A Surprise Visit

Tournament Calendar was updated, 5-19-12

Siiiiiimmmmmmuuuuuuuuul,  Yeeeuuuuh!

Dude, on Wednesday, May 2, the WRHS Chess Club was to hold it's championship, however, the tennis team was playing away.  The Softball team was playing away, the track team was in Burley, and our school championship looked as if it was not going to happen tonight.  We decided to post-pone it until Saturday, May 12.  Jeff Roland and Corey Longhurst had already departed Boise, on their way to visit our club and the now post-poned championship.  They had made a two-hour trip for naught, however, I quickly came up with an outstanding idea.  Siiimmuuuuul,  Yeeeuuuuh!

Corey "Mordakai" Longhurst in his first Simul

Jeff "Rigby" Roland

They arrived early enough for my chess class, Integrating Chess and Critical Thinking during the last period of the day. Today we were to learn about chess notation, but my students were about learn it by recording their first game in a simul against Jeff and Corey!    I quickly transformed my room into a "simul-circle" where nine students could compete against Jeff and nine against Corey during the hour-long class.  I positioned myself in the center of the room so I could quickly help students with record keeping questions.

The bell rang and students began to emerge from the hallway.  They were surprised to see the new room set up and Jeff and Corey standing next to me as I greeted them.  I introduced Jeff and Corey as expert chess players that came up for our now defunct championship tournament.  "Today, we are going to play chess and learn about recording our games in a simul.  You are already acquainted with algebraic notation.  A simultaneous exhibition is a type of tournament where multiple players compete against one individual.  They will play everyone at once and will move from player to player.  Simuls are prestigious and challenging events for participants and we are going to help Jeff and Corey build their chess resume.  Make your move when Jeff or Corey reach your board and raise your hand if you have any questions about notation.  These games are going to be posted on Jeff's website."

Nash Hartdegon puzzling Jeff Roland.

My students were obviously nervous, and so too were Jeff and Corey.  I was excited to offer this for my chess students.  Jeff and Corey shook hands and made their first move as white for each player.  Typically, players performing the simul will be white and the contestants will be black.

I e-mailed the staff and invited other students to visit and observe if they had a chance.  Stacey Smith brought her class for a bit.  Her students were impressed at how quiet my room full of students was and with Jeff and Corey.  Jeff and Corey got to feel like celebrities for at least the hour they visited WRHS.  Yeuh!

Each student made their reply and so on.  As the hour waned, Jeff check-mated Easton Kimball and then accepted a draw against me.  Corey scored his first win against Matt Reidy who resigned.  The games continued and the hour long class was nearly up.  I warned Jeff and Corey that some students will need to reach their buses, so they might leave quickly.  And they began resigning and did!  Some students hold out to the end.

Christoffer Mauritzen did very well against Corey and had an opportunity to win (see above) but just couldn't stay to finish.  Dude, not cool.  Nash Hartdegan gave Jeff some trouble, but the last game for Jeff was against Drew Morse.  I encourage my students to play games out to the bitter end and Drew was not about to resign his lost game and continued well after the bell rang through move 50.  I was happy to see most students survive the opening without any major blunders or pieces dropped.  I was encouraged to see good positions for several students in the middle games, as well.

Desmond's position after 10. ..Bb7 against Jeff.  Desmond is about to lose a pawn.

Ty Reineman against Corey.  Ty spotted the knight pin the next move 15. . . Bh6.

They next day, our discussions were about the simul and it was apparent that students and amateurs need to see and/or participate in events such as these.  Some of my students felt more confident and some felt like they participated in something important.  And they really did!

Drew and Easton enjoying the simul

Jeff’s Opponents	Jeff’s Results	Corey’s Opponents	Corey’s Results
Nash Hartedegon	1.0	Christoffer Mauritzen	1.0
Martin Felix	1.0	Ty Reinemann	1.0
Desmond Porth	1.0	Matt Reidy	1.0
Jake Whitlock	1.0	Max Mihalic	1.0
Jacob Hope	1.0	Paul Klimes	1.0
Charley Hines	1.0	Dillon Bunce	1.0
Easton Kimball	1.0	Jon Reigle	1.0
Drew Morse	1.0	Tyler Avila	1.0
Adam Porth	0.5	Emmitt Say	0.5

Paul Klimes and Dillon Bunce are looking for an opportunity.

