Welcome Chess Players and Families
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My name is Jim Hodina and I am a USCF Tournament Director and Scholastic Chess Instructor. When not directing or instructing, I do play some chess. You can view my USCF playing and directing history on the USCF website by clicking here.
I have created this website to provide additional information on chess tournaments and chess clubs in Iowa that you might not find on other websites such as www.iowachess.org. Initially, this will include tournament announcements, flyers, and results. Over time I will try to add additional content primarily focused on scholastic chess for Iowa students, parents, teachers and coaches.
2012 SCHOLASTIC CALENDAR
CLICK TO VIEW SCHOLASTIC CHESS CALENDAR
2012 Prairie Chess Camp, July 16-20Kirkwood Community College
Iowa Hall, Iowa Room
The Prairie Chess Camp enters its 5th year of summer chess training for school age players. Based on the success of 2011, we are continuing this great chess experience as a 5 day camp. The camp is once again instructed by Senior Masters Alex Betaneli and Eric Santarius from the Wisconsin Chess Academy (and me). The camp will be held at the Kirkwood Community College, Iowa Hall, Iowa Room. Chess Campers will meet together but are often divided into groups based on age and demonstrated ability (USCF rating) to allow the instructors to work with the students at a targeted level. The day runs from 8 – 4:30 pm with a ½ early drop off and pick up. The camp fee is $245 for the five days and includes lunch and morning and afternoon snacks. The camp is limited to 30 students and was sold out in 2011. Click for More Details
Completed Scholastic Events
2012 Iowa Girls Championship
Congratulations to Bethany Carson, 2012 Iowa Girls Chess Champion
Bethany Carson repeated as the Iowa Girls Chess Champion, successfully defending her title for the second year in a row. Twenty-three girls participated from Ames, Ackely, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City. There was a six-way tie for second place with scores of 3-1. In tie break order: Charity Carson (2), Mina Takahashi (3), Ana Denison (4), Sara Faith Carson (5), Danielle Roth (6), and Regan Hodina (7).
The 2012 event demonstrated how much girls chess has grown in Iowa. Five girls entered the tournament rated over USCF 1000. In 2010, there was only one. In 2011 there were four and otherwise there have never been more than two. In 2010, the top rated player, Bethany Carson was 1300; the third highest rated player was Regan Hodina at 600. This year, Regan is over 1000 coming in as the 5th highest rated player. Bethany remains the highest female player in Iowa at over USCF 1600.
Trophies were awarded for 1st - 10th place. Six girls participated in their first tournament. All girls received a chess medal for participating.
Lincoln Elementary School, Iowa City, was well represented with 11 girls. Christian Schmitz and Gail Takahasi, parent of Mina and Michael Takahashi, have put notable effort into generating interest among the girls at their school. They have brought their efforts to the local media, promoting chess in the community. Visit these two articles in the Iowa City Press Citizen to learn more:
December 3, 2011
Ames High School
1921 Ames High Drive, Ames IA 50010 2011 Iowa Grades Champions Crowned
The 2011 Iowa Grades Championship was held at Ames High School on Saturday, December 3rd. It was back in Central Iowa, after three years at the Wasserbahn Waterpark in the Amana Colonies near Iowa City. There were 129 players, the highest in three years. The tournament was hosted by the Fellows Elementary School Chess Club. The tournament was directed by Bill Broich, Soma Chaudhuri, Jim Hodina, Matt Power and Roger Gotschall.
There were a large number of Fellows Chess parents at hand to help out with set up, registration and the very popular concessions stand! Carter Peterson, a 2nd grader, arrived early with his mother, who was working at the registration desk, to help set up boards and sharpen a hundred pencils that were to be used to take chess notation! This was the fourth year that the spacious Ames High cafeteria has been used to host an early-December state championship.
The Kindergarten and 1st Grade sections were merged, since there were only three kindergarteners registered to play. Josiah Power of Iowa City was the Kindergarten champion for the second year, winning all his four games. Last year, he won the Kindergarten championship as a pre-schooler. Daniel Skrade, playing in his first tournament, won the 1st Grade title. His only loss was to Josiah.
The next four grades champions were all undefeated in four round play. Gordon Lee, of Cedar Rapids, won the 2nd Grade championship for his second straight grades title. Clive Power, of Iowa City, won the 3rd Grade championship for his fourth straight title, having won it every year that he has participated. The 4th Grade championship was won by Michael Takahashi from Iowa City, who won the grades for a second year in a row. Gokul Thangavel was the 5th Grade champion, also winning it for the second time in two years.
