WRESCC Results

I just get busier and busier.  This week we ended a quarter (grades due) and began a new one (new classes).  We also had two days of Parent-Teacher Conferences, soccer started for Darwin, and I was told last week to have 5 minute video reports on the uses of the technology grants submitted by Friday! I made 3 videos.  Our school won $110,000 in technology grant money, and I wrote 6 grants to earn $60,000 of it.  I also prepared an elementary championship for our valley.  Here is what happened:

2012 WRESCC

It was a first grade day!  The top players were 1st graders and they all seemed to dominate all the other grades.  This special tournament was first offered last year as a Senior Project for WRHS graduate, Nick Bruck.  We wanted to keep it going and build some competitive spirit between our area elementary schools. Last year, the Bellevue Bears won this championship.  Who would it be this year?

Owen Stouffer - Perfect 5.0

The elementary schools in the area include:  Bellevue, Woodside, Hailey, Hemingway, Sage, and Community School.  The two private schools did not have any participants this year, however.  There were twenty students in all ranging from Kindergarten to fifth grade.  Unfortunately, there were no third graders from any school participating.  Teams consisted of the top four players from each school and only Hemingway happened to have a partial team of three players.

I tried to encourage longer and more patient games, so G/30 was selected and only two games the entire day reached a time pressure mark.  As players began arriving, I was personally feeling very ready, but players continued to arrive and register after the tournament was supposed to start.  We have a laid-back valley, but as the numbers grew and the tournament start delayed even more, I was preparing for a long day.  Would the new tournament folk be ready?  Or, would they think, "what have I gotten myself into?"  I always try to keep things moving so players and parents will want to come back.

Desmond was a Champ, too.

With this being the last weekend to ski in the valley, I knew we would be a little light on numbers, but was very happy with the 20 kids that arrived, eager to play and representing all the area public schools.  Tournaments in our valley are also educational so I not only TDed but also taught.  So did my excellent assistant (and son!), Desmond.  He showed some kids how to avoid Scholar's Mate and how to mate with a rook and king, and even how to avoid some stalemates.  After seven hours of helping me out, he exclaimed, "man, I'm tired.  I didn't know that this would be so tiring . . ."  Each round challenged Desmond, me, and our knowledge of the rules.

Round one began nearly 30 minutes late and I started experiencing computer glitches immediately.  I struggled to delete one player that did not show and wintd kept inactivating another player.  For the first round, I had to re-pair three times!

Instead of printing pairings or posting them on the screen, as I have in the past,  I would use the PRNTSCR function to copy a window, post it in Word, Crop it, and Save it in Dropbox.  Then my assistant would open the file on another laptop for the kids to see.  It worked well, but not as well as displaying it on the big screen; the projector was not available to us today.

Round 2 and 3 produced some nice upsets where 1st graders beat 5th graders. And brother, Owen Stouffer put his older brother, Garrett Stouffer down!  Owen went on to win the rest of his games and complete the tournament with a perfect 5.0!  There were some reasonable stalemates and the longest games were only 30 minutes.

"Is this a stalemate?"

Otto shows his trophy off!

I had three door prizes for players that I drew for in between rounds to keep the excitement up, an "eagle" rollup board, a backpack, and a magnetic travel board.  Food and sustenance also became a factor as I was only planning on playing until about noon.  Noon was fast approaching and their were two rounds left!  Kathy Baker, a chess mom, began helping Des and me as well and she had many bags of popcorn from a left over cub scout event from the night before to offer hungry players.  I should remind people to bring food to tournament.

I posted the team scores on the dryboard in between rounds.  Bellevue Elementary School was always in the lead, but after round 4, Hailey Elementary School surprised the tournament with a half point lead.  Bellevue would have to pull out some strong games in the 5th round in order to win the tournament.  Ms. Turco has run a lunchtime elementary school chess club at three of the four schools for fifteen years and secretly wanted the under dogs to win this year.  Bellevue has always had strong players.