The Opening against Drew.

Paul is a bit conservative against Corey

Emmitt offered a draw and Corey accepted.  Ms. Smith in background.

Charley Hines and Jacob Hope.

Middle game struggle for Matt Reidy and Max Mihalic.

2012 WRHS Chess Championship!

Desmond Porth is WRHS Chess Champion!

Results:
Desmond Porth 6.5 pts.
Chase Hutchinson 5.0 pts.
Christoffer Mauritzen 4.5 pts.
Riley Clark 3.0 pts.
Max Mihalic 1.0 pts.

Great Job to everyone - a big thank you to me who bought the pizza and drinks, and sponsored the chess prizes and trophies.

Desmond - trophy and folding cherry/maple chessboard
Chase - trophy and executive bag and pieces
Christoffer - trophy and analog Diamond Chess Clock
Riley - tournament board
Max - analysis board

Smooth moves by Chase

Chase won the first game with Max and just pulled out a nice move in game 2:  1. Nxd5!! winning a pawn.  He can now use a discovered check against Max's king or if Max 1. ..cxd5 then 2. Bxc5+ forking the king and rook.  Is there a way out?  Max chose 1. ..Kf8 which now allows Chase another forking opportunity!  2. Nc7.

WRHS Championship going on right now!

Here in my classroom, I am monitoring our last two games between Max Mihalic and Chase Hutchinson, right now.  What is really neat is that while my club players are vying for the WRHS Championship title, I also have the US Championships live streaming on my Promethean board.  Very cool!

The last games are going to decide the second place winner - just how we like it - tension and pressure in the last round for four of the five participating players.  Desmond ended with 6.5 points and is untouchable, but Christoffer went 1-and-1 with Max during the last round which puts Christoffer at 4.5 points and Chase at 3.0 points.  Chase could potentially knock Christoffer out of second place with two wins.  If Max wins just one game, then Christoffer wins second place.  With two wins for Max, there will be a three way tie for third and some run-off games.

With 5 other people not showing up we decided to go for a double round robin with each person playing every other person once as white and once as black.

Participants:
Max Mihalic
Christoffer Mauritzen
Chase Hutchinson
Riley Clark
Desmond Porth


I am also updating on Facebook.

Idaho Player Updates

Several Idaho Players were added today.

Lloyd Blake

Kerry Shirts 

Gary Owen

Mountain Home Spring Tournament

Who needs to text and drive?

Mountain Home is a rural community outside of Boise and notorious for it's military and Air Force bases.  It will soon be home to a chess club.  The Idaho Chess Union held a four round, G/45 tournament at the Mountain Home Community Library and the Stagecoach Espresso Bar in order to inspire and support a beginning chess community.  Eighteen players from the Treasure Valley and the Wood River Valley competed with four Mountain Home players in a relaxed and fun event that pitted beginners with veteran chess minds.

Field Trip Rule #1:  Don't step in dog poop when you have to ride a bus for 2 hours.

I brought six high schoolers from our chess club to the event which introduced four of them to a tournament for the first time.  It proved to be very educational and I was surprised to learn how to deal with a particular position that has creeped up a couple different times in my own chess games.  This is truly the best way to learn about chess and for the older, more experienced generation to pass their knowledge onto new players without the pressure of ratings or titles interfering.

Playing with an arrow in your head! (it is a painting on the wall behind  Desmond)

One of the most pleasing aspects of this tournament was the fact that it was played in an espresso bar.  It was a  quiet Saturday afternoon, however, and the only frothing was because of my latte orders.  There was an occasional  customer that spectated and a rare library patron that entered the area with a raised eyebrow.

