Pre-Registrants:
Open:  Dan Mayers
Frank Niro
Jeff Roland
Caleb Kircher
Cody Gorman
Jacob Nathan
David Sawyer
Jeff Baggett

Reserve:  Adam Porth
Desmond Porth
Dylan Porth
Matt Reidy
Paul Sawyer

A Northwest Grand Prix Event!!!

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Format: 4 Round Swiss System

Time Control: Game/30 Rd 1; Game/45 Rd 2; Game/60 Rd 3; G/90 Rd 4

2 Sections: OPEN and Reserve (U1400)

Site: Wood River High School, WRHS Common Room, 1050 Fox Acres Rd., Hailey, Idaho

Entry Fee: $30 ($25 if Under 18 or 60+ years old) (K-12 students $10 in either section) if registered by October 3, 2012, $40.00 for all if received after October 3, 2012. E-mail entry will lock in advance entry rate.

Current USCF Membership is required, available at site or online at www.uschess.org

Make all checks payable to Idaho Chess Association.

Register & check in: 8:00 - 8:30 a.m. Saturday, October 6, 2012

Round Times:
Round 1: 9:00 a.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012
Round 2: 10:00 a.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012
Round 3: 1:00 p.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012
Round 4: 3:00 p.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012

1/2 point bye (Maximum 1), Rounds 1-3 only. Must commit by end of Rd 2.

Prizes (Based on 15): Open: $100, $75, $50. Reserve: $75, $50, $25, and student trophies, 1st-3rd place.

Entries/Hotel Rates/Information: Adam Porth, 212 N. 3rd St., Bellevue, ID 83313, 208-450-9048

Pre-registration preferred. E-mail: aporth1@cox.net, www.idahochessassociation.org

No Computers, No Smoking, Wheelchair access

Farwell Erwin Kett

On Saturday, my friend and chess buddy, will be leaving the Wood River valley for good, but this is farewell, not goodbye.  I am positive that, though the distance is great, our friendship will remain as close.   Erwin and Marlis live half of the year in Germany and the other half in the Wood River valley, and at aged 73, the 24 hour travel twice a year, and keeping two households up can be a bit much.  Erwin and Marlis are a great addition to our valley and they contributed their time and love to everyone that knew them.  And that included everyone!

Erwin visits our Chess Party at the Bowling Alley for his "Thank You, Award."

I visit his home often on summer afternoons for a chess game.  He always insisted that the whole family come too.  Marlis would always greet us with fresh "Kuchen" and a German cup of coffee.  While playing our chess game, Marlis, Lynnet, and the kids would talk or play Parcheesi.  Invariably, their open doors would attract neighbors and other friends that would happen by to say hello.

Coffee and Kuchen

Erwin loves the United States.  He is a social butterfly and truly embraces American culture.  He donned a cowboy hat to go shooting with ranchers, he was our 4th of July Parades Uncle Sam, and on Christmas, Marlis and he were Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  They cruised Hailey and would surprise homes that had children at Christmas time.  Erwin and Marlis were also great supporters of events and community happenings.  They were virtually every place a crowd was celebrating something.  For my family, Erwin would come to soccer games and visit Dylan's ballet recitals, as well.

Chess Club is where we usually battled.

For chess kids, they will miss his jokes, humor, and tough chess games.  Erwin and I met in 2007 when he visited my chess club to play with me and students.  He was hooked and began sharing his joy of chess with students of all ages that came to play.  We always reserved our games for later when all the kids went home.  He helped me run tournaments and I even encouraged him to play in a couple, just so he could say he did.  In 2009, he hosted "The Erwin Kett Invitational" and nearly 20 Idaho players, including a state champion, came to enjoy the Kett's hospitality.


I really enjoyed playing Erwin because he is very competitive and would play out a lost game to the bitter end.  On the other hand, if I wasn't careful in my play, Erwin would find a brutal move (as in the above game) and make you pay dearly for inattentive play.

I am sure that we will continue to play via Skype, or maybe in person when I visit Germany.  And, Erwin only has the rest of the week to beat me!

Erwin tolerates shananigans from Kitt.

"Santa" visited our Winter Tournaments

Dylan plays Erwin. 

Dennis the Menace is Erwin's Favorite Cartoon to share.

Costa Rica

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24 hrs. in the airport (storms cancelled flights)

Easton likes to play

Our school is a candidate school for International Baccalaureate MYP and I find it ironic that we are actually losing a language this year (German) and there is no school program for international travel (I suppose due to liability reasons) - unless students pursue this on their own.  So, in a similar vein to how I became wrapped up in chess, I began a Wood River Travel Club last year and stepped up to the international travel plate.  For our first endeavor, I solicited EF Tours to develop a trip to Costa Rica and this past summer was our first successful trip!

