Newsletter #2

Post date: Oct 21, 2017 2:26:07 PM

Find all club information including updates our club webpage: www.chessiniowa.org/prairiechessclub

Dear Prairie Chess Club Families,

The Prairie Chess Club is off and running and there are a lot of great things for your consideration as chess players and parents.

Prairie Chess T-Shirts

First off - we have Prairie Chess Club T-shirts that you can order. You may order online now through October 31. You can go online at https://www.ironside-apparel.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1987 to order. The online ordering is open through October 31 so that they are ready for the first Prairie Chess Tournament November 18th. Short sleeve are $10 and long sleeve are $15. ​Adult and youth sizes, are available. ​The following sizes are recommended by age.​

    • ​​Youth Small – 6/8
    • Youth Medium- 10/12
    • Youth Large- 14/16

If you cannot pay online, just sent a check to chess club and include student name and size. ​If anyone wants to go try one on for fit, they can stop in the store (its just off 6th Street and Wilson Ave). I did not make a flyer but will send an email out to my students.

​I​ronside Apparel & Promotions

240 Prospect Place SW

Cedar Rapids, IA 52404

319.866.0000

Scholastic Chess Tournaments

We have several scholastic chess tournaments in November. I encourage one and all to try it out and play in at least one tournament. It can fun, tough, rewarding, and everything in between. Prairie traditionally has a good presence at these event. I would sure love to keep it going. The one thing to remember is that it is okay if you have not played in a chess tournament before. That is true for so many kids. The events are very player friendly - especially at the beginning of the school year.

Fees: Most tournaments have a registration fee of $10 to $15. An annual US Chess Federation Membership is often required. This will be purchased for you by the Prairie Chess Club through a generous donation from the Prairie Foundation.

ALL TOURNAMENTS DETAILS ARE ONLINE AT http://www.iowa-chess.org/scholastic.

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS AVAILABLE AT: https://www.onlineregistration.cc/

November 4 - Iowa Individual Grades Chess Championship, Drake University, Olmsted Center: 2875 University Ave, Des Moines, IA 50311. First round starts at 10 am and we should be done around 3 pm. I will be in attendance and can help coach. Can’t make the trip? Let me know and we can carpool.

November 11 - Iowa Public Library Totally Tweens Tournament. This is a free Tournament from 1pm to 5pm at the Iowa City Public Library for students in grades 3 through 6. I will not be able to attend this tournament.

November 18 - Prairie Fall Classic. This is held at Prairie Point Middle School in the cafeteria. The first round starts up at 10 am and will run to 3-4 pm depending your grade and section. This is one of three tournaments that will be hosted at Prairie this school year. I am the tournament director/organizer for this event.

Club Activities

Snacks: You may bring individually packaged ready to eat foods or you may make a monetary donation where I will then use the funds to make bulk purchases at Sam’s Club. To make a monetary donation, you may visit our Prairie Chess Club page at www.chessiniowa.org/prairiechess and make a donation through PayPal (credit card). Due to severe nut allergies of some of our students, we will not serve any snacks with nuts.

Lesson: Each group (K-4 & 5-9) had a 30 minute lesson this week. For the younger kids we reviewed the mate and stalemate lesson one more time. Several students turned in their worksheet that they took home on our first club, which was fantastic. For the older kids, we reviewed a couple of the trickier checkmate problems from first week and then moved on to “pins.” We will learn about pins in our K-4 group this Monday. Just a word for the parents. A few of the students expressed that they just want to play and skip the lesson. A lesson is something I will generally do every week. I understand that may create some frustration for those just looking to hang out with friends. But I also see kids get frustrated when they don’t learn and improve. So, it is bit of a balancing act. Hopefully, I find the right spot (and of course it is not the same spot for all students) but I always looking for feedback to improve the club.