Round 1 began without any board numbers on the tables so I felt like I was at a church coffee social, shaking hands and introducing myself, hoping the hand I held was my opponent.  It was the same for all.  People settled, clocks and pieces were adjusted and Jeff Roland, our Tournament Director said a few words, then the espresso machine made one last gasp before  . . . . . . . d4.  I played one of my students Tyler Avila.  After our game we analyzed and talked about the game.

Round 1:  Peter Olsoy vs. Desmond

During Round 2, I made a move that I suspected was a loser, but I just couldn't see how it would be.  So I tried it out and soon found out why!  If I took with pawn on I could get a discovered check on the king, or I could just go right for the check with my queen.  Fritz tells me dxc6 was an advantage (0.92) while Qxc6 is a disadvantage (-0.13).  After 10. Qxc6+ (my move), Bd7 (of course), 11.  Qc4 (to save my pawn on e4) Rc8 (my bishop and possibly rook suddenly disappear).  I resign after a superfluous defense and go watch my students with my ears frowning and Paul chasing me down with analyses.

Round 2:  Paul Edvalson vs. me

Do I take with pawn or with queen? (me vs. Paul Edvalson)

I always try to encourage my students to play gracefully with the poise of a grandmaster.  But, the game (and this tournament is a fun one), and I watch my students inflict pain and tortuous moves on each other since they are struggling against the older players.  Martin Felix insists on mating Riley Clark with a pawn in one game, and while waiting for round  3 to end, mates Kalen with 6 rooks!

A loud, "Fuck!" breaks the silence of the last round and their is a hush as everyone in the room looks first at the exclamator and then slowly turn their heads to me for my dirty look - it's one of my students.  I smiled.  Was it a blunder or a good move, I wonder?  Youthful entertainment at its best!

White to move.  Nothing like leaping without looking!  17. Qxd6??

Corey Longerhurst, of Meridian, wins decisively with 4.0 points. And our group of seven heads to Winger's for dinner with three of us earning 2.0 points and four of us earning 1.0 points.

ICA article

Idaho Open Results

The Coronal Mass Ejection reached a zenith at the 2012 Idaho Open held at the Student Union Building at Idaho State University in Pocatello over the weekend.  The Coronal Mass Ejection is a massive burst of electromagnetic energy and is highly associated with solar storms.  Although a causal relationship has not been established.  The solar cycle occurs every 10-11 years and the current CME is one of the most intense ones ever measured.  Doomsday Preppers are anticipating major effects to powergrids, satellite and radio-wave disruptions, and food supplies, and indirect affects to education, socio-political systems, and immigration patterns.  When the grids go down and governments begin to fail, I think chess will be a great tool for entertaining masses of people lacking their tvs, smart phones, ipads, and other technological devices.  Start storing and stashing chess boards and be ready to whip one out when strangers approach your house.  All I was concerned at this tournament was the heat and remaining hydrated.  This was the hottest tournament I have played in with the tournament room nearly as hot as a car on a sunny day!  Could the CME have something to do with it?  Probably not.

Me vs. Victor Watts, 2006 Idaho Open

The 2012 Idaho Open was a great success.  I am fond of playing in Pocatello as my first three tournaments  (2006) were played in the very room I found myself sitting in this past weekend!  Things are a bit different six years later, as I was undefeated in this go around and earned 1st place in the reserve section with 4.5 points (versus 0 points and last place in 2006).

I got mushed behind Fred

All the usual Idaho chess players were conspicuously present including Jeff Roland, Caleb Kircher, Barry Eacker, Kevin Patterson, Jay Simonson (TD), Fred Bartell.  Many were missing, but I was happy to be with friends this weekend.  It is the mere point of being around each other that matters as attending a chess tournament is as social as attending a movie with your friends.  How many times have you been in a room for hours with your friends and not spoken to them?