The girls really were sweet together

Eight WRHS students, my wife and I left on July 18 to spend ten days touring Costa Rica with four other school groups (Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Coeur d' Alene).  Needless to say, my chess organizing took a back-door to preparations for Costa Rica, however, I was able to continue my "Chess by Post" games, play some games with Lynnet, Easton (a chess clubber), and Desmond.  I also worked with a couple of other kids, teaching them discovered attacks, and some safer opening strategies.  But, this was definitely not a chess trip.  I was able to inspire kids to embrace the wildlife - mostly insects and everyone in our group was always mucking about in the weeds trying to obtain the best pictures to share in the evening around the pool or at the beach.

In Costa Rica, there was alot to do other than play chess.  We swam in Manuel Antonio park, visited cloud forests, volcanoes, hot springs, kayaked on Lake Arenal, planted a tree in a reserve for conservation, zip-lined in Monteverde, rode horses, hiked, rafted along the Sarapiqui River, visited a poor mountain school and their students, boated on a Crocodile Safari, and learned about biodiversity at InBioparque.  This was an incredible experience and it was great to be traveling with other groups as it contributed to our education.  EF Tours created a wonderful opportunity that I only wish more students could have taken advantage of.  Our club plans to travel to England this next summer.


The students (Desmond, Wyatt, Easton, Mandi, Meghan, Jasmine, Addy, and Mia) that participated traveled well and they tolerated my usual corniness.  On tour, the girls bought me a present in La Fortuna.  A locally-carved chess set!  So my summer was not completely chess-free.

 

In San Jose

Sarchi chess

See More Pictures at WRHS Costa Rica fanpage

Wood River Weekend Progressive

A Northwest Grand Prix Event!!!

---

Format: 4 Round Swiss System

Time Control: Game/30 Rd 1; Game/45 Rd 2; Game/60 Rd 3; G/90 Rd 4

2 Sections: OPEN and Reserve (U1400)

Site: Wood River High School, WRHS Common Room, 1050 Fox Acres Rd., Hailey, Idaho

Entry Fee: $30 ($25 if Under 18 or 60+ years old) (K-12 students $10 in either section) if registered by October 3, 2012, $40.00 for all if received after October 3, 2012. E-mail entry will lock in advance entry rate.

Current USCF Membership is required, available at site or online at www.uschess.org

Make all checks payable to Idaho Chess Association.

Register & check in: 8:00 - 8:30 a.m. Saturday, October 6, 2012

Round Times:
Round 1: 9:00 a.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012
Round 2: 10:00 a.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012
Round 3: 1:00 p.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012
Round 4: 3:00 p.m., Saturday, October 6, 2012

1/2 point bye (Maximum 1), Rounds 1-3 only. Must commit by end of Rd 2.

Prizes (Based on 15): Open: $100, $75, $50. Reserve: $75, $50, $25, and student trophies, 1st-3rd place.

Entries/Hotel Rates/Information: Adam Porth, 212 N. 3rd St., Bellevue, ID 83313, 208-450-9048

Pre-registration preferred. E-mail: aporth1@cox.net, www.idahochessassociation.org

No Computers, No Smoking, Wheelchair access


Pre-Registrants:
Adam Porth
Desmond Porth
Dylan Porth
Jeff Roland

Mate in 2

Can you find the mate in two in each position that occurred during an internet game?  White to move.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

Diagram 5

Diagram 6

Chess On Labor Day

Horse Butt Chess on Labor Day

After attending weekend festivities with family, I wanted to find out how this holiday came to be.  I was playing a game of chess with my wife while listening to Muzzie Braun, and I finally was moved to begin writing on the Chess Nut again.  

Here is what I found about the Labor Day holiday:

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.  In our valley, we celebrate with a parade of wagons . . .the Wagon Day Parade!

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. adapted from source:  USDeptofLabor 

Summer was busy for me.  I traveled to Moneray Bay to learn about my new class AP Environmental Science, Costa Rica for travel club, a family visit in Crivitz, Wisconsin, and a quick trip to Denver, Colorado for an EF Tour inservice.  I also spent an enormous amount of time writing in my textbook, Integrating Chess and Critical Thinking, which is an interdisciplinary text for high school kids, and it's companion workbook.  With my family scattered in travels, tournaments were side-saddled and so was this blog, but stay tuned for more chess stories, trips, games, classes, and other chess news.  School started today and my chess class has 20 students registered for this semester.