Bellevue was pitted against Hailey in the top boards for the fifth round - the money round.  On the top board, the game only went for about five minutes with a quick version of Fried Liver taking care of business between Owen Stouffer and Alex Baker.  Bellevue player, Quentin Van Law played another Hailey player, Collin Young and decisively won that game.   On another board - Bellevue vs. Hemingway, Darwin beat Jake Simon with a version of Scholar's Mate.

The last round and the day belonged to Bellevue and the first grade. It was neat to see Owen Stouffer get a perfect tournament and nobody got shut-out.  Trophies were presented to first place and second places.  Medals were awarded to third place.  Sportsmanship awards went to Quentin Van Law, Otto Olson, and Rigoberto Montes.  I am sure that next year, Hemingway and Woodside will be better represented with more players, and maybe Sage and Community Schools will want to participate.  Congratulations to our valley chess champions and the Bellevue Bears!

The Bellevue Bears -  Top Elementary School!

Champions:

Kindergarten     Emmitt Stouffer

1st Grade        Owen Stouffer

2nd Grade           Quentin Van Law

3rd Grade              None

4th Grade       Alex Baker

5th Grade       Garrett Stouffer

    

Next weekend brings the Idaho Open in Pocatello, and the next local tournament will be a WRHS Championship.  Don't forget Power Chess tomorrow!

WRESCC

2011 WRESCC Champions from Bellevue Elementary School

The Wood River Elementary School Chess Championship begins tomorrow morning which includes one open section for K-5th grade.  I look forward to sharing with you the results.  We began this tournament last year for Nick Bruck's Senior Project.

Donate to Chess everywhere

Endgame T-shirt Winner - Desmond Porth!

Desmond is the WRHS Chess Club President and is very active with chess in our school.  He promotes tournaments, raises money and definitely earned this Endgame t-shirt that was donated to our club by the folks at Endgame T-shirts by selling the most Krispy Kreme donuts.  I am a fan of the shirts that they provide chess enthusiasts such as myself and own about 8 different designs.  The company also donated Endgame stickers to all participants of the Spring Warm-up Tournament.  Billy Olson of the Power House also donated a free kids meal to all of the participants which was another nice perk that added to the excitement of the Spring Warm-up tournament.  The Power House also supports Power Chess Night for adults on Monday nights after 8 pm.  Beer, chess, and friends are always a winning combination.  And chess fun is not just for kids!

John Nahlen and Billy Olson

Donations and support from organizations are critical to keep chess active and alive in this country.  Elsewhere, chess is promoted and encouraged among youth and it takes dedication and enthusiasm to maintain excitement in the United States.  This past month, the European Union recently endorsed Chess in the Schools. Chess Clubs abound but they can be hard to find for the average Joe or are relegated to after school or lunch programs exclusively.

 Endgame T-shirts and company's like them are fighting chess stigmas, which pervade our American culture.  They place chess in the appropriate context and someday, chess t-shirts will be as common as sport ones.  Stupid is out - Smart is in - and Chess is cool!  Right, Alexandra?  Support chess.

I would love to play her

Two tournaments this week!

Third place in State Scholastics this year!

This past week featured two outstanding chess events: the Spring Warm-up and the State Scholastic Championship. The Warm-up is intended to provide practice for students planning to attend the annual Idaho Chess Association's State Scholastic Championship. Interestingly, only elementary and middle school children were able to attend the Spring Warm-up and the games were more fun than competitive. Despite the comradery of the 16 players, competitive trophies were awarded in K-1st grade, 2-3rd grade, and 4-6th grade sections. Winners included, respectively: K-1st - Darwin Porth, Owen Stouffer, and Emmett Stouffer, 2-3rd - Quentin Van Law, Collin Young, Otto Olson, and 4-6th - Garrett Stouffer, Dylan Porth, and Victor Saldiva. Quentin Van Law scored very well with 5.0 points for a perfect tournament record.

A pit stop outside of Mountain Home

Quentin brings home 5 pts.

