to join chess club and will do their best to attend meetings on a regular basis. Second, that while at chess club they will play chess and not do other things and last that they will practice good sportsmanship at all times. If you haven't seen your student's signed agreement, please let me know. I'd be happy to forward it to you.
We also handed out a parent agreement. The agreement makes sure parents are aware that the $40 yearly fee is non-refundable after the first month free trial. The form includes a place to select a size t-shirt for your child, a place to let us know what level of chess player your child is in (With 80 kids in chess club it takes a while for individual evaluations and we need a place to start.), and permission to post pictures of your child on our website and bulletin boards. If you did not get one, you can pick one up at chess club or I can email you a copy. These are due with your payment on November 7th. You can make checks out to Frank Love PTA. Scholarship forms are available at meetings on Thursdays.
Anyone ready for tournaments?? Chess4life already has some Beginners tournaments and even some State Qualifiers posted on their website. There is also a Blitz tournament at the Crossroads mall in Bellevue on November 10th. We'll start to see an increase in tournaments around January. Then there should be more hosted by various schools including some closer to Bothell.
I've had a few parents asking for suggestions to get students playing more chess at home. Of course, you can play with siblings or on the computer. My son has a yahoo account and sometimes plays with his grandfather in Virginia. You can also rent Lego chess from the Bothell library. There is usually a waiting list for it, so you need to reserve it. King County library also has a variety of chess videos, including those by chess4life. Again, you will probably need to reserve these materials. Zynga makes a free Chess with Friends game. You can select someone at random or select an opponent you already know. If you want to challenge me, my screen name is Cookie_789, but I have to warn you that I often get help!
Mark your calendars for Sunday December 2nd! From 2-4pm, we have reserved the meeting room in the Bothell library for a chess club open house. Some of you may remember that we tried this last year and had positive feedback, so it's back by popular demand! It is open to Frank Love chess club and family members. We plan to invite students from neighboring chess clubs to come out and play our students again. It is a great chance to play chess against people outside of our regular chess club meetings. I'll post more details as December approaches. Hope to see you there!
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