Newsletter #4, November 15, 2016

Post date: Nov 16, 2016 4:31:12 AM

Dear Prairie Chess Club,

In this Newsletter:

• Monday Lesson Recap
• Coralville Chess Match
• Free Chess Tournament Saturday
• Cedar Rapids Chess Club Sunday Scholastic Meet-up

Monday Lesson

We had a wonderful chess day, Monday. We started out with a lesson on the principle of "force." We looked at examples of how to assess the number of attackers and defending against a single target, how to defend, and how to remove the defended. Attached are problems that we worked on during our lesson. We did not get through them all at club and for those ambitious chess players, working on these at home will be excellent time spent.

Coralville Match

Following our chess club, 39 of our chess players boarded a bus for our trip to Coralville Central and Northwest Junior High School chess clubs. We received a warm greeting with chess boards and pizza out on the tables. We outnumbered our opponents at the elementary level and so had to take turns playing the opponent. Everyone got to play at least 2 games against Coralville and most played 3, 4, or more. I am very proud of how everyone played. We did quite well against even their top players winning many games. Now that the match is over, I will let you know that Coralville and NWJH are the reigning state team chess champions. So, this is a good sign for our team as we head into our scholastic tournaments. Pictures are posted online in my Google Photo Album at: https://goo.gl/photos/k9Yi4utkLzFv3pyf8

Free Chess Tournament this Saturday

This Saturday, a free chess tournament for scholastic chess players Grade 3-6 will be held at the Iowa City Public Library. This is a great opportunity to play in your first tournament. With our match against Coralville under our belt, all of our players should feel ready to play in this event. You may register with the tournament organizer, Eric Vigil at evigil@gmail.com or at the IC Public Library from 12 -12:45 pm prior to the start of the tournament. A flyer is attached. Each student will play 5 games against players in their own grade. No one is ever eliminated in our chess tournaments because of one or more losses. Rather, players are always matched up with other players who have the same record of wins and losses. There will be a few medals and trophies awarded.The event will be over before 5 pm.

Cedar Rapids Chess Club Scholastic Meeting this Sunday

The Cedar Rapids Chess Club takes its turn hosting the Sunday Chess Tour on November 20th. We meet from 2 pm to 4:30 pm. I follow the same format of our Prairie Chess Club with a beginning lesson followed by a chance for students to play for fun against other scholastic chess players. More details are online at www.chessiniowa.org/scholasticchess/cedarrapids. If you cannot come this Sunday, consider coming to one of the stops in Iowa City, Coralville, or Marion on the other Sundays of the month (http://www.chessiniowa.org/scholasticchess).