The 6th Grade championship had two players, Pranav Krishnamurthy and Mina Takahashi, tied for the top spot, since they drew in the final round. Pranav, from Iowa City, won 1st place on tiebreaks. The 7th and 8th grade sections were merged with Milton Lee from Cedar Rapids winning 7th Grade honors and Daaniel Carson from Eldora, who went undefeated, winning the 8th Grade title.
The high school section had to be merged, with the 9th Grade championship going to Alon Wald of Iowa City, the 10th Grade championship going to Tenson Cai of Ames, the 11th Grade title going to Mukesh Ravichandran of Cedar Rapids and the 12th Grade title going to Alan Zhou of Ankeny. Kushan Tyagi, of Ames, participated as a house player.
Congratulations to all the champions! First through third place trophies and fourth through sixth place medals were given out in every grade. Photos and complete standings
Crosstable for the event
Click here to view USCF tournament cross table
Iowa Grades Final StandingsIowa Grades Final Standings
2011 Iowa K-12 Championships
November 5, 2011
401 76th AvenuesPrairie High School
Cedar Rapids, IA
2011 K-12 Final Standings2011 K-12 Final Standings
Congratulations to the Jiahua Zhang, Iowa K-12 Scholastic Champion!
Click below to view photos from this event.
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| Chess players flex their muscle at the 2011 Iowa Scholastic Chess Championships |
Jiahua Zhang (Iowa City) won the Iowa K-12 Championship on Saturday November 5. Jiahua went undefeated in a section of Iowa's top scholastic players. Bethany Carson, Arshaq Saleem, and Cub Nobel finished 2nd - 4th with 3 points out of 4. Gokul Thangavel took the 5th place trophy, Chance Maynard grabbed the U1200, Arthur Wold U1000, and Matt Cook U800 while Ghani Muhammad held the score for the top unrated player. Charity Carson was recognized with the trophy for the girl's top score.
Section winners were Milton Lee (K-8), Sarah Faith Carson (K-5), and Gordon Lee (K-3). Complete standings are shown above (scroll down to view).
The tournament was held at Prairie High School (Cedar Rapids), which hosted twenty-nine chess players who participated in their first chess tournament. Twenty-five different schools were represented at the first Iowa Scholastic Championship of the year. The tournament was directed by Chief TD Jim Hodina with Assistant TD Matt Power. Special thanks to Prairie teachers Julie Zastrow and Jim Jones. An additional thank you goes out to parent Jeanette Roth for assisting with registration and USCF memberships.
Upcoming 2012 Iowa Scholastic Championship Events
Click on the following tournament to view a flyer on the event
2011 Scholastic Director's Report
Among many hats, I serve by appointment as the Scholastic Director for the Iowa State Chess Association. I am posting the 2011 Annual Scholastic Report that I have prepared for this past school year.
To view the report, click here
The report provides the following information:
Attendance at IASCA Scholastic Championship Events in 2011 compared to years 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Attendance increased from 333 participants in 2010 to 363 participants in 2011
Financial report of IASCA Scholastic Championship Events in 2011
IASCA Scholastic Championship events generated $499 that will be used for stipends by our High School and Girls champions to compete in the USCF national championship
Proposed calendar for SY 2012 (Updated to reflect current calendar).
- Iowa Individual Grades Championship November 5, 2011, Cedar Rapids
- Iowa K-3, 5, 8 & 12 Individual Championships December 3, 2011,Ames
- Iowa Girls Championship January 15, 2012, Iowa City
- Iowa Individual High School (Denker) and K-8 (Barber) Championships January 28, 2012, Ankeny
- Iowa K-6 Individual & Team Championship February 11, 2012, Ames
- Iowa K-12 & K-9 Team Championship February 25, 2012, Iowa City
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Attachments (7)
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2010 IASCA Scholastic Report.pdf - on May 17, 2010 4:09 PM by Jim Hodina (version 1)
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2012 Denker Barber Team Flyer - Correction.pdf - on Jan 26, 2012 9:06 AM by James Hodina (version 1)
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2012 Elementary Team Championship.pdf - on Jan 31, 2012 8:05 PM by James Hodina (version 2 / earlier versions)
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2012 HS JHS Team.pdf - on Nov 20, 2011 7:47 PM by Jim Hodina (version 1)
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2012 Iowa Girls Flyer.pdf - on Nov 23, 2011 4:22 AM by Jim Hodina (version 3 / earlier versions)
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2012 Prairie Chess Camp Flyer.pdf - on Jan 31, 2012 9:11 PM by James Hodina (version 1)
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2012 Prairie Scholastic Chess Series Flyer.pdf - on Jan 5, 2012 9:11 PM by James Hodina (version 1)
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