Students the WRHS Chess Club also traveled to Boise for the ICA's State Scholastic Chess Tournament where the State Chess Champions are crowned for each grade level. Thirteen Wood River students competed against 300 other Idaho students in their respective grades for grade level prizes. Additionally, WRHS and WRMS players were competing for team prizes. Coach Adam Porth indicated, "I am very proud of our players, our teams and their performances." He continued, "We are a young team this year with very little experience and are near to having several students becoming state chess champions." The WRHS Chess Club are three time State Champions, however, they again took home a third place at this year's tournament, narrowly losing second place by 0.5 points. Boise High School won 1st place (see last year's results).

The Old Jackson School 

The WRHS Chess Club did win one state title in the 10th grade category. Chase Hutchinson (3.0 pts.) is the 10th grade State Chess Champion and beat out Matt Reidy in round 5 to earn the award. Last year, Chase won second place.  Matt Reidy ended and Kalen Moffett (both from WRHS) tied for 2nd place, but tie-breaker points placed Kalen in 3rd place. Max Mihalic also scored 2.0 points. In the 9th grade, Desmond Porth (2.5 pts.) earned 3rd place. Jake Whitlock earned 2.5 points and Quin Gilman earned 1.5 points. Half points are earned from "draws" and there are a total of 5.0 points possible. There were no juniors of seniors from WRHS competing.

Skittles while waiting for the tournament to begin

In the middle school section, WRMS had a young team, as well. Sixth graders, Dylan Porth, Colten Weatherly, and Victor Saldiva earned 6th place as a team out of 10 other schools. Wood River was unable to produce an elementary team, however, three elementary students competed in 1st and 2nd grades. Darwin Porth tied for third place with 3.5 pts. but placed 6th due to tie-breaking points. Tie-breaking points are calculated in a variety of ways and consider the results of the players you were paired with. For example, two players with the same number wins will have different tie-breaking points when one persons opponent's were harder. Quentin Van Law earned 3.0 points and Otto Olsen earned 2.0 points.

Waiting for the Games to begin

Game details this whole week.

Tournament Calendar Updated thru 2013

Please see the Tournament Calendar.

Upcoming Tournaments

This Saturday, March 10 beginning at 9 a.m., will feature a Spring Warmup chess tournament for K-12th graders, and is sponsored by the WRHS Chess Club and Endgame Clothing, Inc..  The tournament is an annual warm up for the State Scholastic Championship tournament on March 17.  Last year we won second place and we are hoping for similar results this year.   I have several students already signed up for the State competition and none for this weekend's warm-up!

Championship Section

1.        Kalen Moffett  

2.        Max Mihalic (287P)

3.       Matt Reidy          

4.       Christoffer Mouritzen 

5.       Chase Hutchinson (789P)

6.       Desmond Porth (948)

7.       Alexandra Bagley

8.       Real Weatherly

9.       Riley Clark (101P)

10.   Quin Gilman

11. Kyle Mungall

12.  Jake Whitlock
**You guys (and gals) need to check your USCF license!**

6^th Grade

1.        Dylan Porth

2.       Thalia Rojas 

3.       Victor Saldiva 

4.       Coleten Weatherly

1^st Grade

1.        Darwin Porth

Winners from last years Warmup Tournament

West Jordan Story

Don't Mess with this Pussy Cat!

After a long recuperation after my hand surgery, I am now able to type with some dexterity and finesse.   My fine Siamese Cat of 12 years old decided to jump on my face while sleeping at three in the morning.  Of course I grabbed the kitty, named Kitten, by the scruff of the neck and was going to bring him outside.  But, Kitten would have nothing of that and somehow twisted around to bite my hand.  By noon, my hand was burning hot and not very happy.  To make a long story short, the tendons and my knuckle joints got infected and required surgery and intense antibiotics (vancomysin and invanz) to rid me of the intruders.  I am now rehabilitating my hand so that I don't lose any movement.

