Newsletter #12, February 21, 2017

Post date: Mar 1, 2017 5:26:49 AM

This Week’s Chess Lesson

After a few weeks off, our K-4 students returned to the computer lab and logged into our ChessKid.com accoounts and the virtual Prairie Chess Club. We started a new lesson, “Hanging Pieces!” There are four videos in the series with five puzzles at the end of each video. All students who complete the four videos and puzzles will receive a fun prize on Monday. All K-4 ChessKid students have an online account. Please contact me if you have any problems logging in. The website again is www.chesskid.com. The lesson is Home=>Learn=>Lessons and scroll down to Queen1 or use the hyperlink above.

For our Creek and Point students, we kicked off discussion on chess openings. Chess openings are both principled and theoretical. By this, I mean there is both “rules of thumb” and very specific sequences that may need to be memorized. It is a very rich topic with lots of material to cover. So this will be our topic through Spring Break. I will use our students’ games from past tournaments to teach openings each week. If your student has recorded their moves from a past tournament or from a game played online, please send it my way and I will work to include it in our lesson.

Borlaug-Weber (Iowa City) K-6 Chess Tournament

This is a free tournament for K-6 students. This is not rated by US Chess and therefore membership is not required either. Rather that writing out all of the details, I am attaching a flyer. Even though free, there are many trophies available.

Prairie Chess Camp, July 17-21

I know it is about 5 months away, but the chess camp already is over one-third full. It does sell out every year and if you want to join us, I strongly suggest registering early than later. We do offer a full refund until June 17. This is a great experience for the kids. The camp webpage, with registration information, is available online at: http://www.chessiniowa.org/chesscamp. I have flyers on the table at chess club, too.

Ice Harbor 2017

You may have seen all the posters and flyers for the 2017 Ice Harbor Scholastic Open. This is the best scholastic tournament in the midwest (seriously). We have nearly 200 players from Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa come to play. It is a two day event with sections for all ages and skill levels. Lots and lots of trophies. Extra events like blitz and bughouse. It is a two day event at the Dubuque Grand River Center. Hotel accommodations are at the adjoining Grand Harbor Resort and Water Park. Rooms are limited and go fast (overflow is available at the nearby Holiday Inn). The tournament website is www.icecharborchess.org where tournament and hotel registration information is posted.