Kerry Shirts videoed the tournament(left) and Barry Eacker(right) sports a Buckendorf tie

For two years I was the Secretary/Treasurer of the Idaho Chess Association, but I resigned my position this week after discovering that my position was dysfunctional.  One of the ICA TDs refused to provide financial reconciliations of tournaments because they were "volunteers" and with allegations of financial mismanagement of the ICA pending, I thought it best to get out of that mess before it gets serious.  All of my ICA friends that are board members were upset, of course, but very understanding of the position I was in.  My goodbye was not a formal one and I hope to one day return to a board position when the climate has changed, but my mark has been a positive one.  I tried to institute fiscal responsibility by having a TD form, I began recording membership (which has never been done), I suggested tournament registration forms to track e-mails and information, instituted foot-noting to changes on original documents, suggested scans of important historical documents (rather than re-typing them all), and even inspired historical pictures of events like a large group photo at each event.  There have been other trivial items and I hope my help was appreciated by some, as resisted by others.

Jay Simonson, President and TD

The number of players registered for the Idaho Open was disappointingly low, nineteen, but the spirit was high.  Players from California, Montana, and around Idaho attended.  Kerry Shirts, the backyard professor, of sorts, entered the tournament for the first time and began filming a Youtube novelty to become a Chess Master.  Here is his Idaho Open film (I have a red and an orange soccer jersey on):

In order to play chess in Idaho, one must travel far and commit significant amount of time on the road and in hotels.  This trip I made alone and was fortunate to use a spare room of an old college friend and artist, Sky.  Desmond was scheduled to come this weekend but began his first job as a teenager and decided to make money rather than spend it this weekend.  Pocatello was a busy town this weekend and I spent Friday and Saturday night listening to the "Monster Truck" show at Holt Arena.  In between rounds, I took in the natural history, paleontology, and archaeology of Idaho at the Idaho Museum of Natural History which offered free admissions.  I also visited old haunts as I am an alumnist of Idaho State University as a Master's in Natural Science.  Dinner at Buddy's is always a welcomed treat when I visit.  I also climbed up red hill behind the SUB and got all sweaty before round 3.  It really did not matter much because the heat in the tournament room kept me sweating for another couple hours.

Fun between rounds

Pleistocene Bear

Scout Mountain at a distance

Pillars of Love

Idaho Open Chess Champion,
Ted Belanoff

The action started on Saturday morning with the "Octopus" - Greg Nowak, from Montana defending his title against an onslaught of eleven players in the open section (I played in the Reserve).  Ted Belanoff, of Woodside, California ended up winning the tournament with 5.0 points.  I hope he returns to Idaho next year to defend his title.  

My round 1 game was against an eleven year old, Isaac Blake.  Last year I played rough games against other children so I was determined to play better and not let my psychology wreck my game.  I was black and Isaac opened with the Fried Liver Attack which I diffused with d5.  In round 2 I was paired with Katie Patterson, who is a very good player in the opening and in the middle game.  I was white and used the Ponziani with success.  I was able to snag a knight early on and with frequent exchanges of major and minor pieces, I entered the endgame in great shape.  After dinner at Buddy's and a hike up red hill, Round 3 was not my best game.  I felt that I wrecked my position with a risky bishop sac against Kevin Patterson. After I determined how the prizes would be divvied up, I gladly accepted and hoped to get a good night's rest.

Kevin and Me

Round 3:  Move 11, I was thinking that Kevin would either take with pawn or save his Knight, but he found  a very good move, Nxb5.

Round 4:

Anything to Win

Here is a nice Biography about Bobby Fischer I showed my 7th period students (with their study guide questions, following).  One student was disturbed and sad to see Part 5 and learn that he died in Iceland, alone and isolated.

"Anything to Win"

1.      How old was Bobby Fischer when he became US Champion?

2.       Who did Bobby Fischer play in order to become the World Champion and in what year?

3.      Who was “the game of the century” played against and how old was Bobby Fischer when he played it?

4.      Why was Bobby Fischer “wanted” by the US State Department?

5.       What country was Bobby Fischer arrested in?

6.       What do you think was the cause of Bobby Fischer’s crazy behavior?

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!