Newsletter #3

Post date: Oct 31, 2017 1:22:02 AM

Dear Prairie Chess Families,

Please find enclosed our third Prairie Chess Club Newsletter.

Prairie Chess T-Shirts

I would like to remind everyone from our last newsletter that these are the last few days to sign up and purchase your Prairie Chess Club T-shirts.. 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 missed out on the order, email me ASAP and l will see what I can do to help out.

Chess Club

Today, we kicked off a Prairie Chess Club tournament. We split the students up into two sections: Elementary and Creek/Point. Before starting, we discussed how chess tournaments are ran, use of chess clocks and chess notation, and most importantly, how to avoid the dreaded “4 Move Checkmate.” If you would like to learn about this beginner’s trap and help your child practice avoiding it, watch this YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YH2mQS_BSE

We only completed one game of our tournament, some may have played two. We will continue our tournament over the next couple weeks.:Like all chess tournaments we will play the same number of games, win or lose. I hope our lessons and the Prairie Chess Club tournament prepare us for some upcoming scholastic chess tournaments this month. Our kids should feel comfortable playing at these events. Participants are from other school clubs just like ours. encourage one and all to try it out and play in at least one tournament. They are very player friendly - especially at the beginning of the school year.

Scholastic Chess Tournaments

The events 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. Attached are flyer for the tournament at Drake and at Prairie.

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. Please let me know if you are going to Des Moines for this event so that I can plan to be there with you (e.g. if no one from Prairie is going, then I will not make the trip either).

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.

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.