Our West Jordan story picks up where we left off.  For the last four years we have won 1st place high school, and last year we won 1st place high school and junior high.  This year we are going to have a harder time as we are rebuilding our team.  Of our eleven competitors from the Wood River Valley, we have one in the elementary (k-3) section, one in the 4-6th grade section, a team in the 6-9th grade section, and one high school team.  Our entire high school team consisted of players that have never competed.  And half of our 9th graders are relatively new to competitive chess.  I am very proud of our results in the large tournament that had nearly 200 kids and 16 different schools competing.  Our Junior High team won 2nd place.

High School Section

46 players, 14 schools

Tyler                     0              0.5           1              0              0           1.5

Kalen                    0              0              1              0              1           2.0

Charlie                  1              0              0              1              0           2.0

Christoffer             1              0              1              0              1           3.0

Max                      0              1              0              1              1           3.0            

Junior High  School Section

47 players, 16 schools

Quin                      0              0              1              1              0           2.0

Riley                      1              0.5           1              0              1           3.5

Desmond               1              1              1              0              1           4.0

Jake                       0              0              1              1              0.5        2.5

Elementary Sections (87 players K-3, and 64 players 4-6)

Dylan                     1              .5            1              1               0           3.5

Dar                        1              0             1              0               1           3.0

I try to train our players to begin play with sound opening theory.  It sometimes pays off as demonstrated in Riley's game.

In Round 3, Riley Clark, whom was playing very hard this tournament, caught her opponent cheating and called him on it.  However, she asked Desmond for some advice on how to deal with her case and was almost forfeited by the TD for talking to a teammate! After pleading her case, the TD allowed the game to continue and I am happy to say that she beat him.

Christoffer plays a solid opening that eventually wins the game.  I believe . . .

In the high school sections, players struggled against experienced players.  Many attempted to record their games but I was only able to salvage some of the games because of errors on the score sheets.  It is clear that I have some work ahead of me to get students to follow my opening guidelines.  Some played really too fast and this greatly affected their results.  A player with little experience should not blitz an experienced player!

In the last round, Desmond and Dylan were both playing for 1st place in their section and their grade categories.  I am happy to say that Desmond came out on top, but lost in tie-breaking points to only win the grade level trophy.   Dylan played hard against a boy that opened with Scholar's Mate, but succumbed in the end game after a 59 minute battle that left her with seconds on the clock before the flag fell.  She dropped to seventh place.

Dylan gets a nice fork on move 16 and her opponent blunders their queen away.

Charlie is shocked at how hard the games are.

Max played slow and won three more points than last year!

Dylan played slow in every game - and did great.

Darwin gets into it!

What a long day!

Weally Tiwerd . . .

10 trophies and 11 kids - great work.

More pictures can be found here.

Studying the Endgame

Please visit this link:  http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-training/endgame-simulations.php

I am temporarily out of commission due to hand surgery from a cat bite that nearly cost me my hand from infection. Sorry.

On the Bus

My Crazy Chess Team!  I luv em!

Got some Electric Kool-aide Acid Tests?

Ken Kesey once said you are either "On the Bus, or Off the Bus."  I think I am off the bus!  Our annual trek to the West Jordan Scholastic Chess Tournament began on Friday after a whirlwind of school. We had an early out with nearly 6 classes completed before noon!  Needless to say, I was a bit on edge to now endure a 5 1/2 hour ride with a bus of eleven students - I am getting on the bus.  Thankfully, the kids were great, but our trips are always adventures - we are on the bus!

Tournaments

Tournament Schedule is updated.

Christmas Blitzkrieg and the Family Tournament

No Snow : (

_______________________

The holiday season did not provide any significant snow, but did produce some outstanding chess! The Christmas Blitzkrieg is an annual WRHS event and is

January Newsletter

Chess Places

I must go see this at the Paris Opera!

I am traveling to Paris, France this next week and came across this list of places to play chess.  I will be staying near the east side of Nanterre Park and I hope to find a cafe or park to enjoy a game.

2011 WRHS Bughouse Championship

Well it is about time I get back to posting and informing those interested folks in the happenings at the WRHS Chess Club.  There is too much news for only one post so I will start with the most recent and work